They close up their callous hearts. With their mouth they speak proudly.
Parallel translations
- KJV They are inclosed in their own fat: with their mouth they speak proudly.
- BSB They have closed their callous hearts; their mouths speak with arrogance.
- NKJV They have closed up their fat hearts; With their mouths they speak proudly.
- NASB They have closed their unfeeling hearts, With their mouths they speak proudly.
- NLT They are without pity. Listen to their boasting!
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's enemies are hardened in heart and arrogant in speech. It matters because it exposes the pride and callousness that mark those who oppose God's people.
Overview
David describes his foes as having closed, callous hearts and mouths that speak with arrogance. Hardness toward God and pride in speech go together in the wicked. Scripture consistently warns that such hardening invites judgment, while God gives grace to the humble.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- 1 Sam 2:3“Don’t keep talking so exceedingly proudly. Don’t let arrogance come out of your mouth, For Yahweh is a God of knowledge. By him actions are weighed.
- Ps 31:18Let the lying lips be mute, which speak against the righteous insolently, with pride and contempt.
- Ps 123:4Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scoffing of those who are at ease, with the contempt of the proud.
- Rev 13:5–6A mouth speaking great things and blasphemy was given to him. Authority to make war for forty-two months was given to him.
- Matt 13:15for this people’s heart has grown callous, their ears are dull of hearing, they have closed their eyes; or else perhaps they might perceive with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and would turn again; and I would heal them.’
- Exod 5:2Pharaoh said, “Who is Yahweh, that I should listen to his voice to let Israel go? I don’t know Yahweh, and moreover I will not let Israel go.”
- Ps 73:7–9Their eyes bulge with fat. Their minds pass the limits of conceit.
- 2 Pet 2:18For, uttering great swelling words of emptiness, they entice in the lusts of the flesh, by licentiousness, those who are indeed escaping from those who live in error;
- Ps 119:70Their heart is as callous as the fat, but I delight in your law.
- Job 15:27because he has covered his face with his fatness, and gathered fat on his thighs.
- Acts 28:27For this people’s heart has grown callous. Their ears are dull of hearing. Their eyes they have closed. Lest they should see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and would turn again, and I would heal them.’
- Exod 15:9The enemy said, ‘I will pursue. I will overtake. I will divide the plunder. My desire shall be satisfied on them. I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.’
- Isa 6:10Make the heart of this people fat. Make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed.”
- Ps 12:3–4May Yahweh cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that boasts,
- Deut 32:15But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked. You have grown fat. You have grown thick. You have become sleek. Then he abandoned God who made him, and rejected the Rock of his salvation.
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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 17:10 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.