Destruction is within; oppression and deceit never leave the streets.
Parallel translations
- WEB Destructive forces are within her. Threats and lies don’t depart from her streets.
- KJV Wickedness is in the midst thereof: deceit and guile depart not from her streets.
- NKJV Destruction is in its midst; Oppression and deceit do not depart from its streets.
- NASB Destruction is in her midst; Oppression and deceit do not depart from her streets.
- NLT Everything is falling apart; threats and cheating are rampant in the streets.
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
Destruction, oppression, and deceit never leave the city's streets. It completes the portrait of a society saturated with sin.
Overview
David lists the ruinous forces dwelling within the city: destruction, threats, and lies that never depart. The relentlessness underscores the depth of human corruption when God is ignored. Such honest lament over a broken world drives the believer to long for the righteous city God will establish.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Isa 59:7Their feet run to evil; they are swift to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are sinful thoughts; ruin and destruction lie in their wake.
- Ps 5:9For not a word they speak can be trusted; destruction lies within them. Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.
- Jer 5:26–27For among My people are wicked men; they watch like fowlers lying in wait; they set a trap to catch men.
- Acts 7:51–52You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did.
- Ps 10:7His mouth is full of cursing, deceit, and violence; trouble and malice are under his tongue.
- Jer 9:3–5“They bend their tongues like bows; lies prevail over truth in the land. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not take Me into account,” declares the LORD.
- Ps 109:2–3For wicked and deceitful mouths open against me; they speak against me with lying tongues.
- Ezek 22:1–12Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
- Matt 26:4and they conspired to arrest Jesus covertly and kill Him.
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 55:11 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.