Day and night they encircle the walls, while malice and trouble lie within.
Parallel translations
- WEB Day and night they prowl around on its walls. Malice and abuse are also within her.
- KJV Day and night they go about it upon the walls thereof: mischief also and sorrow are in the midst of it.
- NKJV Day and night they go around it on its walls; Iniquity and trouble are also in the midst of it.
- NASB Day and night they go around her upon her walls, And evil and harm are in her midst.
- NLT Its walls are patrolled day and night against invaders, but the real danger is wickedness within the city.
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
Day and night malice and abuse patrol the city like guards. It pictures pervasive, unrelenting wickedness.
Overview
David personifies sin as sentinels prowling the city walls continually, with malice and trouble within. The image conveys how thoroughly corruption has taken hold. It sharpens his grief and his plea for God to act against entrenched evil.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Ps 59:14–15They return in the evening, snarling like dogs and prowling around the city.
- Isa 59:6–15Their cobwebs cannot be made into clothing, and they cannot cover themselves with their works. Their deeds are sinful deeds, and acts of violence are in their hands.
- John 18:28Then they led Jesus away from Caiaphas into the Praetorium. By now it was early morning, and the Jews did not enter the Praetorium, to avoid being defiled and unable to eat the Passover.
- Ezek 9:4“Go throughout the city of Jerusalem,” said the LORD, “and put a mark on the foreheads of the men sighing and groaning over all the abominations committed there.”
- Acts 9:24but Saul learned of their plot. Day and night they watched the city gates in order to kill him.
- Ps 59:6They return in the evening, snarling like dogs and prowling around the city.
- John 18:3So Judas brought a band of soldiers and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees. They arrived at the garden carrying lanterns, torches, and weapons.
- Mic 2:1–2Woe to those who devise iniquity and plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they accomplish it because the power is in their hands.
- 2 Sam 17:1–2Furthermore, Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me choose twelve thousand men and set out tonight in pursuit of David.
- 2 Sam 16:21–22Ahithophel replied, “Sleep with your father’s concubines, whom he has left to keep the palace. When all Israel hears that you have become a stench to your father, then the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened.”
- Hos 7:6For they prepare their heart like an oven while they lie in wait; all night their anger smolders; in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.
- 1 Sam 19:11Then Saul sent messengers to David’s house to watch him and kill him in the morning. But David’s wife Michal warned him, “If you do not run for your life tonight, tomorrow you will be dead!”
- Zeph 3:1–3Woe to the city of oppressors, rebellious and defiled!
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 55:10 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.