You make us a source of contention to our neighbors. Our enemies laugh among themselves.
Parallel translations
- KJV Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours: and our enemies laugh among themselves.
- BSB You make us contend with our neighbors; our enemies mock us.
- NKJV You have made us a strife to our neighbors, And our enemies laugh among themselves.
- NASB You make us an object of contention to our neighbors, And our enemies laugh among themselves.
- NLT You have made us the scorn of neighboring nations. Our enemies treat us as a joke.
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
God has made Israel an object of strife and mockery among surrounding nations. Their humiliation deepens the lament.
Overview
When God withdraws His protecting favor, His people become a byword and a target for scorning enemies. The taunts of the nations were especially painful because they reflected on God's own reputation as Israel's covenant Lord. This drives the prayer for restoration, that God would act for the honor of His name.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Ps 79:4We have become a reproach to our neighbors, a scoffing and derision to those who are around us.
- Jer 48:27For wasn’t Israel a derision to you? was he found among thieves? for as often as you speak of him, you shake your head.
- Jer 15:10Woe is me, my mother, that you have borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have not lent, neither have men lent to me; yet everyone of them curses me.
- Rev 11:10Those who dwell on the earth rejoice over them, and they will be glad. They will give gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.
- Judg 16:25When their hearts were merry, they said, “Call for Samson, that he may entertain us.” They called for Samson out of the prison; and he performed before them. They set him between the pillars;
- Ezek 36:4therefore, you mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Yahweh: Thus says the Lord Yahweh to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to the cities that are forsaken, which are become a prey and derision to the residue of the nations that are all around;
- Isa 36:12–20But Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me only to your master and to you, to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, who will eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?”
- Isa 36:8Now therefore, please make a pledge to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them.
- Ps 44:13–14You make us a reproach to our neighbors, a scoffing and a derision to those who are around us.
- Isa 37:23Whom have you defied and blasphemed? Against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel.
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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 80:6 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.