Shall they escape by iniquity? In anger cast down the peoples, O God!
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.
- BSB In spite of such sin, will they escape? In Your anger, O God, cast down the nations.
- 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, 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.
- Jer 7:10and come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered;’ that you may do all these abominations?
- Jer 18:19–23Give heed to me, Yahweh, and listen to the voice of those who contend with me.
- Isa 28:15“Because you have said, ‘We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol are we in agreement. When the overflowing scourge passes through, it won’t come to us; for we have made lies our refuge, and we have hidden ourselves under falsehood.’”
- Eccl 8:8There is no man who has power over the spirit to contain the spirit; neither does he have power over the day of death. There is no discharge in war; neither shall wickedness deliver those who practice it.
- Hab 1:13You who have purer eyes than to see evil, and who cannot look on perversity, why do you tolerate those who deal treacherously, and keep silent when the wicked swallows up the man who is more righteous than he,
- Ps 55:15Let death come suddenly on them. Let them go down alive into Sheol. For wickedness is among them, in their dwelling.
- Ps 36:12There the workers of iniquity are fallen. They are thrust down, and shall not be able to rise.
- Ps 55:9Confuse them, Lord, and confound their language, for I have seen violence and strife in the city.
- Jer 10:25Pour out your wrath on the nations that don’t know you, and on the families that don’t call on your name: for they have devoured Jacob. Yes, they have devoured him and consumed him, and have laid waste his habitation.
- Ps 94:20–21Shall the throne of wickedness have fellowship with you, which brings about mischief by statute?
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
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