For strangers are risen up against me, and oppressors seek after my soul: they have not set God before them. Selah.
Parallel translations
- WEB For strangers have risen up against me. Violent men have sought after my soul. They haven’t set God before them. Selah.
- BSB For strangers rise up against me, and ruthless men seek my life—men with no regard for God. Selah
- NKJV For strangers have risen up against me, And oppressors have sought after my life; They have not set God before them. Selah
- NASB For strangers have risen against me And violent men have sought my life; They have not set God before them. Selah
- NLT For strangers are attacking me; violent people are trying to kill me. They care nothing for God. 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
Violent strangers seek David's life because they have no regard for God. It traces hostility against the godly to the enemies' disregard of God.
Overview
David names his threat: ruthless men pursuing his soul who do not set God before them. Their godlessness fuels their violence. The verse acknowledges real danger while implicitly contrasting David's God-centered life with his foes' practical atheism.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Ps 86:14O God, the proud are risen against me, and the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul; and have not set thee before them.
- Ps 36:1The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes.
- John 16:3And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.
- Ps 53:4Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread: they have not called upon God.
- Ps 40:14Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil.
- Ps 22:16For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
- Ps 16:8I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
- Job 19:13–15He hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me.
- Ps 59:3–5For, lo, they lie in wait for my soul: the mighty are gathered against me; not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O LORD.
- Matt 27:20–23But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus.
- Ps 69:8I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother’s children.
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 54:3 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.