But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction: bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will trust in thee.
Parallel translations
- WEB But you, God, will bring them down into the pit of destruction. Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days, but I will trust in you.
- BSB But You, O God, will bring them down to the Pit of destruction; men of bloodshed and deceit will not live out half their days. But I will trust in You.
- NKJV But You, O God, shall bring them down to the pit of destruction; Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; But I will trust in You.
- NASB But You, God, will bring them down to the pit of destruction; Men of bloodshed and deceit will not live out half their days. But I will trust in You.
- NLT But you, O God, will send the wicked down to the pit of destruction. Murderers and liars will die young, but I am trusting you to save me.
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 affirms God will bring the bloodthirsty and deceitful to ruin, while he himself trusts in God. It ends with confident contrast between the wicked's doom and the believer's trust.
Overview
The psalm closes by declaring God's judgment: violent and deceitful men will not live out half their days. Set against this, David's final word is personal trust in the Lord. This concluding confidence shows that, whatever betrayals and dangers come, the believer's security rests wholly in God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Prov 10:27The fear of the LORD prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.
- Ps 5:6Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the LORD will abhor the bloody and deceitful man.
- Job 15:32It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green.
- Ps 73:18Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.
- Isa 38:17Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.
- Eccl 7:17Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time?
- Ps 7:15–16He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made.
- Prov 15:11Hell and destruction are before the LORD: how much more then the hearts of the children of men?
- Ps 59:12–13For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips let them even be taken in their pride: and for cursing and lying which they speak.
- Ps 25:2O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me.
- Matt 27:4–5Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that.
- Prov 27:20Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.
- 2 Sam 20:9–10And Joab said to Amasa, Art thou in health, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with the right hand to kiss him.
- 2 Sam 3:27And when Abner was returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside in the gate to speak with him quietly, and smote him there under the fifth rib, that he died, for the blood of Asahel his brother.
- 1 Kgs 2:5–6Moreover thou knowest also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, and what he did to the two captains of the hosts of Israel, unto Abner the son of Ner, and unto Amasa the son of Jether, whom he slew, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war upon his girdle that was about his loins, and in his shoes that were on his feet.
- Ps 58:9Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath.
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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 55:23 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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