You have broken down the walls protecting him and ruined every fort defending him.
Parallel translations
- WEB You have broken down all his hedges. You have brought his strongholds to ruin.
- KJV Thou hast broken down all his hedges; thou hast brought his strong holds to ruin.
- BSB You have broken down all his walls; You have reduced his strongholds to rubble.
- NKJV You have broken down all his hedges; You have brought his strongholds to ruin.
- NASB You have broken down all his walls; You have brought his strongholds to ruin.
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 seems to have torn down the king's defenses and ruined his strongholds.
Overview
The king's protective "hedges" and fortifications lie in ruin, picturing total vulnerability before enemies. The lament attributes this even to God's permitting hand. It expresses the depth of covenant crisis that only the resurrection of Christ would finally resolve.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Ps 80:12Why have you broken down its walls, so that all those who pass by the way pluck it?
- Lam 2:2The Lord has swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and has not pitied: He has thrown down in his wrath the strongholds of the daughter of Judah; He has brought them down to the ground; he has profaned the kingdom and its princes.
- Lam 2:5The Lord has become as an enemy, he has swallowed up Israel; He has swallowed up all her palaces, he has destroyed his strongholds; He has multiplied in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.
- Job 1:10Haven’t you made a hedge around him, and around his house, and around all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
- 2 Chr 15:5In those times there was no peace to him who went out, nor to him who came in; but great troubles were on all the inhabitants of the lands.
- Isa 5:5–6Now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away its hedge, and it will be eaten up. I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled down.
- 2 Chr 12:2–5In the fifth year of king Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because they had trespassed against Yahweh,
- Rev 13:1–7Then I stood on the sand of the sea. I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads. On his horns were ten crowns, and on his heads, blasphemous names.
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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 89:40 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.