Limitless Word
God shall likewise destroy you forever; He shall take you away, and pluck you out of your dwelling place, And uproot you from the land of the living. Selah
Psalms 52:5 · New King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB God will likewise destroy you forever. He will take you up, and pluck you out of your tent, and root you out of the land of the living. Selah.
  • KJV God shall likewise destroy thee for ever, he shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place, and root thee out of the land of the living. Selah.
  • BSB Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin; He will snatch you up and tear you away from your tent; He will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah
  • NASB ¶But God will break you down forever; He will snatch you up and tear you away from your tent, And uproot you from the land of the living. Selah
  • NLT But God will strike you down once and for all. He will pull you from your home and uproot you from the land of the living. Interlude

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

God will permanently overthrow the wicked man, uprooting him from life itself. It declares that divine justice will surely answer human cruelty.

Overview

After describing the man's evil, David announces God's certain judgment: he will be torn down and rooted out of the land of the living. The imagery of uprooting reverses the security the wicked thought he had. This confidence in God's justice frees believers from taking vengeance into their own hands (Romans 12:19).

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 18

  • Prov 2:22But the wicked will be cut off from the land. The treacherous will be rooted out of it.
  • Ps 27:13I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of Yahweh in the land of the living.
  • Rev 21:8But for the cowardly, unbelieving, sinners, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their part is in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
  • Job 18:14He shall be rooted out of the security of his tent. He shall be brought to the king of terrors.
  • Isa 38:11I said, “I won’t see Yah, Yah in the land of the living. I will see man no more with the inhabitants of the world.
  • Prov 12:19Truth’s lips will be established forever, but a lying tongue is only momentary.
  • Prov 19:9A false witness shall not be unpunished. He who utters lies shall perish.
  • Ps 64:7–10But God will shoot at them. They will be suddenly struck down with an arrow.
  • Prov 19:5A false witness shall not be unpunished. He who pours out lies shall not go free.
  • Ps 120:2–4Deliver my soul, Yahweh, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue.
  • Ps 116:9I will walk before Yahweh in the land of the living.
  • Ps 7:14–16Behold, he travails with iniquity. Yes, he has conceived mischief, and brought out falsehood.
  • Ps 37:35–36I have seen the wicked in great power, spreading himself like a green tree in its native soil.
  • Ps 140:9–11As for the head of those who surround me, let the mischief of their own lips cover them.
  • Ps 55:23But you, God, will bring them down into the pit of destruction. Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days, but I will trust in you.
  • Isa 22:19I will thrust you from your office. You will be pulled down from your station.
  • Job 20:6–7Though his height mount up to the heavens, and his head reach to the clouds,
  • Luke 16:27–28“He said, ‘I ask you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house;

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Psalms videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Psalms 52:5YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on PsalmsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 52:5 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.