When mine enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish at thy presence.
Parallel translations
- WEB When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish in your presence.
- BSB When my enemies retreat, they stumble and perish before You.
- NKJV When my enemies turn back, They shall fall and perish at Your presence.
- NASB ¶When my enemies turn back, They stumble and perish before You.
- NLT My enemies retreated; they staggered and died when you appeared.
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
When his enemies retreat, they stumble and perish before God's presence. The mere presence of God overturns those who oppose His people.
Overview
David attributes the defeat of his enemies not to his own strength but to God's presence, before which they fall. The image conveys that opposition to God's anointed cannot stand. It foreshadows the ultimate defeat of all enemies before the throne of God and of Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- 2 Th 1:9Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
- Rev 6:12–17And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
- Rev 20:11And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
- Ps 80:16It is burned with fire, it is cut down: they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.
- Ps 76:7Thou, even thou, art to be feared: and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry?
- Isa 64:3When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence.
- Ps 68:1–2Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him.
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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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 9:3 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.