Repay them according to their deeds and for their works of evil. Repay them for what their hands have done; bring back on them what they deserve.
Parallel translations
- WEB Give them according to their work, and according to the wickedness of their doings. Give them according to the operation of their hands. Bring back on them what they deserve.
- KJV Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavours: give them after the work of their hands; render to them their desert.
- NKJV Give them according to their deeds, And according to the wickedness of their endeavors; Give them according to the work of their hands; Render to them what they deserve.
- NASB Give back to them according to their work and according to the evil of their practices; Give back to them according to the work of their hands; Repay them what is due them.
- NLT Give them the punishment they so richly deserve! Measure it out in proportion to their wickedness. Pay them back for all their evil deeds! Give them a taste of what they have done to others.
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 God to repay the wicked according to their evil deeds. It is an appeal for divine justice, not personal vengeance.
Overview
This imprecation entrusts judgment to God rather than David's own hand, asking that evildoers receive what their works deserve. Such prayers express zeal for God's righteousness and confidence that He judges justly. They are tempered in light of Christ, who teaches love of enemies while still upholding final divine justice.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- 2 Tim 4:14Alexander the coppersmith did great harm to me. The Lord will repay him according to his deeds.
- Rev 22:12“Behold, I am coming soon, and My reward is with Me, to give to each one according to what he has done.
- Rev 18:6Give back to her as she has done to others; pay her back double for what she has done; mix her a double portion in her own cup.
- Ps 109:17–21The cursing that he loved, may it fall on him; the blessing in which he refused to delight, may it be far from him.
- Ps 59:12–13By the sins of their mouths and the words of their lips, let them be trapped in their pride, in the curses and lies they utter.
- Ezra 9:13After all that has come upon us because of our evil deeds and our great guilt (though You, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserve and have given us such a remnant as this),
- Ps 103:10He has not dealt with us according to our sins or repaid us according to our iniquities.
- Rom 11:22Take notice, therefore, of the kindness and severity of God: severity to those who fell, but kindness to you, if you continue in His kindness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.
- Ps 5:10Declare them guilty, O God; let them fall by their own devices. Drive them out for their many transgressions, for they have rebelled against You.
- Ps 2:1–5Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
- Ps 69:22–24May their table become a snare; may it be a retribution and a trap.
- Ezek 38:10This is what the Lord GOD says: On that day, thoughts will arise in your mind, and you will devise an evil plan.
- Ps 62:12and loving devotion to You, O Lord. For You will repay each man according to his deeds.
- Jer 18:21–23Therefore, hand their children over to famine; pour out the power of the sword upon them. Let their wives become childless and widowed; let their husbands be slain by disease, their young men struck down by the sword in battle.
- Ps 103:3–4He who forgives all your iniquities and heals all your diseases,
- Ps 21:10You will wipe their descendants from the earth, and their offspring from the sons of men.
- Rom 2:6–8God “will repay each one according to his deeds.”
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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 28:4 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.