O God, shatter their teeth in their mouths; O LORD, tear out the fangs of the lions.
Parallel translations
- WEB Break their teeth, God, in their mouth. Break out the great teeth of the young lions, Yahweh.
- KJV Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O LORD.
- NKJV Break their teeth in their mouth, O God! Break out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord!
- NASB ¶God, shatter their teeth in their mouth; Break out the fangs of the young lions, Lord.
- NLT Break off their fangs, O God! Smash the jaws of these lions, O Lord!
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 cries out for God to disarm the wicked, breaking the teeth that tear like predatory lions. It is a prayer that evil's power to harm be shattered by God.
Overview
Here David prays an imprecation, asking God to render the wicked powerless to devour the innocent. The vivid image of broken teeth and silenced lions appeals to God as the only one able to halt oppression. Such prayers entrust vengeance to God rather than seizing it personally, anticipating the day when Christ will fully overthrow all that is evil.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Ps 3:7Arise, O LORD! Save me, O my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked.
- Hos 5:14For I am like a lion to Ephraim and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear them to pieces and then go away. I will carry them off where no one can rescue them.
- Ps 10:15Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer; call him to account for his wickedness until none is left to be found.
- Job 4:10–11The lion may roar, and the fierce lion may growl, yet the teeth of the young lions are broken.
- Mic 5:8Then the remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep, which tramples and tears as it passes through, with no one to rescue them.
- Ps 17:12like a lion greedy for prey, like a young lion lurking in ambush.
- Job 29:17I shattered the fangs of the unjust and snatched the prey from his teeth.
- Ezek 30:21–26“Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt. See, it has not been bound up for healing, or splinted for strength to hold the sword.
- Isa 31:4For this is what the LORD has said to me: “Like a lion roaring or a young lion over its prey—and though a band of shepherds is called out against it, it is not terrified by their shouting or subdued by their clamor—so the LORD of Hosts will come down to do battle on Mount Zion and its heights.
- Num 23:24Behold, the people rise like a lioness; they rouse themselves like a lion, not resting until they devour their prey and drink the blood of the slain.”
- Ps 91:13You will tread on the lion and cobra; you will trample the young lion and serpent.
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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 58:6 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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