Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold.
Parallel translations
- WEB while you sleep among the camp fires, the wings of a dove sheathed with silver, her feathers with shining gold.
- BSB Though you lie down among the sheepfolds, the wings of the dove are covered with silver, and her feathers with shimmering gold.”
- NKJV Though you lie down among the sheepfolds, You will be like the wings of a dove covered with silver, And her feathers with yellow gold.”
- NASB When you lie down among the sheepfolds, You are like the wings of a dove covered with silver, And its pinions with glistening gold.
- NLT Even those who lived among the sheepfolds found treasures— doves with wings of silver and feathers of gold.
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
Amid the spoils, the people are adorned like a dove with silver and gold wings. It uses rich imagery to portray the beauty of God's blessing after victory.
Overview
This vivid and admittedly difficult verse pictures God's people, once lying among the sheepfolds, now glorious like a dove sheathed in silver and gold. The exact image is debated among faithful interpreters, but the sense is of transformation from lowliness to splendor through God's deliverance. It hints at the glory God bestows on His redeemed people in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Ps 105:37He brought them forth also with silver and gold: and there was not one feeble person among their tribes.
- Gen 49:14Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens:
- Rev 1:5–6And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
- Judg 5:16Why abodest thou among the sheepfolds, to hear the bleatings of the flocks? For the divisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart.
- Eph 2:1–3And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
- Titus 3:3For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.
- 1 Cor 6:9–11Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
- 1 Kgs 4:20–21Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking, and making merry.
- Ps 81:6I removed his shoulder from the burden: his hands were delivered from the pots.
- Exod 1:14And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.
- Luke 15:22But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:
- Luke 15:16And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.
- Ezek 16:6–14And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live.
- Ps 74:19O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked: forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever.
- Ps 149:4For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation.
- 1 Cor 12:2Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led.
- Eph 5:26–27That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 68:13 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.