Those who hate me without cause outnumber the hairs of my head; many are those who would destroy me—my enemies for no reason. Though I did not steal, I must repay.
Parallel translations
- WEB Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head. Those who want to cut me off, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty. I have to restore what I didn’t take away.
- KJV They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away.
- NKJV Those who hate me without a cause Are more than the hairs of my head; They are mighty who would destroy me, Being my enemies wrongfully; Though I have stolen nothing, I still must restore it.
- NASB Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head; Those who would destroy me are powerful, those who oppose me with lies; What I did not steal, I then have to restore.
- NLT Those who hate me without cause outnumber the hairs on my head. Many enemies try to destroy me with lies, demanding that I give back what I didn’t steal.
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's enemies hate him without cause and are many and mighty, demanding he repay what he never stole. It laments suffering unjust hostility.
Overview
David is surrounded by countless powerful foes who hate him for no valid reason and press false charges. Jesus applied the phrase hated me without a cause directly to himself (John 15:25), marking this verse as a prophecy of the Messiah's unjust rejection. The righteous sufferer here points to Christ, who bore wrongful hatred and made restitution he did not owe.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Ps 35:19Let not my enemies gloat over me without cause, nor those who hate me without reason wink in malice.
- John 15:25But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated Me without reason.’
- Ps 109:3–5They surround me with hateful words and attack me without cause.
- Ps 35:11–12Hostile witnesses come forward; they make charges I know nothing about.
- 2 Cor 5:21God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
- Isa 53:4–7Surely He took on our infirmities and carried our sorrows; yet we considered Him stricken by God, struck down and afflicted.
- Ps 38:19–20Many are my enemies without cause, and many hate me without reason.
- Ps 40:12For evils without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, so that I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart has failed within me.
- Ps 7:3–5O LORD my God, if I have done this, if injustice is on my hands,
- 1 Pet 3:18For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit,
- Ps 59:3See how they lie in wait for me. Fierce men conspire against me for no transgression or sin of my own, O LORD.
- 1 Pet 2:22“He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth.”
- 1 Pet 2:24He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “By His stripes you are healed.”
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 69:4 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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