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Therefore pride is their necklace; a garment of violence covers them.
Psalms 73:6 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB Therefore pride is like a chain around their neck. Violence covers them like a garment.
  • KJV Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment.
  • ESV Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment.
  • NKJV Therefore pride serves as their necklace; Violence covers them like a garment.
  • NASB Therefore arrogance is their necklace; The garment of violence covers them.
  • NLT They wear pride like a jeweled necklace and clothe themselves with cruelty.

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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

Because of their ease, pride adorns the wicked like a necklace and violence clothes them like a garment.

Overview

Their prosperity breeds open arrogance and cruelty, worn as if they were ornaments. Pride and violence become their very identity. Scripture consistently warns that pride precedes destruction, and the psalm will show God bringing the proud low (Proverbs 16:18).

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 25

  • Ps 109:18The cursing that he wore like a coat, may it soak into his body like water, and into his bones like oil.
  • 1 Pet 5:5Young men, in the same way, submit yourselves to your elders. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
  • Judg 8:26The weight of the gold earrings he had requested was 1,700 shekels, in addition to the crescent ornaments, the pendants, the purple garments of the kings of Midian, and the chains from the necks of their camels.
  • Prov 1:9For they are a garland of grace on your head and a pendant around your neck.
  • Dan 4:30the king exclaimed, “Is this not Babylon the Great, which I myself have built by the might of my power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?”
  • Prov 3:31Do not envy a violent man or choose any of his ways;
  • Prov 4:17For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.
  • Ezek 16:11I adorned you with jewelry, and I put bracelets on your wrists and a chain around your neck.
  • Deut 8:13–14and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all that you have is multiplied,
  • Deut 32:15But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked—becoming fat, bloated, and gorged. He abandoned the God who made him and scorned the Rock of his salvation.
  • Mic 3:5This is what the LORD says: “As for the prophets who lead My people astray, who proclaim peace while they chew with their teeth, but declare war against one who puts nothing in their mouths:
  • Song 4:9You have captured my heart, my sister, my bride; you have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your neck.
  • Eccl 8:11When the sentence for a crime is not speedily executed, the hearts of men become fully set on doing evil.
  • Ezek 28:2–5“Son of man, tell the ruler of Tyre that this is what the Lord GOD says: Your heart is proud, and you have said, ‘I am a god; I sit in the seat of gods in the heart of the sea.’ Yet you are a man and not a god, though you have regarded your heart as that of a god.
  • Jer 48:29We have heard of Moab’s pomposity, his exceeding pride and conceit, his proud arrogance and haughtiness of heart.
  • Esth 5:9–11That day Haman went out full of joy and glad of heart. At the king’s gate, however, he saw Mordecai, who did not rise or tremble in fear at his presence. And Haman was filled with rage toward Mordecai.
  • Mic 2:1–2Woe to those who devise iniquity and plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they accomplish it because the power is in their hands.
  • Gen 41:42Then Pharaoh removed the signet ring from his finger, put it on Joseph’s finger, clothed him in garments of fine linen, and placed a gold chain around his neck.
  • Jas 5:4–6Look, the wages you withheld from the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.
  • Jer 48:11Moab has been at ease from youth, settled like wine on its dregs; he has not been poured from vessel to vessel or gone into exile. So his flavor has remained the same, and his aroma is unchanged.
  • Esth 3:1After these events, King Xerxes honored Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, elevating him to a position above all the princes who were with him.
  • Esth 3:5–6When Haman saw that Mordecai would not bow down or pay him homage, he was filled with rage.
  • Job 21:7–15Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?
  • Isa 3:19their pendants, bracelets, and veils;
  • Ps 109:29May my accusers be clothed with disgrace; may they wear their shame like a robe.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (7)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Psalms videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Psalms 73:6YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on PsalmsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 73:6 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.