So shall I have an answer for him who reproaches me, For I trust in Your word.
Parallel translations
- WEB So I will have an answer for him who reproaches me, for I trust in your word.
- KJV So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me: for I trust in thy word.
- BSB Then I can answer him who taunts, for I trust in Your word.
- NASB So that I will have an answer for one who taunts me, For I trust in Your word.
- NLT Then I can answer those who taunt me, for I trust in your word.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Trusting God's word gives the psalmist an answer for those who taunt him. It matters because confidence in Scripture equips believers to respond to mockery and reproach.
Overview
Because he trusts in God's word, the psalmist will have a ready reply to those who reproach him. His assurance silences scorn not by his cleverness but by God's reliability. This anticipates the gospel hope that grounds believers' answer to a watching world in the trustworthy word of God concerning Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Acts 27:25Therefore, sirs, cheer up! For I believe God, that it will be just as it has been spoken to me.
- Matt 27:63saying, “Sir, we remember what that deceiver said while he was still alive: ‘After three days I will rise again.’
- Prov 27:11Be wise, my son, and bring joy to my heart, then I can answer my tormentor.
- 2 Sam 16:7–8Shimei said when he cursed, “Be gone, be gone, you man of blood, and base fellow!
- Ps 56:10–11In God, I will praise his word. In Yahweh, I will praise his word.
- Ps 119:74Those who fear you will see me and be glad, because I have put my hope in your word.
- Ps 119:49Remember your word to your servant, because you gave me hope.
- Ps 119:81My soul faints for your salvation. I hope in your word.
- Matt 27:40–43and saying, “You who destroy the temple, and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!”
- Ps 89:19–37Then you spoke in vision to your saints, and said, “I have given strength to the warrior. I have exalted a young man from the people.
- 2 Sam 7:12–16When your days are fulfilled, and you sleep with your fathers, I will set up your offspring after you, who will proceed out of your body, and I will establish his kingdom.
- Ps 42:10As with a sword in my bones, my adversaries reproach me, while they continually ask me, “Where is your God?”
- Ps 71:10–11For my enemies talk about me. Those who watch for my soul conspire together,
- 2 Sam 19:18–20A ferry boat went to bring over the king’s household, and to do what he thought good. Shimei the son of Gera fell down before the king, when he had come over the Jordan.
- Ps 3:2Many there are who say of my soul, “There is no help for him in God.” Selah.
- 1 Chr 28:3–6But God said to me, ‘You shall not build a house for my name, because you are a man of war, and have shed blood.’
- Ps 56:4In God, I praise his word. In God, I put my trust. I will not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?
- Ps 109:25I have also become a reproach to them. When they see me, they shake their head.
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 119:42 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.