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.
Parallel translations
- WEB 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.
- 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 16:7–8And thus said Shimei when he cursed, Come out, come out, thou bloody man, and thou man of Belial:
- Ps 35:11False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not.
- Ps 27:12Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty.
- Lam 3:34–36To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth,
- Ps 73:8They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily.
- Ps 17:9From the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who compass me about.
- Ps 54:3For strangers are risen up against me, and oppressors seek after my soul: they have not set God before them. Selah.
- Ps 71:11Saying, God hath forsaken him: persecute and take him; for there is none to deliver him.
- Ps 12:5For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the LORD; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him.
- Matt 26:59Now the chief priests, and elders, and all the council, sought false witness against Jesus, to put him to death;
- 2 Sam 19:19And said unto the king, Let not my lord impute iniquity unto me, neither do thou remember that which thy 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 15:3And Absalom said unto him, See, thy matters are good and right; but there is no man deputed of the king to hear thee.
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 55:3 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.