Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion.
Parallel translations
- WEB Let them be disappointed and turned backward, all those who hate Zion.
- BSB May all who hate Zion be turned back in shame.
- NKJV Let all those who hate Zion Be put to shame and turned back.
- NASB ¶May all who hate Zion Be put to shame and turned backward;
- NLT May all who hate Jerusalem be turned back in shameful defeat.
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
It prays that all who hate Zion be shamed and turned back. It asks God to defeat those opposed to His people and His worship.
Overview
The psalmist prays that the enemies of Zion, the city of God's dwelling, be put to shame and driven into retreat. To hate Zion is to oppose God Himself, so their defeat upholds His honor. Such prayers anticipate the final triumph of God's kingdom in Christ over all who resist it.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Isa 37:35For I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.
- Ps 71:13Let them be confounded and consumed that are adversaries to my soul; let them be covered with reproach and dishonour that seek my hurt.
- Isa 37:22This is the word which the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.
- Isa 10:12Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.
- Ps 83:4–11They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
- Zech 12:3And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
- Esth 6:13And Haman told Zeresh his wife and all his friends every thing that had befallen him. Then said his wise men and Zeresh his wife unto him, If Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou shalt not prevail against him, but shalt surely fall before him.
- Ps 122:6Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.
- Zech 1:14–17So the angel that communed with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.
- Mic 4:11Now also many nations are gathered against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion.
- 1 Cor 16:22If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.
- Esth 9:5Thus the Jews smote all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, and slaughter, and destruction, and did what they would unto those that hated them.
- Zech 12:6In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem.
- Isa 37:28–29But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.
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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 129:5 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.