Surely God will crush the heads of His enemies, the hairy crowns of those who persist in guilty ways.
Parallel translations
- WEB But God will strike through the head of his enemies, the hairy scalp of such a one as still continues in his guiltiness.
- KJV But God shall wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses.
- NKJV But God will wound the head of His enemies, The hairy scalp of the one who still goes on in his trespasses.
- NASB God certainly will shatter the heads of His enemies, The hairy head of one who goes about in his guilt.
- NLT But God will smash the heads of his enemies, crushing the skulls of those who love their guilty ways.
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
God will surely crush the heads of his enemies, namely those who persist in their guilt and rebellion. It assures us that unrepentant evil cannot stand before him.
Overview
In this triumphal psalm celebrating God's victories, David affirms that the Lord himself will shatter the skull of his foes. The picture of striking the head recalls the promise of Genesis 3:15 that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent's head, ultimately fulfilled in Christ's decisive victory over sin and Satan. Judgment falls not arbitrarily but on those who continue in guiltiness, refusing to repent.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Hab 3:13You went forth for the salvation of Your people, to save Your anointed. You crushed the head of the house of the wicked and stripped him from head to toe. Selah
- Ps 7:12If one does not repent, God will sharpen His sword; He has bent and strung His bow.
- Luke 13:5No, I tell you. But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
- Ps 110:6He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead; He will crush the leaders far and wide.
- Heb 12:25See to it that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if the people did not escape when they refused Him who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject Him who warns us from heaven?
- Ezek 18:27–30But if a wicked man turns from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he will save his life.
- Rev 2:14–16But I have a few things against you, because some of you hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling block before the Israelites so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality.
- Heb 2:1–3We must pay closer attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.
- Prov 1:24–33Because you refused my call, and no one took my outstretched hand,
- Ps 55:23But You, O God, will bring them down to the Pit of destruction; men of bloodshed and deceit will not live out half their days. But I will trust in You.
- Mark 12:4Then he sent them another servant, and they struck him over the head and treated him shamefully.
- Ps 68:18You have ascended on high; You have led captives away. You have received gifts from men, even from the rebellious, that the LORD God may dwell there.
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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 68:21 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
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