Let death seize them by surprise; let them go down to Sheol alive, for evil is with them in their homes.
Parallel translations
- WEB Let death come suddenly on them. Let them go down alive into Sheol. For wickedness is among them, in their dwelling.
- KJV Let death seize upon them, and let them go down quick into hell: for wickedness is in their dwellings, and among them.
- NKJV Let death seize them; Let them go down alive into hell, For wickedness is in their dwellings and among them.
- NASB May death come deceitfully upon them; May they go down alive to Sheol, For evil is in their dwelling, in their midst.
- NLT Let death stalk my enemies; let the grave swallow them alive, for evil makes its home within them.
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
David calls for sudden judgment to fall on the wicked betrayers. It is an imprecatory plea entrusting their fate to God.
Overview
David prays that death would overtake those whose dwelling is full of wickedness. Such severe language reflects zeal for justice against entrenched, unrepentant evil, not personal spite. These imprecations leave vengeance to God and anticipate the final judgment that Christ will execute on persistent wickedness.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Ps 59:13Consume them in wrath; consume them till they are no more, so it may be known to the ends of the earth that God rules over Jacob. Selah
- Ps 64:7But God will shoot them with arrows; suddenly they will be wounded.
- Acts 1:18–20(Now with the reward for his wickedness Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong and burst open in the middle, and all his intestines spilled out.
- Ps 9:17The wicked will return to Sheol—all the nations who forget God.
- Ps 109:6–20Set over him a wicked man; let an accuser stand at his right hand.
- Acts 1:25to take up this ministry and apostleship, which Judas abandoned to go to his rightful place.”
- 2 Sam 18:14But Joab declared, “I am not going to wait like this with you!” And he took three spears in his hand and thrust them through the heart of Absalom while he was still alive in the oak tree.
- Matt 26:24The Son of Man will go just as it is written about Him, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed. It would be better for him if he had not been born.”
- Num 16:30–34But if the LORD brings about something unprecedented, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them and all that belongs to them so that they go down alive into Sheol, then you will know that these men have treated the LORD with contempt.”
- Matt 27:5So Judas threw the silver into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.
- 2 Sam 18:9Now Absalom was riding on his mule when he met the servants of David, and as the mule went under the thick branches of a large oak, Absalom’s head was caught fast in the tree. The mule under him kept going, so that he was suspended in midair.
- Ps 69:22–28May their table become a snare; may it be a retribution and a trap.
- 2 Sam 17:23When Ahithophel saw that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and set out for his house in his hometown. He put his affairs in order and hanged himself. So he died and was buried in his father’s tomb.
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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 55:15 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.