They repay me evil for good and oppose me for pursuing good.
Parallel translations
- WEB They who also render evil for good are adversaries to me, because I follow what is good.
- KJV They also that render evil for good are mine adversaries; because I follow the thing that good is.
- BSB Those who repay my good with evil attack me for pursuing the good.
- NKJV Those also who render evil for good, They are my adversaries, because I follow what is good.
- NASB And those who repay evil for good, They become my enemies, because I follow what is good.
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
His adversaries return evil for good and oppose him precisely because he pursues righteousness. Goodness itself provokes their enmity.
Overview
David's pursuit of what is right earns him hatred rather than gratitude. This is the perennial conflict between the godly and the wicked. The righteous Christ supremely repaid the world's evil with good and was hated for it.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Ps 35:12They reward me evil for good, to the bereaving of my soul.
- 1 Jn 3:12unlike Cain, who was of the evil one, and killed his brother. Why did he kill him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s righteous.
- Jer 18:20Shall evil be recompensed for good? For they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember how I stood before you to speak good for them, to turn away your wrath from them.
- 1 Pet 4:14–16If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed; because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. On their part he is blasphemed, but on your part he is glorified.
- John 10:32Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of those works do you stone me?”
- Ps 109:3–5They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, and fought against me without a cause.
- 1 Sam 25:21Now David had said, “Surely in vain I have kept all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained to him. He has returned me evil for good.
- Ps 7:4if I have rewarded evil to him who was at peace with me (yes, if I have delivered him who without cause was my adversary),
- 1 Pet 3:17–18For it is better, if it is God’s will, that you suffer for doing well than for doing evil.
- 1 Sam 19:4–6Jonathan spoke good of David to Saul his father, and said to him, “Don’t let the king sin against his servant, against David; because he has not sinned against you, and because his works have been very good toward you;
- 1 Sam 23:12Then David said, “Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul?” Yahweh said, “They will deliver you up.”
- Matt 5:10Blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
- 1 Pet 3:13Now who is he who will harm you, if you become imitators of that which is good?
- 1 Sam 23:5David and his men went to Keilah, and fought with the Philistines, and brought away their livestock, and killed them with a great slaughter. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.
- 1 Sam 25:16They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 38:20 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.