God, the proud have risen up against me. A company of violent men have sought after my soul, and they don’t hold regard for you before them.
Parallel Translations
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God, the proud have risen up against me. A company of violent men have sought after my soul, and they don’t hold regard for you before them.
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O God, the proud are risen against me, and the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul; and have not set thee before them.
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O God, the proud are risen up against me, and the company of violent men have sought after my soul, and have not set Thee before them.
Cross-references (19)
Passages linked to Psalms 86:14 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 54:3 For strangers have risen up against me. Violent men have sought after my soul. They haven’t set God before them.
- Psalms 14:4 Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and don’t call on Yahweh?
- Psalms 36:1 A revelation is within my heart about the disobedience of the wicked: “There is no fear of God before his eyes.”
- Matthew 26:3-4 Then the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders of the people were gathered together in the court of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas. They took counsel together that they might take Jesus by deceit, and kill him.
- Matthew 27:1-2 Now when morning had come, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death: and they bound him, and led him away, and delivered him up to Pontius Pilate, the governor.
- 2 Samuel 15:1-12 After this, Absalom prepared a chariot and horses for himself, and fifty men to run before him. Absalom rose up early, and stood beside the way of the gate. When any man had a suit which should come to the king for judgment, then Absalom called to him, and said, “What city are you from?” He said, “Your servant is of one of the tribes of Israel.” Absalom said to him, “Behold, your matters are good and right; but there is no man deputized by the king to hear you.” Absalom said moreover, “Oh that I were made judge in the land, that every man who has any suit or cause might come to me, and I would do him justice!” It was so, that when any man came near to bow down to him, he stretched out his hand, and took hold of him, and kissed him. Absalom did this sort of thing to all Israel who came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel. At the end of forty years, Absalom said to the king, “Please let me go and pay my vow, which I have vowed to Yahweh, in Hebron. For your servant vowed a vow while I stayed at Geshur in Syria, saying, ‘If Yahweh shall indeed bring me again to Jerusalem, then I will serve Yahweh.’ ” The king said to him, “Go in peace.” So he arose, and went to Hebron. But Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then you shall say, ‘Absalom is king in Hebron!’ ” Two hundred men went with Absalom out of Jerusalem, who were invited, and went in their simplicity; and they didn’t know anything. Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor, from his city, even from Giloh, while he was offering the sacrifices. The conspiracy was strong; for the people increased continually with Absalom.
- 2 Samuel 16:20–17:1 Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, “Give your counsel what we shall do.” Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Go in to your father’s concubines that he has left to keep the house. Then all Israel will hear that you are abhorred by your father. Then the hands of all who are with you will be strong.” So they spread a tent for Absalom on the top of the house, and Absalom went in to his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel. The counsel of Ahithophel, which he gave in those days, was as if a man inquired at the inner sanctuary of God. All the counsel of Ahithophel both was like this with David and with Absalom. Moreover Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me now choose twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David tonight.
- 2 Samuel 17:14 Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel.” For Yahweh had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that Yahweh might bring evil on Absalom.
- Psalms 10:4 The wicked, in the pride of his face, has no room in his thoughts for God.
- Psalms 10:11 He says in his heart, “God has forgotten. He hides his face. He will never see it.”
- Psalms 10:13 Why does the wicked person condemn God, and say in his heart, “God won’t call me into account?”
- Psalms 36:11 Don’t let the foot of pride come against me. Don’t let the hand of the wicked drive me away.
- Psalms 119:51 The arrogant mock me excessively, but I don’t swerve from your law.
- Psalms 119:69 The proud have smeared a lie upon me. With my whole heart, I will keep your precepts.
- Psalms 119:85 The proud have dug pits for me, contrary to your law.
- Psalms 140:5 The proud have hidden a snare for me, they have spread the cords of a net by the path. They have set traps for me.
- Ezekiel 8:12 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? For they say, ‘Yahweh doesn’t see us. Yahweh has forsaken the land.’ ”
- Ezekiel 9:9 Then he said to me, “The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perversion; for they say, ‘Yahweh has forsaken the land, and Yahweh doesn’t see.’
