Let them be ashamed and confounded that seek after my soul: let them be turned backward, and put to confusion, that desire my hurt.
Parallel translations
- WEB Let them be disappointed and confounded who seek my soul. Let those who desire my ruin be turned back in disgrace.
- BSB May those who seek my life be ashamed and confounded; may those who wish me harm be repelled and humiliated.
- NKJV Let them be ashamed and confounded Who seek my life; Let them be turned back and confused Who desire my hurt.
- NASB May those who seek my life Be put to shame and humiliated; May those who delight in my harm Be turned back and dishonored.
- NLT May those who try to kill me be humiliated and put to shame. May those who take delight in my trouble be turned back in disgrace.
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 those seeking his life be shamed and turned back. It asks God to thwart and disgrace his enemies' evil intent.
Overview
David asks that those who seek his ruin be confounded and driven back in disgrace. He entrusts his vindication to God rather than retaliating himself. This appeal for God to defeat the schemes of the wicked reflects trust that the Lord will defend his servant, ultimately vindicated in Christ's triumph over all his enemies.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Ps 35:4Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul: let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt.
- Ps 35:26Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together that rejoice at mine hurt: let them be clothed with shame and dishonour that magnify themselves against me.
- Isa 41:11Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish.
- Ps 71:13Let them be confounded and consumed that are adversaries to my soul; let them be covered with reproach and dishonour that seek my hurt.
- Ps 109:29Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle.
- John 18:6As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground.
- Ps 6:10Let all mine enemies be ashamed and sore vexed: let them return and be ashamed suddenly.
- Isa 28:13But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
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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 70:2 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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