They hold fast to their evil purpose; they speak of hiding their snares. “Who will see them?” they say.
Parallel translations
- WEB They encourage themselves in evil plans. They talk about laying snares secretly. They say, “Who will see them?”
- KJV They encourage themselves in an evil matter: they commune of laying snares privily; they say, Who shall see them?
- NKJV They encourage themselves in an evil matter; They talk of laying snares secretly; They say, “Who will see them?”
- NASB They make firm for themselves an evil purpose; They talk of setting snares secretly; They say, “Who can see them?”
- NLT They encourage each other to do evil and plan how to set their traps in secret. “Who will ever notice?” they ask.
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 strengthen one another in evil and plot traps, confident no one sees them. It reveals the self-deceiving secrecy of sin.
Overview
Here the evildoers encourage each other in their plans and lay hidden snares, asking 'Who will see them?' Their question betrays a denial of God's all-seeing presence. Scripture insists nothing is hidden from God, before whom all hearts are exposed and to whom all must give account.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Ps 140:5The proud hide a snare for me; the cords of their net are spread along the path, and lures are set out for me. Selah
- Ps 10:11He says to himself, “God has forgotten; He hides His face and never sees.”
- Ezek 8:12“Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his own idol? For they are saying, ‘The LORD does not see us; the LORD has forsaken the land.’”
- Job 22:13Yet you say: ‘What does God know? Does He judge through thick darkness?
- Ps 59:7See what they spew from their mouths—sharp words from their lips: “For who can hear us?”
- Ps 94:7They say, “The LORD does not see; the God of Jacob pays no heed.”
- Isa 41:6Each one helps the other and says to his brother, “Be strong!”
- 1 Sam 23:19–23Then the Ziphites came up to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Is not David hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hachilah south of Jeshimon?
- Ps 124:7We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowler; the net is torn, and we have slipped away.
- Exod 15:9The enemy declared, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake. I will divide the spoils; I will gorge myself on them. I will draw my sword; my hand will destroy them.’
- Num 22:6So please come now and put a curse on this people, because they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I may be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land; for I know that those you bless are blessed, and those you curse are cursed.”
- Prov 1:11–14If they say, “Come along, let us lie in wait for blood, let us ambush the innocent without cause,
- Matt 26:3–4At that time the chief priests and elders of the people assembled in the courtyard of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas,
- Rev 11:10And those who dwell on the earth will gloat over them, and will celebrate and send one another gifts, because these two prophets had tormented them.
- Matt 23:15Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You traverse land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.
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 64:5 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.