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Though they intended evil against You And devised a plot, They will not succeed.
Psalms 21:11 · New American Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB For they intended evil against you. They plotted evil against you which cannot succeed.
  • KJV For they intended evil against thee: they imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to perform.
  • BSB Though they intend You harm, the schemes they devise will not prevail.
  • NKJV For they intended evil against You; They devised a plot which they are not able to perform.
  • NLT Although they plot against you, their evil schemes will never succeed.

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

The enemies plotted evil against the king, but their schemes cannot succeed. Plans set against God's anointed are doomed to fail.

Overview

The reason for their judgment is stated: they intended and devised evil against God's king. Yet their plotting is futile, unable to prevail against the Lord's purposes. This echoes Psalm 2's theme that the nations rage in vain against God's Messiah, whose throne God secures despite all opposition.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 17

  • Ps 10:2In arrogance, the wicked hunt down the weak. They are caught in the schemes that they devise.
  • Ps 2:1Why do the nations rage, and the peoples plot a vain thing?
  • Ps 31:13For I have heard the slander of many, terror on every side, while they conspire together against me, they plot to take away my life.
  • Jer 11:18–19Yahweh gave me knowledge of it, and I knew it: then you showed me their doings.
  • Isa 7:6–7“Let’s go up against Judah, and tear it apart, and let’s divide it among ourselves, and set up a king within it, even the son of Tabeel.”
  • Isa 8:9–10Make an uproar, you peoples, and be broken in pieces! Listen, all you from far countries: dress for battle, and be shattered! Dress for battle, and be shattered!
  • Matt 2:16Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked by the wise men, was exceedingly angry, and sent out, and killed all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all the surrounding countryside, from two years old and under, according to the exact time which he had learned from the wise men.
  • Acts 4:17–18But so that this spreads no further among the people, let’s threaten them, that from now on they don’t speak to anyone in this name.”
  • Matt 28:2–6Behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from the sky, and came and rolled away the stone from the door, and sat on it.
  • Ps 35:20For they don’t speak peace, but they devise deceitful words against those who are quiet in the land.
  • Matt 27:63–64saying, “Sir, we remember what that deceiver said while he was still alive: ‘After three days I will rise again.’
  • Matt 2:8He sent them to Bethlehem, and said, “Go and search diligently for the young child. When you have found him, bring me word, so that I also may come and worship him.”
  • Ps 83:4“Come,” they say, “let’s destroy them as a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.”
  • Matt 21:46When they sought to seize him, they feared the multitudes, because they considered him to be a prophet.
  • Ezek 11:2He said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity, and who give wicked counsel in this city;
  • Matt 26:4–5They took counsel together that they might take Jesus by deceit, and kill him.
  • Acts 5:27–28When they had brought them, they set them before the council. The high priest questioned them,

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 21:11YouTube · 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 21:11 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.