Day and night they go around it on its walls; Iniquity and trouble are also in the midst of it.
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.
- BSB Day and night they encircle the walls, while malice and trouble lie within.
- 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 59:14–15At evening let them return. Let them howl like a dog, and go around the city.
- Isa 59:6–15Their webs won’t become garments. They won’t cover themselves with their works. Their works are works of iniquity, and acts of violence are in their hands.
- John 18:28They led Jesus therefore from Caiaphas into the Praetorium. It was early, and they themselves didn’t enter into the Praetorium, that they might not be defiled, but might eat the Passover.
- Ezek 9:4Yahweh said to him, “Go through the middle of the city, through the middle of Jerusalem, and set a mark on the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry over all the abominations that are done within it.”
- Acts 9:24but their plot became known to Saul. They watched the gates both day and night that they might kill him,
- Ps 59:6They return at evening, howling like dogs, and prowl around the city.
- John 18:3Judas then, having taken a detachment of soldiers and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.
- Mic 2:1–2Woe to those who devise iniquity and work evil on their beds! When the morning is light, they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand.
- 2 Sam 17:1–2Moreover Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me now choose twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David tonight.
- 2 Sam 16:21–22Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Go in to your father’s concubines that he has left to keep the house. Then all Israel will hear that you are abhorred by your father. Then the hands of all who are with you will be strong.”
- Hos 7:6For they have prepared their heart like an oven, while they lie in wait. Their baker sleeps all the night. In the morning it burns as a flaming fire.
- 1 Sam 19:11Saul sent messengers to David’s house, to watch him, and to kill him in the morning. Michal, David’s wife, told him, saying, “If you don’t save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.”
- Zeph 3:1–3Woe to her who is rebellious and polluted, 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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