Limitless Word
May all who hate Jerusalem be turned back in shameful defeat.
Psalms 129:5 · New Living Translation
Parallel translations
  • WEB Let them be disappointed and turned backward, all those who hate Zion.
  • KJV Let them all be confounded and turned back that 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;

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 37:35‘For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.’”
  • Ps 71:13Let my accusers be disappointed and consumed. Let them be covered with disgrace and scorn who want to harm me.
  • Isa 37:22this is the word which Yahweh has spoken concerning him. The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you and ridiculed you. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you.
  • Isa 10:12Therefore it will happen that, when the Lord has performed his whole work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the willful proud heart of the king of Assyria, and the insolence of his haughty looks.
  • Ps 83:4–11“Come,” they say, “let’s destroy them as a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.”
  • Zech 12:3It will happen in that day, that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples. All who burden themselves with it will be severely wounded, and all the nations of the earth will be gathered together against it.
  • Esth 6:13Haman recounted to Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him. Then his wise men and Zeresh his wife said to him, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish descent, you will not prevail against him, but you will surely fall before him.”
  • Ps 122:6Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Those who love you will prosper.
  • Zech 1:14–17So the angel who talked with me said to me, “Proclaim, saying, ‘Yahweh of Armies says: “I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.
  • Mic 4:11Now many nations have assembled against you, that say, “Let her be defiled, and let our eye gloat over Zion.”
  • 1 Cor 16:22If any man doesn’t love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. Come, Lord!
  • Esth 9:5The Jews struck all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, and with slaughter and destruction, and did what they wanted to those who hated them.
  • Zech 12:6In that day I will make the chieftains of Judah like a pan of fire among wood, and like a flaming torch among sheaves; and they will devour all the surrounding peoples, on the right hand and on the left; and Jerusalem will yet again dwell in their own place, even in Jerusalem.
  • Isa 37:28–29But I know your sitting down, your going out, your coming in, and your raging against me.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (1)

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 129:5YouTube · 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 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.