They return at evening: they make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city.
Parallel translations
- WEB They return at evening, howling like dogs, and prowl around the city.
- BSB They return in the evening, snarling like dogs and prowling around the city.
- NKJV At evening they return, They growl like a dog, And go all around the city.
- NASB They return at evening, they howl like a dog, And prowl around the city.
- NLT They come out at night, snarling like vicious dogs as they prowl the streets.
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 pictures his enemies as scavenging dogs prowling the city at evening. It conveys their relentless, predatory pursuit.
Overview
The image of howling dogs roaming the streets captures the menacing persistence of David's pursuers. In the ancient city, such dogs were wild scavengers, fitting symbols of those who hunt the innocent. The verse sets the threat vividly before God, who alone can drive the predators away.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Ps 59:14And at evening let them return; and let them make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city.
- Ps 22:16For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
- 1 Sam 19:11Saul also sent messengers unto David’s house, to watch him, and to slay him in the morning: and Michal David’s wife told him, saying, If thou save not thy life to night, to morrow thou shalt be slain.
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 59:6 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
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.