Back to Psalms 55

Psalms 55:15

Let death come suddenly on them. Let them go down alive into Sheol. For wickedness is among them, in their dwelling.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Parallel Translations

  • WEB World English Bible

    Let death come suddenly on them. Let them go down alive into Sheol. For wickedness is among them, in their dwelling.

  • KJV King James Version

    Let death seize upon them, and let them go down quick into hell: for wickedness is in their dwellings, and among them.

  • JPS JPS Tanakh (1917)

    (55-16) May He incite death against them, let them go down alive into the nether-world; for evil is in their dwelling, and within them.

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Cross-references (13)

Passages linked to Psalms 55:15 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.

  • Psalms 59:13 Consume them in wrath. Consume them, and they will be no more. Let them know that God rules in Jacob, to the ends of the earth.
  • Psalms 9:17 The wicked shall be turned back to Sheol, even all the nations that forget God.
  • Psalms 64:7 But God will shoot at them. They will be suddenly struck down with an arrow.
  • Psalms 109:6-20 Set a wicked man over him. Let an adversary stand at his right hand. When he is judged, let him come out guilty. Let his prayer be turned into sin. Let his days be few. Let another take his office. Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. Let his children be wandering beggars. Let them be sought from their ruins. Let the creditor seize all that he has. Let strangers plunder the fruit of his labor. Let there be no one to extend kindness to him, neither let there be anyone to have pity on his fatherless children. Let his posterity be cut off. In the generation following let their name be blotted out. Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered by Yahweh. Don’t let the sin of his mother be blotted out. Let them be before Yahweh continually, that he may cut off their memory from the earth; because he didn’t remember to show kindness, but persecuted the poor and needy man, the broken in heart, to kill them. Yes, he loved cursing, and it came to him. He didn’t delight in blessing, and it was far from him. He clothed himself also with cursing as with his garment. It came into his inward parts like water, like oil into his bones. Let it be to him as the clothing with which he covers himself, for the belt that is always around him. This is the reward of my adversaries from Yahweh, of those who speak evil against my soul.
  • Acts 1:18-20 Now this man obtained a field with the reward for his wickedness, and falling headlong, his body burst open, and all his intestines gushed out. It became known to everyone who lived in Jerusalem that in their language that field was called ‘Akeldama,’ that is, ‘The field of blood.’ For it is written in the book of Psalms, ‘Let his habitation be made desolate. Let no one dwell in it;’ and, ‘Let another take his office.’
  • Numbers 16:30-34 But if Yahweh makes a new thing, and the ground opens its mouth, and swallows them up with all that belong to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall understand that these men have despised Yahweh.” As he finished speaking all these words, the ground that was under them split apart. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their households, all of Korah’s men, and all their goods. So they, and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol. The earth closed on them, and they perished from among the assembly. All Israel that were around them fled at their cry; for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us up!”
  • 2 Samuel 18:14 Then Joab said, “I’m not going to wait like this with you.” He took three darts in his hand, and thrust them through the heart of Absalom, while he was yet alive in the middle of the oak.
  • Matthew 26:24 The Son of Man goes, even as it is written of him, but woe to that man through whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would be better for that man if he had not been born.”
  • Matthew 27:5 He threw down the pieces of silver in the sanctuary, and departed. He went away and hanged himself.
  • Acts 1:25 to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas fell away, that he might go to his own place.”
  • 2 Samuel 18:9 Absalom happened to meet David’s servants. Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak, and his head caught hold of the oak, and he was taken up between the sky and earth; and the mule that was under him went on.
  • Psalms 69:22-28 Let their table before them become a snare. May it become a retribution and a trap. Let their eyes be darkened, so that they can’t see. Let their backs be continually bent. Pour out your indignation on them. Let the fierceness of your anger overtake them. Let their habitation be desolate. Let no one dwell in their tents. For they persecute him whom you have wounded. They tell of the sorrow of those whom you have hurt. Charge them with crime upon crime. Don’t let them come into your righteousness. Let them be blotted out of the book of life, and not be written with the righteous.
  • 2 Samuel 17:23 When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey, arose, and went home, to his city, and set his house in order, and hanged himself; and he died, and was buried in the tomb of his father.

Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)

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Explain this verse (17 sources)

Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.

John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 15 Let death seize upon them. He now denounces…

15 Let death seize upon them. He now denounces the whole faction, not the nation generally, but those who had taken a prominent part in the persecution of him. In imprecating this curse he was not influenced by any bad feeling towards them, and must be understood as speaking not in his own cause but in that of God, and under the immediate guidance of his Spirit. This was no wish uttered in a moment of resentment or of reckless and ill-considered zeal, and which would justify us in launching maledictions against our enemies upon every trivial provocation. The spirit of revenge differs widely from the holy and regulated fervor with which David prays for the judgment of God against wicked men, who had already been doomed to everlasting destruction. The translation, Let death condemn them, is forced, and so also is another which has been suggested, Let him appoint death a creditor over them. That which we have given is the most obvious and simple. In praying that his enemies may descend alive into the grave, it has been well observed, that he seems to allude to the punishment of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram; though I conceive that in imprecating sudden and unexpected ruin upon them, he adverts to the proud persuasion which they cherished in their prosperity, that they would escape the stroke of death. “Lord,” as if he had said, “in the infatuation of their pride they consider themselves to be exempted from the ordinary lot of mortality, but let the earth swallow them up alive — let nothing prevent their being dragged down with all their pomp to the destruction which they deserve.” The cause which he assigns for his prayer in the latter part of the verse, is another proof that he was not influenced by any personal resentment against his enemies, but simply denounced the just judgments of God upon such as persecuted the Church. Wickedness, he adds, is in their dwelling By this he meant that it could not but dwell where they dwelt and this he expresses still more fully when he adds, in the midst of them; intimating, that they inwardly cherished their wickedness, so that it was their inseparable companion, and dwelt with them under the same roof.

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 As Korah, Dathan and Abiram.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 55:15 Let death seize upon them, [and] let…
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Them, i.e. him and all such false-hearted wretches, that…
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain As for me, I will call upon God,.... Not…
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Them - All such as pretend to religion, and…
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 15. Let death seize upon them] This is…
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Psa 55:15. Let death seize upon them — Hebrew,…
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Let death seize upon them - This would be…
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Let death, &c.--or, "Desolations are on them."
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 15. Again the subdued and tender strain of the…
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 15. The mournful recollections of past friendships so cruelly…
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (15) Let death.—According to the written text we should…
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Let death seize upon them. As this strophe begins…
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 15. Not thus would Jesus pray, but the…
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain Or, the grave.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Let death come suddenly on them

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