May they be wiped out of the book of life, And may they not be recorded with the righteous.
Parallel translations
- WEB Let them be blotted out of the book of life, and not be written with the righteous.
- KJV Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.
- BSB May they be blotted out of the Book of Life and not listed with the righteous.
- NKJV Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, And not be written with the righteous.
- NLT Erase their names from the Book of Life; don’t let them be counted among the righteous.
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 blotted out of the book of life and not counted among the righteous. It appeals to God's final judgment between the wicked and the just.
Overview
David asks that the persecutors be removed from the register of the living and not enrolled with the righteous. The book of life imagery reappears in Revelation, where those written in it belong to the Lamb. While the language is severe, it underscores the eternal seriousness of opposing God, and points to Christ, in whom alone one's name is securely written in the book of life.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Exod 32:32–33Yet now, if you will, forgive their sin — and if not, please blot me out of your book which you have written.”
- Luke 10:20Nevertheless, don’t rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
- Phil 4:3Yes, I beg you also, true partner, help these women, for they labored with me in the Good News, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.
- Ezek 13:9“My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and who divine lies. They will not be in the council of my people, neither will they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither will they enter into the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord Yahweh”
- Rev 13:8All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been killed.
- Rev 20:12–15I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and they opened books. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works.
- Heb 12:23to the festal gathering and assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect,
- Rev 22:19If anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, may God take away his part from the tree of life, and out of the holy city, which are written in this book.
- Rev 3:5He who overcomes will be arrayed in white garments, and I will in no way blot his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.
- Isa 65:16so that he who blesses himself in the earth will bless himself in the God of truth; and he who swears in the earth will swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hidden from my eyes.
- Hos 1:9He said, “Call his name Lo-Ammi; for you are not my people, and I will not be yours.
- Isa 4:3It will happen, that he who is left in Zion, and he who remains in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even everyone who is written among the living in Jerusalem;
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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 69:28 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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