He will repay the evil to my enemies. Destroy them in your truth.
Parallel Translations
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He will repay the evil to my enemies. Destroy them in your truth.
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He shall reward evil unto mine enemies: cut them off in thy truth.
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(54-7) He will requite the evil unto them that lie in wait for me; destroy Thou them in Thy truth.
Cross-references (10)
Passages linked to Psalms 54:5 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 143:12 In your loving kindness, cut off my enemies, and destroy all those who afflict my soul, For I am your servant.
- Psalms 89:49 Lord, where are your former loving kindnesses, which you swore to David in your faithfulness?
- Psalms 31:23 Oh love Yahweh, all you his saints! Yahweh preserves the faithful, and fully recompenses him who behaves arrogantly.
- Psalms 94:23 He has brought on them their own iniquity, and will cut them off in their own wickedness. Yahweh, our God, will cut them off.
- Psalms 137:8 Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, he will be happy who repays you, as you have done to us.
- 2 Timothy 4:14 Alexander, the coppersmith, did much evil to me. The Lord will repay him according to his deeds,
- Revelation 18:6 Return to her just as she returned, and repay her double as she did, and according to her works. In the cup which she mixed, mix to her double.
- Psalms 5:8 Lead me, Yahweh, in your righteousness because of my enemies. Make your way straight before my face.
- Psalms 27:11 Teach me your way, Yahweh. Lead me in a straight path, because of my enemies.
- Psalms 143:1 Hear my prayer, Yahweh. Listen to my petitions. In your faithfulness and righteousness, relieve me.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 5. He shall reward evil unto mine enemies As…
5. He shall reward evil unto mine enemies As the verb ישיב, yashib, may be rendered he shall cause to return, it seems to point not only at the punishment, but the kind of punishment, which would be awarded to his enemies, in the recoiling of their wicked machinations upon their own heads. Some give an optative signification to the verb, understanding the words to express a wish or prayer; but I see no reason why it should not be taken strictly in the future tense, and imagine that David intimates his certain expectation that this favor, which he had already prayed for, would be granted. It is by no means uncommon to find the prayers of the Psalmist intersected with sentences of this kind, inserted for the purpose of stimulating his faith, as here, where he announces the general truth, that God is the righteous judge who will recompense the wicked. With the view of confirming his hopes, he adverts particularly to the truth of God; for nothing can support us in the hour of temptation, when the Divine deliverance may be long delayed, but a firm persuasion that God is true, and that he cannot deceive us by his divine promises. His confidence of obtaining his request was grounded upon the circumstance that God could no more deny his word than deny himself.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain According to thy faithful promise for my defense.
According to thy faithful promise for my defense.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 54:5 He shall reward evil unto mine enemies:…
Psa 54:5 He shall reward evil unto mine enemies: cut them off in thy truth.
Ver. 5. He shall reward evil unto mine enemies] Or, mine observers, that watch me a mischief. I shall escape out of trouble, and they shall come in my stead, Pro 11:8.
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Cut them off in thy truth] i.e. According as thou hast pronounced against such as seek and suck innocent blood.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain In thy truth; or, for or according to thy…
In thy truth; or, for or according to thy truth; whereby thou art engaged to fulfil thy promises made to me, and thy threatenings denounced against thine and mine implacable enemies.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain He shall reward evil unto mine enemies,.... That eyed…
He shall reward evil unto mine enemies,.... That eyed him as Saul did; that observed his haunts, where he resorted, and who were with him, as the Ziphites did under Saul's direction; as the Word (m) here used for "enemies" signifies: the mischief they had devised for him, he believed, would be returned upon their own heads; the pit they digged they would fall into themselves; and the net they had spread for others their own feet would be taken in. This was true as of David's enemies, so of Christ's, the wicked Jews, who narrowly watched him to take every advantage against him;
cut them off in thy truth; root and branch, as Saul, and his family, and his courtiers, quickly were, according to the truth of promises made to David, and of threatenings unto them.
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(m) "observatoribus meis", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Michaelis.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Thy truth - Whereby thou art engaged to fulfil…
Thy truth - Whereby thou art engaged to fulfil thy promises and threatenings.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 5. He shall reward evil] Saul and his…
Verse 5. He shall reward evil] Saul and his courtiers, instead of having God's approbation, shall have his curse.
