Because of the voice of the enemy, Because of the oppression of the wicked. For they bring suffering on me. In anger they hold a grudge against me.
Parallel translations
- KJV Because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked: for they cast iniquity upon me, and in wrath they hate me.
- BSB at the voice of the enemy, at the pressure of the wicked. For they release disaster upon me and revile me in their anger.
- NKJV Because of the voice of the enemy, Because of the oppression of the wicked; For they bring down trouble upon me, And in wrath they hate me.
- NASB Because of the voice of the enemy, Because of the pressure of the wicked; For they bring down trouble upon me And in anger they hold a grudge against me.
- NLT My enemies shout at me, making loud and wicked threats. They bring trouble on me and angrily hunt me down.
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
His anguish comes from enemy voices, wicked oppression, and grudging anger against him. It names the external hostility driving his distress.
Overview
David identifies the source of his trouble: the threats of foes and the malice of the wicked who bring suffering and harbor anger. The pressure of persecution weighs on his soul. The verse legitimizes bringing the specific causes of pain to God rather than masking them.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- 2 Sam 16:7–8Shimei said when he cursed, “Be gone, be gone, you man of blood, and base fellow!
- Ps 35:11Unrighteous witnesses rise up. They ask me about things that I don’t know about.
- Ps 27:12Don’t deliver me over to the desire of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen up against me, such as breathe out cruelty.
- Lam 3:34–36To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth,
- Ps 73:8They scoff and speak with malice. In arrogance, they threaten oppression.
- Ps 17:9from the wicked who oppress me, my deadly enemies, who surround me.
- Ps 54:3For strangers have risen up against me. Violent men have sought after my soul. They haven’t set God before them. Selah.
- Ps 71:11saying, “God has forsaken him. Pursue and take him, for no one will rescue him.”
- Ps 12:5“Because of the oppression of the weak and because of the groaning of the needy, I will now arise,” says Yahweh; “I will set him in safety from those who malign him.”
- Matt 26:59Now the chief priests, the elders, and the whole council sought false testimony against Jesus, that they might put him to death;
- 2 Sam 19:19He said to the king, “Don’t let my lord impute iniquity to me, or remember that which your servant did perversely the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to his heart.
- 2 Sam 15:3Absalom said to him, “Behold, your matters are good and right; but there is no man deputized by the king to hear you.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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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 55:3 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.