In spite of such sin, will they escape? In Your anger, O God, cast down the nations.
Parallel translations
- WEB Shall they escape by iniquity? In anger cast down the peoples, God.
- KJV Shall they escape by iniquity? in thine anger cast down the people, O God.
- NKJV Shall they escape by iniquity? In anger cast down the peoples, O God!
- NASB Because of their wickedness, will there be an escape for them? In anger make the peoples fall down, God!
- NLT Don’t let them get away with their wickedness; in your anger, O God, bring them 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
David asks whether the wicked should escape and prays God to cast them down. It appeals to God's justice against the guilty.
Overview
David rejects the idea that iniquity should go unpunished and calls on God to bring the peoples low in righteous anger. He entrusts justice to God rather than seizing it himself. The prayer reflects confidence that God will not let evil triumph unchecked.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Ps 55:23But 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.
- Jer 7:10and then come and stand before Me in this house, which bears My Name, and say, ‘We are delivered, so we can continue with all these abominations’?
- Jer 18:19–23Attend to me, O LORD. Hear what my accusers are saying!
- Isa 28:15For you said, “We have made a covenant with death; we have fashioned an agreement with Sheol. When the overwhelming scourge passes through it will not touch us, because we have made lies our refuge and falsehood our hiding place.”
- Eccl 8:8As no man has power over the wind to contain it, so no one has authority over his day of death. As no one can be discharged in wartime, so wickedness will not release those who practice it.
- Hab 1:13Your eyes are too pure to look upon evil, and You cannot tolerate wrongdoing. So why do You tolerate the faithless? Why are You silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?
- Ps 55:15Let death seize them by surprise; let them go down to Sheol alive, for evil is with them in their homes.
- Ps 36:12There the evildoers lie fallen, thrown down and unable to rise.
- Ps 55:9O Lord, confuse and confound their speech, for I see violence and strife in the city.
- Jer 10:25Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge You, and on the families that do not call on Your name. For they have devoured Jacob; they have consumed him and finished him off; they have devastated his homeland.
- Ps 94:20–21Can a corrupt throne be Your ally—one devising mischief by decree?
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 56:7 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.