Day and night they go about it upon the walls thereof: mischief also and sorrow are in the midst of it.
Parallel translations
- WEB Day and night they prowl around on its walls. Malice and abuse are also within her.
- BSB Day and night they encircle the walls, while malice and trouble lie within.
- 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 59:14–15And at evening let them return; and let them make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city.
- Isa 59:6–15Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands.
- John 18:28Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the passover.
- Ezek 9:4And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.
- Acts 9:24But their laying await was known of Saul. And they watched the gates day and night to kill him.
- Ps 59:6They return at evening: they make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city.
- John 18:3Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons.
- Mic 2:1–2Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand.
- 2 Sam 17:1–2Moreover Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Let me now choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David this night:
- 2 Sam 16:21–22And Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Go in unto thy father’s concubines, which he hath left to keep the house; and all Israel shall hear that thou art abhorred of thy father: then shall the hands of all that are with thee be strong.
- Hos 7:6For they have made ready their heart like an oven, whiles they lie in wait: their baker sleepeth all the night; in the morning it burneth as a flaming fire.
- 1 Sam 19:11Saul also sent messengers unto David’s house, to watch him, and to slay him in the morning: and Michal David’s wife told him, saying, If thou save not thy life to night, to morrow thou shalt be slain.
- Zeph 3:1–3Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city!
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 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
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