They scavenge for food, and growl if they are not satisfied.
Parallel translations
- WEB They shall wander up and down for food, and wait all night if they aren’t satisfied.
- KJV Let them wander up and down for meat, and grudge if they be not satisfied.
- NKJV They wander up and down for food, And howl if they are not satisfied.
- NASB They wander about for food And murmur if they are not satisfied.
- NLT They scavenge for food but go to sleep unsatisfied.
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
The wicked wander hungry through the night, never satisfied. Their restless emptiness contrasts with the contentment of those who trust God.
Overview
Like scavenging dogs that prowl for food and growl when unsatisfied, the wicked find no lasting fulfillment. Their endless craving pictures the emptiness of a life apart from God. This sets up the bright contrast of the next verses, where David rests secure and rejoicing in the Lord.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Job 15:23He wanders about as food for vultures; he knows the day of darkness is at hand.
- Ps 109:10May his children wander as beggars, seeking sustenance far from their ruined homes.
- Job 30:1–7“But now they mock me, men younger than I am, whose fathers I would have refused to entrust with my sheep dogs.
- Lam 5:9We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the sword in the wilderness.
- Isa 56:11Like ravenous dogs, they are never satisfied. They are shepherds with no discernment; they all turn to their own way, each one seeking his own gain:
- Lam 4:4–5The nursing infant’s tongue clings in thirst to the roof of his mouth. Little children beg for bread, but no one gives them any.
- Lam 4:9–10Those slain by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger, who waste away, pierced with pain because the fields lack produce.
- Mic 3:5This is what the LORD says: “As for the prophets who lead My people astray, who proclaim peace while they chew with their teeth, but declare war against one who puts nothing in their mouths:
- Deut 28:48you will serve your enemies the LORD will send against you in famine, thirst, nakedness, and destitution. He will place an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you.
- Matt 24:7–8Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
- Deut 28:53–58Then you will eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters whom the LORD your God has given you, in the siege and distress that your enemy will inflict on you.
- 2 Kgs 6:25–29So there was a great famine in Samaria. Indeed, they besieged the city so long that a donkey’s head sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a quarter cab of dove’s dung sold for five shekels of silver.
- Isa 8:21They will roam the land, dejected and hungry. When they are famished, they will become enraged; and looking upward, they will curse their king and their God.
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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 59:15 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.