Let death seize upon them, and let them go down quick into hell: for wickedness is in their dwellings, and among them.
Parallel translations
- WEB Let death come suddenly on them. Let them go down alive into Sheol. For wickedness is among them, in their dwelling.
- BSB Let death seize them by surprise; let them go down to Sheol alive, for evil is with them in their homes.
- 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, that they may not be: and let them know that God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth. Selah.
- Ps 64:7But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded.
- Acts 1:18–20Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.
- Ps 9:17The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.
- Ps 109:6–20Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand.
- Acts 1:25That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.
- 2 Sam 18:14Then said Joab, I may not tarry thus with thee. And he took three darts in his hand, and thrust them through the heart of Absalom, while he was yet alive in the midst of the oak.
- Matt 26:24The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born.
- Num 16:30–34But if the LORD make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit; then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the LORD.
- Matt 27:5And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.
- 2 Sam 18:9And Absalom met the servants of David. And Absalom rode upon a mule, and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak, and his head caught hold of the oak, and he was taken up between the heaven and the earth; and the mule that was under him went away.
- Ps 69:22–28Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap.
- 2 Sam 17:23And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass, and arose, and gat him home to his house, to his city, and put his household in order, and hanged himself, and died, and was buried in the sepulchre of his father.
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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.