- Acts 4:27-28 “For truly, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together against your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed, to do whatever your hand and your council foreordained to happen.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 14. O God! the proud are risen up against…
14. O God! the proud are risen up against me. Instead of זדים, zedim, the proud, some read, זרים, zarim, strangers; and, undoubtedly, the Scriptures often employ this word to denote barbarous cruelty, so that it is the same as if it had been said, the cruel. I, however, prefer following the generally received reading. As between the Hebrew word זדים, zedim, the proud, and זרים, zarim, strangers, there is only the difference of a single letter, the one having the letter ד, daleth, where the other has the letter ר, resh, it is obvious that, from the similarity of these two letters, the former might easily have been changed into the latter. Besides, the word, proud, agrees better with the scope of the passage; for, in the same sense, the Psalmist immediately after applies the epithet, strong, to those who, with headlong impetuosity and fierceness, rushed upon him to destroy him; and we know that where pride reigns no moderation is observed. He expresses without figure what he had just now said respecting the grave. Being as a lamb in the midst of wolves, he would have been quickly swallowed up, had not God miraculously delivered him, as it were, from the jaws of death. In representing his enemies as having no regard to God, he means to set forth the extreme excess of their cruelty. The fury of our lusts, unless we are restrained by the fear of God and the sense of his judgment, will become so great as to dare any thing, however atrocious. For these calamities he seeks a remedy, in the Divine mercy, in the following verse.
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 He showeth that there can be no moderation nor…
He showeth that there can be no moderation nor equity, where proud tyrants reign, and that the lack of God’s fear is as a privilege to all vice and cruelty.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 86:14 O God, the proud are risen against…
Psa 86:14 O God, the proud are risen against me, and the assemblies of violent [men] have sought after my soul; and have not set thee before them.
Ver. 14. O God, the proud] The strangers, some read it (by the change of a letter in the original), who are commonly cruel.
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And the assemblies of violent men] Nebulonum, some render it, sturdy varlets, fastuosi ac feroces.
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 They have no reverence nor regard for thee, neither…
They have no reverence nor regard for thee, neither for thy word, which hath conferred the kingdom upon me; nor for thine all-seeing eye, which beholds all their wicked devices and practices against me; nor for thy justice, which will undoubtedly bring their mischief upon their own heads.
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 O God, the proud are risen against me,.... As…
O God, the proud are risen against me,.... As all men naturally are, and as all are without the grace of God; and because they are, they deal in proud wrath: as, through the pride of their heart, they seek not after God; so, through the same, they persecute his people, treating them with the utmost contempt, and as the offscouring of all things. Jarchi interprets this particularly of Doeg and Ahithophel:
and the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul; or "terrible" (s) ones, who breathed out nothing but cruelty, threatenings, and slaughter; and who were many, and got together in bodies, and entered into combinations and conspiracies; and whom nothing would satisfy but the taking away of his life, which they sought after; see Psa 22:12.
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and have not set thee before them; they did not consider the omniscience of God, that he knew and took notice of all they did; nor his omnipresence, that he was everywhere, and there was no fleeing from him; nor his omnipotence, who was able to crush them to pieces; nor his justice, which will render tribulation to them that trouble his; nor his goodness, which should lead to repentance; nor had they any fear of him, nor respect to his glory: in short, they were like the unjust judge, who neither feared God nor regarded men, Luk 18:4.
(s) "terribilium", Montanus; so some in Vatablus, Gejerus, Michaelis.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 14. The assemblies of violent men] עדת עריצים…
Verse 14. The assemblies of violent men] עדת עריצים adath aritsim, the congregation of the terrible ones. Men of violent passions, violent counsels, and violent acts; and, because they have power, terrible to all.
Have not set thee before them.] Who sins that sets God before his eyes? Who does not sin that has no consciousness of the Divine presence?
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Psa 86:14-15. O God, the proud are risen against…
Psa 86:14-15. O God, the proud are risen against me — Behold, O God, a new opportunity to glorify that mercy, for ambitious men have risen up against me in open rebellion, and have not only plotted against me, but endeavoured to put their plots in execution, and both to depose and destroy me. The assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul — That is, after my life: to take it away; and have not set thee before them — They have no reverence nor regard for thee, neither for thy word, which hath conferred the kingdom upon me, nor for thine all-seeing eye, which beholds all their wicked devices and practices against me, nor for thy justice, which will undoubtedly bring their mischief upon their own heads. But thou art a God full of compassion, &c. — Namely, to thy people, and to me in particular, and therefore thou wilt forgive my manifold sins, for which thou mightest justly reject me, and wilt save me from my cruel enemies. Thus, from praises, the psalmist returns again to prayer, as all the people of God are frequently compelled to do. In the opposition he met with he was a type of the Messiah, his seed according to the flesh, and his church. “We know the treatment which Christ met with, when he was upon earth, from proud and violent men, who had not set God before their eyes; from self-righteous Jews, and conceited Gentiles, who rose up, and look counsel together against him. What his church afterward suffered, at the hands of the same enemies, is likewise well known. How much more she is to undergo in the latter days we know not as yet; but this we know, that the spirit of the world stands, now and ever, in opposition to the Spirit of God; its design is always the same, although its methods of working be divers.” — Horne. So that, even from without, and from visible enemies, not to mention those within the human heart, and such as are invisible, every one, who is a Christian indeed, shall be sure to find his state on earth a warfare, and to have his portion of tribulation in this life. But, like David, he may, in the midst of all the trials and oppositions he meets with, find a place of sure refuge, and an almighty helper, in that Being who is here said to be full of compassion and gracious, long-suffering, and plenteous in goodness and truth.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain O God, the proud are risen against me -…
O God, the proud are risen against me - People who are self-confident, ambitious, haughty; who do not regard the welfare or the rights of others; who are disposed to trample down all others in order that they may accomplish their own purposes; these are the people who have opposed me and sought my life. This would apply either to the time of Saul or of Absalom. In both these cases there were men who would correspond to this description.
