Back to Psalms 73

Psalms 73:4-12

For there are no struggles in their death, but their strength is firm.

They are free from burdens of men, neither are they plagued like other men.

Therefore pride is like a chain around their neck. Violence covers them like a garment.

Their eyes bulge with fat. Their minds pass the limits of conceit.

They scoff and speak with malice. In arrogance, they threaten oppression.

They have set their mouth in the heavens. Their tongue walks through the earth.

Therefore their people return to them, and they drink up waters of abundance.

They say, “How does God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?”

Behold, these are the wicked. Being always at ease, they increase in riches.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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Parallel Translations

  • WEB World English Bible

    For there are no struggles in their death, but their strength is firm.

    They are free from burdens of men, neither are they plagued like other men.

    Therefore pride is like a chain around their neck. Violence covers them like a garment.

    Their eyes bulge with fat. Their minds pass the limits of conceit.

    They scoff and speak with malice. In arrogance, they threaten oppression.

    They have set their mouth in the heavens. Their tongue walks through the earth.

    Therefore their people return to them, and they drink up waters of abundance.

    They say, “How does God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?”

    Behold, these are the wicked. Being always at ease, they increase in riches.

  • KJV King James Version

    For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm.

    They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men.

    Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment.

    Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish.

    They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily.

    They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth.

    Therefore his people return hither: and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them.

    And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High?

    Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches.

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  • JPS JPS Tanakh (1917)

    For there are no pangs at their death, and their body is sound.

    In the trouble of man they are not; neither are they plagued like men.

    Therefore pride is as a chain about their neck; violence covereth them as a garment.

    Their eyes stand forth from fatness; they are gone beyond the imaginations of their heart.

    They scoff, and in wickedness utter oppression; they speak as if there were none on high.

    They have set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth.

    Therefore His people return hither; and waters of fullness are drained out by them.

    And they say: 'How doth God know? And is there knowledge in the Most High?'

    Behold, such are the wicked; and they that are always at ease increase riches.

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Cross-references (95)

