For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side: while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life.
Parallel translations
- WEB For I have heard the slander of many, terror on every side, while they conspire together against me, they plot to take away my life.
- BSB For I hear the slander of many; there is terror on every side. They conspire against me and plot to take my life.
- NKJV For I hear the slander of many; Fear is on every side; While they take counsel together against me, They scheme to take away my life.
- NASB For I have heard the slander of many, Terror is on every side; While they took counsel together against me, They schemed to take away my life.
- NLT I have heard the many rumors about me, and I am surrounded by terror. My enemies conspire against me, plotting to take my life.
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 hears slander and terror on every side as enemies conspire to take his life. It names the plots that surround him.
Overview
Whispering enemies scheme together, and David feels encircled by danger. The phrase 'terror on every side' captures his peril. Even so, the very next verse shows that such threats drive David not to despair but to renewed trust in God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 20
- Jer 20:10For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. Report, say they, and we will report it. All my familiars watched for my halting, saying, Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him.
- Matt 27:1When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death:
- Lam 2:22Thou hast called as in a solemn day my terrors round about, so that in the day of the LORD’s anger none escaped nor remained: those that I have swaddled and brought up hath mine enemy consumed.
- 1 Sam 20:33And Saul cast a javelin at him to smite him: whereby Jonathan knew that it was determined of his father to slay David.
- 2 Sam 17:1–4Moreover Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Let me now choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David this night:
- Matt 26:3–4Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas,
- Matt 26:59Now the chief priests, and elders, and all the council, sought false witness against Jesus, to put him to death;
- Jer 6:25Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy and fear is on every side.
- 1 Sam 24:9And David said to Saul, Wherefore hearest thou men’s words, saying, Behold, David seeketh thy hurt?
- 1 Sam 19:10–17And Saul sought to smite David even to the wall with the javelin, but he slipped away out of Saul’s presence, and he smote the javelin into the wall: and David fled, and escaped that night.
- Ps 55:10Day and night they go about it upon the walls thereof: mischief also and sorrow are in the midst of it.
- Ps 56:1–3Be merciful unto me, O God: for man would swallow me up; he fighting daily oppresseth me.
- Ps 101:5Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off: him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer.
- 1 Sam 23:19–20Then came up the Ziphites to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide himself with us in strong holds in the wood, in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of Jeshimon?
- 1 Sam 22:8–10That all of you have conspired against me, and there is none that sheweth me that my son hath made a league with the son of Jesse, and there is none of you that is sorry for me, or sheweth unto me that my son hath stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as at this day?
- Ps 57:4My soul is among lions: and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.
- Luke 23:1–2And the whole multitude of them arose, and led him unto Pilate.
- Jer 11:19But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.
- Luke 23:5And they were the more fierce, saying, He stirreth up the people, teaching throughout all Jewry, beginning from Galilee to this place.
- Jer 20:3–4And it came to pass on the morrow, that Pashur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then said Jeremiah unto him, The LORD hath not called thy name Pashur, but Magormissabib.
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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 31:13 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
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