¶How long will you attack a man, That you may murder him, all of you, Like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence?
Parallel translations
- WEB How long will you assault a man, would all of you throw him down, Like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence?
- KJV How long will ye imagine mischief against a man? ye shall be slain all of you: as a bowing wall shall ye be, and as a tottering fence.
- BSB How long will you threaten a man? Will all of you throw him down like a leaning wall or a tottering fence?
- NKJV How long will you attack a man? You shall be slain, all of you, Like a leaning wall and a tottering fence.
- NLT So many enemies against one man— all of them trying to kill me. To them I’m just a broken-down wall or a tottering fence.
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 rebukes his attackers who assail him as if he were a leaning wall ready to collapse. It exposes the aggression of those seeking his downfall.
Overview
David challenges his enemies who relentlessly assault him, treating him as something already crumbling. The image of a leaning wall and tottering fence captures their intent to push him to ruin. Yet, secure in God, David is not as fragile as his foes imagine.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Jer 4:14Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you?
- Ps 82:2“How long will you judge unjustly, and show partiality to the wicked?” Selah.
- Ps 140:2those who devise mischief in their hearts. They continually gather themselves together for war.
- Isa 30:13–14therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly in an instant.
- Prov 1:22“How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? How long will mockers delight themselves in mockery, and fools hate knowledge?
- Ps 21:11For they intended evil against you. They plotted evil against you which cannot succeed.
- Ps 38:12They also who seek after my life lay snares. Those who seek my hurt speak mischievous things, and meditate deceits all day long.
- Exod 16:28Yahweh said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?
- Hos 7:15Though I have taught and strengthened their arms, yet they plot evil against me.
- Ps 4:2You sons of men, how long shall my glory be turned into dishonor? Will you love vanity, and seek after falsehood? Selah.
- 1 Sam 26:10David said, “As Yahweh lives, Yahweh will strike him; or his day shall come to die; or he shall go down into battle and perish.
- Prov 6:9How long will you sleep, sluggard? When will you arise out of your sleep?
- Ps 73:18–20Surely you set them in slippery places. You throw them down to destruction.
- Exod 10:3Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and said to him, “This is what Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me.
- Matt 17:17Jesus answered, “Faithless and perverse generation! How long will I be with you? How long will I bear with you? Bring him here to me.”
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 62:3 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.