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When evil people come to devour me, when my enemies and foes attack me, they will stumble and fall.
Psalms 27:2 · New Living Translation
Parallel translations
  • WEB When evildoers came at me to eat up my flesh, even my adversaries and my foes, they stumbled and fell.
  • KJV When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.
  • BSB When the wicked came upon me to devour my flesh, my enemies and foes stumbled and fell.
  • NKJV When the wicked came against me To eat up my flesh, My enemies and foes, They stumbled and fell.
  • NASB When evildoers came upon me to devour my flesh, My adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell.

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

When evildoers attacked to devour him, they stumbled and fell. God overthrows the enemies who rise against his servant.

Overview

David recalls how his adversaries, intent on his destruction, were themselves brought down. The memory of past deliverance fuels his present confidence. The verse testifies that those who assault God's people will ultimately fail, a truth supremely shown when the powers arrayed against Christ were defeated through his death and resurrection.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 13

  • Ps 118:12They surrounded me like bees. They are quenched like the burning thorns. In Yahweh’s name I cut them off.
  • Ps 3:7Arise, Yahweh! Save me, my God! For you have struck all of my enemies on the cheek bone. You have broken the teeth of the wicked.
  • Ps 22:16For dogs have surrounded me. A company of evildoers have enclosed me. They have pierced my hands and feet.
  • Ps 14:4Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and don’t call on Yahweh?
  • Ps 9:3When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish in your presence.
  • Isa 8:15Many will stumble over it, fall, be broken, be snared, and be captured.”
  • Job 19:22Why do you persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?
  • Ps 18:4The cords of death surrounded me. The floods of ungodliness made me afraid.
  • Ps 18:38–42I will strike them through, so that they will not be able to rise. They shall fall under my feet.
  • John 18:3–6Judas then, having taken a detachment of soldiers and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.
  • Job 31:31if the men of my tent have not said, ‘Who can find one who has not been filled with his meat?’
  • Ps 62:3–4How long will you assault a man, would all of you throw him down, Like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence?
  • Ps 53:4Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and don’t call on God?

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 27:2YouTube · 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 27:2 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.