How long must I wait? When will you punish those who persecute me?
Parallel translations
- WEB How many are the days of your servant? When will you execute judgment on those who persecute me?
- KJV How many are the days of thy servant? when wilt thou execute judgment on them that persecute me?
- BSB How many days must Your servant wait? When will You execute judgment on my persecutors?
- NKJV How many are the days of Your servant? When will You execute judgment on those who persecute me?
- NASB How many are the days of Your servant? When will You execute judgment on those who persecute me?
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
He asks how long he has to live and when God will judge his persecutors. He longs for justice within the brief span of his life.
Overview
Conscious of life's shortness, the psalmist pleads for God to act against those who oppress him before his days run out. His question presses God for timely justice, committing vengeance entirely to the Lord. The cry echoes through Scripture in the souls who ask 'how long?' and is answered in the assurance that God will vindicate His elect (Rev. 6:10; Luke 18:7-8).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Ps 90:12So teach us to count our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
- Rev 6:10–11They cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, Master, the holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
- Ps 7:6Arise, Yahweh, in your anger. Lift up yourself against the rage of my adversaries. Awake for me. You have commanded judgment.
- Ps 89:47–48Remember how short my time is! For what vanity have you created all the children of men!
- Ps 39:4–5“Yahweh, show me my end, what is the measure of my days. Let me know how frail I am.
- Job 7:6–8My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and are spent without hope.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 119:84 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.