  • Jude 1:16 (v8) These are murmurers and complainers, walking after their lusts—and their mouth speaks proud things—showing respect of persons to gain…
  • Revelation 13:6 (v9) He opened his mouth for blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his dwelling, those who dwell in heaven.
  • Psalms 109:18 (v6) He clothed himself also with cursing as with his garment. It came into his inward parts like water, like oil into his bones.
  • Hosea 7:2 (v11) They don’t consider in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness. Now their own deeds have engulfed them. They are before my face.
  • Psalms 17:10 (vv4, 7, 8) They close up their callous hearts. With their mouth they speak proudly.
Show all 88 cross-references
  • Exodus 5:2 (v9) Pharaoh said, “Who is Yahweh, that I should listen to his voice to let Israel go? I don’t know Yahweh, and moreover I will not let Israel…
  • Job 21:23-24 (v4) One dies in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet. His pails are full of milk. The marrow of his bones is moistened.
  • Zephaniah 1:12 (v11) It will happen at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are settled on their dregs, who say in…
  • James 3:6 (v9) And the tongue is a fire. The world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course…
  • 1 Peter 5:5 (v6) Likewise, you younger ones, be subject to the elder. Yes, all of you clothe yourselves with humility, to subject yourselves to one another;…
  • Psalms 17:14 (vv4, 7, 12) from men by your hand, Yahweh, from men of the world, whose portion is in this life. You fill the belly of your cherished ones. Your sons…
  • Psalms 73:12 (vv5, 7) Behold, these are the wicked. Being always at ease, they increase in riches.
  • Jeremiah 5:28 (vv7, 12) They have grown fat. They shine; yes, they excel in deeds of wickedness. They don’t plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they…
  • Job 15:27 (v7) because he has covered his face with his fatness, and gathered fat on his thighs.
  • Job 21:9 (v5) Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them.
  • Psalms 10:2 (v8) In arrogance, the wicked hunt down the weak. They are caught in the schemes that they devise.
  • Psalms 52:7 (v12) “Behold, this is the man who didn’t make God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his…
  • Ecclesiastes 2:16 (v4) For of the wise man, even as of the fool, there is no memory forever, since in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. Indeed,…
  • Luke 16:22 (v4) The beggar died, and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died, and was buried.
  • Jeremiah 12:1-2 (vv5, 12) You are righteous, Yahweh, when I contend with you; yet I would like to reason the cause with you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper?…
  • Judges 8:26 (v6) The weight of the golden earrings that he requested was one thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold, in addition to the crescents, and…
  • 2 Chronicles 32:15 (v9) Now therefore don’t let Hezekiah deceive you, nor persuade you in this way. Don’t believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom was able…
  • Job 22:13-14 (v11) You say, ‘What does God know? Can he judge through the thick darkness? Thick clouds are a covering to him, so that he doesn’t see. He walks…
  • Job 24:20 (v4) The womb will forget him. The worm will feed sweetly on him. He will be no more remembered. Unrighteousness will be broken as a tree.
  • Psalms 10:10-11 (v8) The helpless are crushed. They collapse. They fall under his strength. He says in his heart, “God has forgotten. He hides his face. He will…
  • Psalms 12:4-5 (v8) who have said, “With our tongue we will prevail. Our lips are our own. Who is lord over us?” “Because of the oppression of the weak and…
  • Psalms 53:1-4 (v8) The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity. There is no one who does good. God…
  • Psalms 73:9 (v11) They have set their mouth in the heavens. Their tongue walks through the earth.
  • Psalms 94:7 (v11) They say, “Yah will not see, neither will Jacob’s God consider.”
  • Proverbs 1:9 (v6) for they will be a garland to grace your head, and chains around your neck.
  • Proverbs 3:31 (v6) Don’t envy the man of violence. Choose none of his ways.
  • Proverbs 30:13-14 (v8) There is a generation, oh how lofty are their eyes! Their eyelids are lifted up. There is a generation whose teeth are like swords, and…
  • Ecclesiastes 7:15 (v4) All this I have seen in my days of vanity: there is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who lives…
  • Jeremiah 7:9-11 (v8) Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods that you have not known, then come…
  • Ezekiel 8:12 (v11) Then he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in his rooms of imagery?…
  • Daniel 3:15 (v9) Now if you are ready whenever you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music to fall down and…
  • Daniel 4:30 (v6) The king spoke and said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built for the royal dwelling place, by the might of my power and for the…
  • Daniel 7:25 (v9) He will speak words against the Most High, and will wear out the saints of the Most High. He will plan to change the times and the law; and…
  • Hosea 12:7-8 (v12) A merchant has dishonest scales in his hand. He loves to defraud. Ephraim said, “Surely I have become rich, I have found myself wealth. In…
  • 2 Peter 2:10 (v8) but chiefly those who walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they are not afraid to…
  • 2 Peter 2:18 (v8) For, uttering great swelling words of emptiness, they entice in the lusts of the flesh, by licentiousness, those who are indeed escaping…
  • Revelation 3:19 (v5) As many as I love, I reprove and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent.
  • Genesis 41:42 (v6) Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand, and put it on Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in robes of fine linen, and put a gold chain…
  • Exodus 1:9-10 (v8) He said to his people, “Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we. Come, let’s deal wisely with them, lest…
  • Deuteronomy 8:13-14 (v6) and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; then your…
  • Deuteronomy 32:15 (v6) But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked. You have grown fat. You have grown thick. You have become sleek. Then he abandoned God who made him, and…
  • 1 Samuel 13:19 (v8) Now there was no blacksmith found throughout all the land of Israel; for the Philistines said, “Lest the Hebrews make themselves swords or…
  • 1 Samuel 25:2 (v7) There was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel; and the man was very great. He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats;…
  • 1 Samuel 25:36 (v7) Abigail came to Nabal; and behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was…
  • 1 Kings 21:7-29 (v8) Jezebel his wife said to him, “Do you now govern the kingdom of Israel? Arise, and eat bread, and let your heart be merry. I will give you…
  • Esther 3:1 (v6) After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the…
  • Esther 3:5-6 (v6) When Haman saw that Mordecai didn’t bow down, nor pay him homage, Haman was full of wrath. But he scorned the thought of laying hands on…
  • Esther 5:9-11 (v6) Then Haman went out that day joyful and glad of heart, but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king’s gate, that he didn’t stand up nor move for…
  • Job 21:6 (v5) When I remember, I am troubled. Horror takes hold of my flesh.
  • Job 21:7-15 (v6) “Why do the wicked live, become old, yes, and grow mighty in power? Their child is established with them in their sight, their offspring…
  • Psalms 10:11 (v11) He says in his heart, “God has forgotten. He hides his face. He will never see it.”
  • Psalms 37:35 (v12) I have seen the wicked in great power, spreading himself like a green tree in its native soil.
  • Psalms 44:21 (v11) won’t God search this out? For he knows the secrets of the heart.
  • Psalms 49:6 (v12) Those who trust in their wealth, and boast in the multitude of their riches—
  • Psalms 62:10 (v12) Don’t trust in oppression. Don’t become vain in robbery. If riches increase, don’t set your heart on them.
  • Psalms 109:29 (v6) Let my adversaries be clothed with dishonor. Let them cover themselves with their own shame as with a robe.
  • Psalms 119:70 (v7) Their heart is as callous as the fat, but I delight in your law.
  • Psalms 139:1-6 (v11) Yahweh, you have searched me, and you know me. You know my sitting down and my rising up. You perceive my thoughts from afar. You search…
  • Proverbs 3:11-12 (v5) My son, don’t despise Yahweh’s discipline, neither be weary of his correction; for whom Yahweh loves, he corrects, even as a father…
  • Proverbs 4:17 (v6) For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.
  • Ecclesiastes 8:11 (v6) Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.
  • Song of Solomon 4:9 (v6) You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride. You have ravished my heart with one of your eyes, with one chain of your neck.
  • Isaiah 3:9 (v7) The look of their faces testify against them. They parade their sin like Sodom. They don’t hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have…
  • Isaiah 3:19 (v6) the earrings, the bracelets, the veils,
  • Jeremiah 5:17 (v12) They will eat up your harvest and your bread, which your sons and your daughters should eat. They will eat up your flocks and your herds.…
  • Jeremiah 48:11 (v6) “Moab has been at ease from his youth, and he has settled on his lees, and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither has he gone…
  • Jeremiah 48:29 (v6) “We have heard of the pride of Moab. He is very proud in his loftiness, his pride, his arrogance, and the arrogance of his heart.
  • Ezekiel 16:11 (v6) I decked you with ornaments, put bracelets on your hands, and put a chain on your neck.
  • Ezekiel 16:49 (v7) “ ‘ “Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and prosperous ease was in her and in her daughters. She…
  • Ezekiel 28:2-5 (v6) “Son of man, tell the prince of Tyre, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Because your heart is lifted up, and you have said, ‘I am a god, I sit in the…
  • Hosea 7:16 (v8) They return, but not to the Most High. They are like a faulty bow. Their princes will fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue. This…
  • Micah 2:1-2 (v6) Woe to those who devise iniquity and work evil on their beds! When the morning is light, they practice it, because it is in the power of…
  • Micah 3:5 (v6) Yahweh says concerning the prophets who lead my people astray; for those who feed their teeth, they proclaim, “Peace!” and whoever doesn’t…
  • Luke 12:16-19 (v7) He spoke a parable to them, saying, “The ground of a certain rich man produced abundantly. He reasoned within himself, saying, ‘What will I…
  • Luke 16:19 (v12) “Now there was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple and fine linen, living in luxury every day.
  • Luke 18:4 (v9) He wouldn’t for a while, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God, nor respect man,
  • 1 Corinthians 11:32 (v5) But when we are judged, we are punished by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.
  • Hebrews 12:8 (v5) But if you are without discipline, of which all have been made partakers, then you are illegitimate, and not children.
  • James 5:1-3 (v12) Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you. Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten.…
  • James 5:4-6 (v6) Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have…
  • Job 21:14 (v9) They tell God, ‘Depart from us, for we don’t want to know about your ways.
  • Psalms 52:4 (v9) You love all devouring words, you deceitful tongue.
  • Psalms 75:8 (v10) For in Yahweh’s hand there is a cup, full of foaming wine mixed with spices. He pours it out. Indeed the wicked of the earth drink and…

