Let them not say in their hearts, “Aha, just what we wanted!” Let them not say, “We have swallowed him up!”
Parallel translations
- WEB Don’t let them say in their heart, “Aha! That’s the way we want it!” Don’t let them say, “We have swallowed him up!”
- KJV Let them not say in their hearts, Ah, so would we have it: let them not say, We have swallowed him up.
- NKJV Let them not say in their hearts, “Ah, so we would have it!” Let them not say, “We have swallowed him up.”
- NASB Do not let them say in their heart, “Aha, our desire!” Do not let them say, “We have swallowed him up!”
- NLT Don’t let them say, “Look, we got what we wanted! Now we will eat him alive!”
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 prays his enemies will not get to gloat 'Aha!' or boast that they have swallowed him up. He asks God to deny evil its triumph.
Overview
The mockers' inward wish is to see David destroyed and to claim 'we have swallowed him up.' David asks the Lord to thwart this so that pride and cruelty are not rewarded. This longing for God to overturn the schemes of the wicked is answered supremely at the cross and resurrection, where the apparent victory of Christ's enemies became their defeat.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Lam 2:16All your enemies open their mouths against you. They hiss and gnash their teeth, saying, “We have swallowed her up. This is the day for which we have waited. We have lived to see it!”
- Matt 27:43He trusts in God. Let God deliver Him now if He wants Him. For He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”
- Ps 124:3when their anger flared against us, then they would have swallowed us alive,
- Ps 57:3He reaches down from heaven and saves me; He rebukes those who trample me. Selah God sends forth His loving devotion and His truth.
- Ps 56:1–2For the choirmaster. To the tune of “A Dove on Distant Oaks.” A Miktam of David, when the Philistines seized him in Gath. Be merciful to me, O God, for men are hounding me; all day they press their attack.
- 1 Cor 15:54When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come to pass: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
- Ps 74:8They said in their hearts, “We will crush them completely.” They burned down every place where God met us in the land.
- Ps 140:8Grant not, O LORD, the desires of the wicked; do not promote their evil plans, lest they be exalted. Selah
- Job 1:5And when the days of feasting were over, Job would send for his children to purify them, rising early in the morning to offer burnt offerings for all of them. For Job thought, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular practice.
- Mark 2:8At once Jesus knew in His spirit that they were thinking this way within themselves. “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts?” He asked.
- Ps 27:12Do not hand me over to the will of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, breathing out violence.
- Ps 28:3Do not drag me away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, who speak peace to their neighbors while malice is in their hearts.
- Exod 15:9The enemy declared, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake. I will divide the spoils; I will gorge myself on them. I will draw my sword; my hand will destroy them.’
- 2 Sam 20:19I am among the peaceable and faithful in Israel, but you are trying to destroy a city that is a mother in Israel. Why would you swallow up the LORD’s inheritance?”
- Mark 2:6But some of the scribes were sitting there and thinking in their hearts,
- Ps 70:3May those who say, “Aha, aha!” retreat because of their shame.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 35:25 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.