Cut them off in thy truth.] Thou hast promised to save me; these have purposed to destroy me. Thy truth is engaged in my defence; they will destroy me if permitted to live: to save thy truth, and to accomplish its promises, thou must cut them off.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain He shall reward evil unto mine enemies - Margin,…
He shall reward evil unto mine enemies - Margin, “those that observe me.” The original word here means literally “to twist, to twist together;” then, to press together; then, to “oppress,” or to treat as an enemy. The reference here is to those who pressed upon him as enemies, or who endeavored to crush him. The idea is that God would recompense them for this conduct, or that he would deal with them as they deserved.
Cut them off in thy truth - In thy faithfulness; in thy regard for what is right. This is simply a prayer, or an expression of strong confidence, that God would deal with them as they deserved, or that he would not suffer such conduct to pass without a proper expression of his sense of the wrong. There is no evidence that David in this prayer was prompted by private or vindictive feeling.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain He shall . . . evil--or, "Evil shall return…
He shall . . . evil--or, "Evil shall return on" (Psa 7:16) my enemies or watchers, that is, to do me evil (Psa 6:7).
in thy truth--Thy verified promise.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 5. He shall reward evil unto mine enemies—The “evil”…
5. He shall reward evil unto mine enemies—The “evil” they sought to do to me shall recoil upon themselves. God shall turn it back upon them. So the word rendered “reward” properly signifies. It is another instance of the lex talionis.
Cut them off in thy truth—The optative sense, here, is to be taken in connexion with the qualifying words “thy truth.” Only in accordance with this does David invoke divine interference. Immutability and authority of law are the gist and essence of the prayer. If these fail all is lost. Prayer for the deliverance of the righteous cannot be answered without the reformation or the destruction of the wicked; that is, destruction as to their power to do evil.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 5. He shall requite the evil unto them that…
5. He shall requite the evil unto them that lie in wait for me:
Destroy thou them in thy truth.
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God will cause the evil which they are plotting to recoil upon their own heads: or, according to the K’thîbh or written text (Introd. p. li), The evil shall return &c.: cp. Psa_7:16. Enemies (A.V.) is a peculiar word found only in Psa_5:8; Psa_27:11; Psa_56:2; Psa_59:10, meaning those who lie in wait for him, like fowlers (Jer_5:26 R.V.), or a leopard for its prey (Hos_13:7). Jerome renders it insidiatores.
in thy truth] For Thou canst not be false to Thy promise to deliver me.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (5) Cut them off.—Or, put them to silence.
(5) Cut them off.—Or, put them to silence.
In thy truth.—Or, according to thy faithfulness.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain He shall reward evil unto mine enemies; literally, he…
He shall reward evil unto mine enemies; literally, he shall return the wrong upon my adversaries. "The wrong" is that which his adversaries had wished to inflict upon the psalmist, viz. death. (see 1Sa_23:19, 1Sa_23:20) Cut them off in thy truth; or, "in thy truthfulness" (Cheyne). God had given his people those who were faithful to him the promise of his protection, and, being true, could not go back from his word.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 5. He shall reward evil unto mine enemies.…
Ver. 5. He shall reward evil unto mine enemies. They worked for evil, and they shall have their wages. It cannot be that malice should go unavenged. It were cruelty to the good to be lenient to their persecutors. It is appointed, and so it must ever be, that those who shoot upward the arrows of malice shall find them fall upon themselves. The recoil of their own gun has often killed oppressors.
Cut them off in thy truth. Not in ferocious revenge is this spoken, but as an Amen to the sure sentence of the just Judge. Let the veracity of thy threatenings be placed beyond dispute, the decree is right and just, let it be fulfilled. It is not a private desire, but the solemn utterance of a military man, a grossly injured man, a public leader destined to be a monarch, and a man well trained in the school of Moses, whose law ordains eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.
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Ver. 5. Cut them off. He desires that God would destroy them with a death dealing blow, which is the force the word tmu contains; its primitive sense is to be silent, to keep silence, whence it is transferred to a stroke penetrating deeply and striking fatally, such as is called a silent blow, opposed to a sounding one, which is wont to rebound and not pierce deeply. Hermann Venema.
None.
Psalms 54:6*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.