Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD, and detest those who rise against You?
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh, don’t I hate those who hate you? Am I not grieved with those who rise up against you?
- KJV Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?
- NKJV Do I not hate them, O Lord, who hate You? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?
- NASB Do I not hate those who hate You, Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?
- NLT O Lord, shouldn’t I hate those who hate you? Shouldn’t I despise those who oppose you?
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
David asks whether he ought not to hate those who hate Yahweh and grieve over those who oppose Him. It expresses solidarity with God against His enemies.
Overview
David's 'hatred' is not personal spite but covenant loyalty: he aligns his heart fully with God's cause. Faithful readers understand this as zeal for God's glory, set within the Old Covenant before the fuller revelation of loving enemies in Christ (Matthew 5:44). The tension is resolved at the cross, where God's enemies are both judged and, through repentance, reconciled.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Ps 119:158I look on the faithless with loathing because they do not keep Your word.
- Rev 2:2I know your deeds, your labor, and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate those who are evil, and you have tested and exposed as liars those who falsely claim to be apostles.
- Ps 31:6I hate those who cling to worthless idols, but in the LORD I trust.
- 2 Chr 19:2Jehu son of Hanani the seer went out to confront him and said to King Jehoshaphat, “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD? Because of this, the wrath of the LORD is upon you.
- Ps 26:5I hate the mob of evildoers, and refuse to sit with the wicked.
- Rev 2:6But you have this to your credit: You hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
- Ps 15:4who despises the vile but honors those who fear the LORD, who does not revise a costly oath,
- Luke 19:41As Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it
- Rom 9:1–3I speak the truth in Christ; I am not lying, as confirmed by my conscience in the Holy Spirit.
- Mark 3:5Jesus looked around at them with anger and sorrow at their hardness of heart. Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out, and it was restored.
- Ps 119:136My eyes shed streams of tears because Your law is not obeyed.
- Jer 13:17But if you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride. My eyes will overflow with tears, because the LORD’s flock has been taken captive.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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 139:21 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.