At the taunt of one who reproaches and verbally abuses, because of the enemy and the avenger.
Parallel translations
- KJV For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth; by reason of the enemy and avenger.
- BSB at the voice of the scorner and reviler, because of the enemy, bent on revenge.
- NKJV Because of the voice of him who reproaches and reviles, Because of the enemy and the avenger.
- NASB Because of the voice of one who taunts and reviles, Because of the presence of the enemy and the avenger.
- NLT All we hear are the taunts of our mockers. All we see are our vengeful enemies.
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
The shame comes from the taunts of those who reproach and the presence of the enemy and avenger. It matters because hostile mockery intensifies the believer's suffering.
Overview
The cause of the shame is named: the verbal abuse of enemies bent on vengeance. The taunts wound because they seem to call God's faithfulness into question. The faithful sufferer entrusts such reviling to God, as Christ did when He was reviled yet did not retaliate.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Ps 8:2From the lips of babes and infants you have established strength, because of your adversaries, that you might silence the enemy and the avenger.
- Ps 74:18Remember this, that the enemy has mocked you, Yahweh. Foolish people have blasphemed your name.
- Ps 74:22–23Arise, God! Plead your own cause. Remember how the foolish man mocks you all day.
- Ps 74:10How long, God, shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme your name forever?
- Isa 37:17Turn your ear, Yahweh, and hear. Open your eyes, Yahweh, and behold. Hear all of the words of Sennacherib, who has sent to defy the living God.
- Isa 37:3–4They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘Today is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of rejection; for the children have come to the birth, and there is no strength to give birth.
- Ps 79:12Pay back to our neighbors seven times into their bosom their reproach with which they have reproached you, Lord.
- Isa 37:23–24Whom have you defied and blasphemed? Against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel.
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 44:16 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.