Those who hate the LORD would feign obedience, and their doom would last forever.
Parallel translations
- WEB The haters of Yahweh would cringe before him, and their punishment would last forever.
- KJV The haters of the LORD should have submitted themselves unto him: but their time should have endured for ever.
- NKJV The haters of the Lord would pretend submission to Him, But their fate would endure forever.
- NASB “Those who hate the Lord would pretend to obey Him, And their time of punishment would be forever.
- NLT Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him; they would be doomed forever.
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
Those who hate the LORD would cringe before Him, their punishment lasting forever. God's enemies face certain and enduring judgment.
Overview
The verse promises that the LORD's haters would be forced into submission under His everlasting judgment. It contrasts the fate of God's enemies with the blessing offered to His obedient people. This points to the final triumph of God over all who oppose Him, vindicating His righteousness.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Deut 7:10But those who hate Him He repays to their faces with destruction; He will not hesitate to repay to his face the one who hates Him.
- Rom 1:30slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant, and boastful. They invent new forms of evil; they disobey their parents.
- Ps 63:3Because Your loving devotion is better than life, my lips will glorify You.
- Rom 8:7because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.
- Ps 83:2–18See how Your enemies rage, how Your foes have reared their heads.
- Ps 18:44–45When they hear me, they obey me; foreigners cower before me.
- Exod 20:5You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
- Ps 102:28The children of Your servants will dwell securely, and their descendants will be established before You.”
- John 15:22–23If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin.
- Joel 3:20But Judah will be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.
- Isa 65:22No longer will they build houses for others to inhabit, nor plant for others to eat. For as is the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people, and My chosen ones will fully enjoy the work of their hands.
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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 81:15 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.