Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake.
Parallel translations
- WEB Let their eyes be darkened, so that they can’t see. Let their backs be continually bent.
- BSB May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever.
- NKJV Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see; And make their loins shake continually.
- NASB May their eyes grow dim so that they cannot see, And make their hips shake continually.
- NLT Let their eyes go blind so they cannot see, and make their bodies shake continually.
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 prays that his enemies be blinded and weakened under God's judgment. It invokes God to bring the wicked to ruin.
Overview
David asks that his persecutors' eyes be darkened and their strength broken, images of spiritual blindness and helplessness under judgment. Paul cites this in Romans 11 regarding Israel's partial hardening in rejecting Christ. Such severe prayers leave justice to God and warn of the real consequences of opposing his anointed one, while the gospel still offers mercy to all who turn.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Dan 5:6Then the king’s countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another.
- Rom 11:10Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.
- Isa 6:9–10And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
- 2 Cor 3:14But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.
- Acts 28:26–27Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive:
- Jer 30:6Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?
- Isa 21:3–4Therefore are my loins filled with pain: pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman that travaileth: I was bowed down at the hearing of it; I was dismayed at the seeing of it.
- Deut 28:65–67And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the LORD shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind:
- Isa 29:9–10Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.
- Rom 11:25For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
- John 12:39–40Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again,
- Matt 13:14–15And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
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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 69:23 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.