Limitless Word
But banish those who turn to crooked ways, O Lord. Take them away with those who do evil. May Israel have peace!
Psalms 125:5 · New Living Translation
Parallel translations
  • WEB But as for those who turn aside to their crooked ways, Yahweh will lead them away with the workers of iniquity. Peace be on Israel.
  • KJV As for such as turn aside unto their crooked ways, the LORD shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity: but peace shall be upon Israel.
  • BSB But those who turn to crooked ways the LORD will banish with the evildoers. Peace be upon Israel.
  • NKJV As for such as turn aside to their crooked ways, The Lord shall lead them away With the workers of iniquity. Peace be upon Israel!
  • NASB But as for those who turn aside to their crooked ways, The Lord will lead them away with those who practice injustice. Peace be upon Israel.

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

Those who turn to crooked ways are removed with evildoers, while peace is invoked on Israel. It warns that persistent rebellion ends in judgment, but God's people rest in His peace.

Overview

The psalm closes by contrasting the upright with apostates who twist their paths toward evil, who will share the fate of the workers of iniquity. Yet the final word is a blessing of peace on Israel. This peace finds its fullness in Christ, the Prince of Peace, who reconciles His people to God.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 23

  • Isa 59:8They don’t know the way of peace; and there is no justice in their ways. They have made crooked paths for themselves; whoever goes in them doesn’t know peace.
  • Prov 2:15who are crooked in their ways, and wayward in their paths:
  • Ps 128:6Yes, may you see your children’s children. Peace be upon Israel.
  • Gal 6:16As many as walk by this rule, peace and mercy be on them, and on God’s Israel.
  • Ps 40:4Blessed is the man who makes Yahweh his trust, and doesn’t respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.
  • Ps 101:3I will set no vile thing before my eyes. I hate the deeds of faithless men. They will not cling to me.
  • Matt 7:23Then I will tell them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you who work iniquity.’
  • John 14:27Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, give I to you. Don’t let your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful.
  • Phil 2:15that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without defect in the middle of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world,
  • Ps 94:4They pour out arrogant words. All the evildoers boast.
  • Prov 14:14The unfaithful will be repaid for his own ways; likewise a good man will be rewarded for his ways.
  • Zeph 1:6those who have turned back from following Yahweh, and those who haven’t sought Yahweh nor inquired after him.
  • Jer 2:19“Your own wickedness will correct you, and your backsliding will rebuke you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing, that you have forsaken Yahweh your God, and that my fear is not in you,” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies.
  • Isa 54:13All your children will be taught by Yahweh; and your children’s peace will be great.
  • 1 Chr 10:13–14So Saul died for his trespass which he committed against Yahweh, because of Yahweh’s word, which he didn’t keep; and also because he asked counsel of one who had a familiar spirit, to inquire,
  • Heb 10:38But the righteous will live by faith. If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”
  • Hos 2:18In that day I will make a covenant for them with the animals of the field, and with the birds of the sky, and with the creeping things of the ground. I will break the bow, the sword, and the battle out of the land, and will make them lie down safely.
  • Ps 92:7though the wicked spring up as the grass, and all the evildoers flourish, they will be destroyed forever.
  • Isa 54:10For the mountains may depart, and the hills be removed; but my loving kindness will not depart from you, and my covenant of peace will not be removed,” says Yahweh who has mercy on you.
  • 1 Pet 1:2according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.
  • Ezek 37:26Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary among them forever more.
  • Matt 24:48–51But if that evil servant should say in his heart, ‘My lord is delaying his coming,’
  • Job 23:11My foot has held fast to his steps. I have kept his way, and not turned aside.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Psalms videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Psalms 125:5YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on PsalmsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 125:5 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.