Yahweh, don’t I hate those who hate you? Am I not grieved with those who rise up against you?
Parallel translations
- KJV Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?
- BSB Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD, and detest those who rise against You?
- 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 at the faithless with loathing, because they don’t observe your word.
- Rev 2:2“I know your works, and your toil and perseverance, and that you can’t tolerate evil men, and have tested those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and found them false.
- Ps 31:6I hate those who regard lying vanities, but I trust in Yahweh.
- 2 Chr 19:2Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, “Should you help the wicked, and love those who hate Yahweh? Because of this, wrath is on you from before Yahweh.
- Ps 26:5I hate the assembly of evildoers, and will not sit with the wicked.
- Rev 2:6But this you have, that you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
- Ps 15:4In whose eyes a vile man is despised, but who honors those who fear Yahweh; he who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and doesn’t change;
- Luke 19:41When he came near, he saw the city and wept over it,
- Rom 9:1–3I tell the truth in Christ. I am not lying, my conscience testifying with me in the Holy Spirit,
- Mark 3:5When he had looked around at them with anger, being grieved at the hardening of their hearts, he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored as healthy as the other.
- Ps 119:136Streams of tears run down my eyes, because they don’t observe your law. TZADI
- Jer 13:17But if you will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret for your pride; and my eye shall weep bitterly, and run down with tears, because Yahweh’s flock is taken captive.
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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 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.