And the assemblies of violent men - Margin,” terrible.” The Septuagint and the Vulgate render this, “the synagogue of the wicked.” The word rendered violent means properly terrible, inspiring terror; then, violent, fierce, lawless, tyrants. The idea here is that they pursued their object by violence and not by right; they did it in a fierce and savage manner, or in such a way as to inspire terror. The word assembly here means merely that they were banded together; what was done was the result of a conspiracy or combination.
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Have sought after my soul - After my life.
And have not set thee before them - They do not fear thee; they do not act as if in thy presence; they have no regard for thee, for thy law, for thy favor, for thy threatenings.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 14. Proud… violent… have not set thee before them—A…
14. Proud… violent… have not set thee before them—A threefold description of David’s enemies.
Proud—The fundamental idea is contempt of all authority, restraint, or obligation.
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Violent—One who inspires terror by his power and his contempt of the rights of men—a tyrant. The word is always translated terrible, terrible ones, in the prophets, in our common version, conformably to its radical sense.
Assemblies—Must be understood of the bands or companies of conspirators, as in Psa_22:16; Num_16:6.
And have not set thee before them—This clause gives at once their character and the cause of it. Humanity shudders when such men rule. In this verse David repeats himself from Psa_54:3, which is not a rare practice.
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 14. Again, though the Psalmist may be referring to…
14. Again, though the Psalmist may be referring to personal circumstances, it is not impossible that he is alluding to dangers by which the community was threatened. The verse is taken almost word for word from Psa_54:3, with perhaps a reminiscence of Psa_22:16 (‘assembly of evil doers’). The variation proud for strangers may be accidental: the consonants of the two words zçdîm and zarim are easily confused, D (ד) and R (ר) being much alike in Hebrew. It should be noted that Psalms 54. is quoted in its ‘Elohistic’ form, so that apparently the collection had already been made and edited by the Elohistic editor.
assemblies] Assembly, or congregation.
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 (14) See Note, Psa_54:3, whence the verse is taken.
(14) See Note, Psa_54:3, whence the verse is taken.
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 O God, the proud are risen against me. (comp.…
O God, the proud are risen against me. (comp. Psa_119:51, Psa_119:69, Psa_119:85, Psa_119:122; and also Psa_54:3) And the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul; rather, a crew of violent ones have sought after my soul, or "plotted against my life". (comp. Psa_7:1, 2 17:13 35:3, 4, etc.) And have not set thee before them; i.e. "have given no thought to God, or how he would act, whether he would allow their wickedness or prevent it."
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. 14. O God, the proud are risen against…
Ver. 14. O God, the proud are risen against me. They could not let God's poor servant alone, his walk with God was as smoke to their eyes, and therefore they determined to destroy him. None hate good men so fiercely as do the high minded and domineering.
And the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul. Unitedly oppressors sought the good man's life; they hunted in packs, with keen scent, and eager foot. In persecuting times many a saint has used these words in reference to Papal bishops and inquisitors.
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And have not set thee before them. They would not have molested the servant if they had cared one whit for the master. Those who fear not God are not afraid to commit violent and cruel acts. An atheist is a misanthrope. Irreligion is akin to inhumanity.
Psalms 86:15*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 86:14-17 The arrogant exist both inside and outside the…
86:14-17 The arrogant exist both inside and outside the community. The psalmist asks for a vision of God’s character; God is so great that just a glimpse of his goodness will shut the mouths of the wicked.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.