88 distinct cross-references across this passage (95 total citations).

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

Explain this passage (17 sources)

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

John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv4–12 4 For there are no bands to their death.…

4 For there are no bands to their death. The Psalmist describes the comforts and advantages of the ungodly, which are as it were so many temptations to shake the faith of the people of God. He begins with the good health which they enjoy, telling us, that they are robust and vigorous, and have not to draw their breath with difficulty through continual sicknesses, as will often be the case with regard to true believers. Some explain bands to death, as meaning delays, viewing the words as implying that the wicked die suddenly, and in a moment, not having to struggle with the pangs of dissolution. In the book of Job it is reckoned among the earthly felicities of the ungodly, That, after having enjoyed to the full their luxurious pleasures, they “in a moment go down to the grave,” (Job 21:13.) And it is related of Julius Caesar, that, the day before he was put to death, he remarked, that to die suddenly and unexpectedly, seemed to him to be a happy death. Thus, then, according to the opinion of these expositors, David complains that the wicked go to death by a smooth and easy path, without much trouble and anxiety. But I am rather inclined to agree with those who read these two clauses jointly in this way: Their strength is vigorous, and, in respect to them, there are no bands to death; because they are not dragged to death like prisoners. As diseases lay prostrate our strength, they are so many messengers of death, warning us of the frailty and short duration of our life. They are therefore with propriety compared to bands, with which God binds us to his yoke, lest our strength and rigour should incite us to licentiousness and rebellion.

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 On vv4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11 The wicked in this life live at pleasure and…
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv4–12 Psa 73:4 For [there are] no bands in their…
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv4–12 There are no bands in their death; they are…
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv4–12 For there are no bands in their death,.... Nothing…
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 12 No bands - They are not dragged to death,…
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 Verse 4. No bands in their death] Many of…
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 10, 11, 12 Psa 73:4. For there are no bands in their…
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv4–12 For there are no bands in their death -…
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv4–12 4. No bands in their death—The word “bands” means…
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 4. no bands &c.] The meaning may be that…
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 (4) For there are no bands in their death.—This…
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv4–12 For there are no bands in their death; or,…
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain On vv4–12 Ver. 4. For there are no bands in their…
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 10, 12 For there are no bands in their death.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv4, 6, 8, 10 General Information:
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv4, 6, 9 73:4-12 The psalmist presents a caricature of the bliss…
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