Psalms 7:14
in Psalms 7Behold, the wicked man travails with evil; he conceives trouble and births falsehood.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Behold, he travaileth with iniquity; Yea, he hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood.
KJV
Behold, he travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood.
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This verse in Psalms 7
Commentary
16 notes on this verseHe travaileth with iniquity - All these terms show the pitch of envy, wrath, and malevolence, to which Saul had carried his opposition against David. He conceived mischief; he travailed with iniquity; he brought forth falsehood - all his expectations were blasted.
This site's exposition
God will sharpen His sword
on Psalms 7:12-14
The judgment waits on repentance. If the man does not repent, God sharpens His sword, bends and strings His bow, and ordains His arrows with fire. Verse 14 draws the wicked man's evil as a pregnancy, travailing with evil, conceiving trouble, and giving birth to falsehood.
This site's exposition
he conceives trouble and births falsehood
The wicked man travails with evil, conceives trouble and births falsehood, and Job 15:35 and Isaiah 59:4 use the same figure. The birth is a falsehood that fails its maker, as the pit of his own making shows in verse 15. James 1:15 traces desire to death.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
That same adversary, Absalom, as if he has been born again from ourselves, prepares the war against us. Our sound judgment concerning the matter, or rather our alliance with God, turns him who is bloodthirsty against us back. For because he attributes the cause of the good things that have been accomplished for him through "the words of Cush" to God, he composes this thanksgiving.… It would be worthwhile to apply the figures of the story to the virtuous life, how the advice that saves us becomes the strangling of the adversary; and this saving advice has been recorded, on the one hand, in the history, and on the other, in the psalm.
'Unless ye be converted, he will brandish his sword.' This passage admits a twofold understanding. For many think it is said of God, so that, for example's sake, it is said to sinners. And what does it say? 'Unless ye be converted, he will brandish his sword': that is, unless ye do penance, the Lord will strike you with his sword. But let us see whether the things that follow can be fitted to the person of the Lord. 'He hath bent his bow, and made it ready.' This can be said of God. 'And in it he hath prepared the vessels of death.' This is difficult, for the Lord does not have vessels of death, but vessels of life; but this too can somehow be understood of the person of the Saviour. But that which follows, 'Behold, he hath been in labour with injustice, and hath conceived sorrow and brought forth iniquity, he hath opened a pit and dug it out,' cannot at all be taken of God. We are compelled, therefore, by necessity, on account of the things that follow which are harsher and more arrogant, not to understand of God, 'Unless ye be converted, he will brandish his sword.'
'Behold, he hath been in labour with injustice: he hath conceived sorrow, and brought forth iniquity.' Such a mother, such a father is the devil: thus he conceives, thus he is in labour, thus he nurses, thus he exalts.
The Medieval Church1 voice
Then when he says, "Behold," he treats of the preparation on the part of the man to be punished. Here he proposes two things: the progress into sin, by which one is prepared for punishment; and second, the incurring of the punishment: "a pit," etc. …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
The sinner's head with its politics conceives mischief, contrives it with a great deal of art, lays the plot deep, and keeps it close; the sinner's heart with its passions travails with iniquity, and is in pain to be delivered of the malicious projects it is hatching against the people of God.
8 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
Travelleth - This metaphor denotes his deep design, and vigourous endeavours for doing mischief, and his restlessness and pain 'till he have accomplished it.
Behold, he travaileth with iniquity,....
The sinner is here described as taking a great deal of pains to ruin himself, more pains to damn his soul than, if directed aright, would save it. His conduct is described, [1.] By the pains of a labouring woman that brings forth a false conception,
It is here intimated, [1.] That the destruction of sinners may be prevented by their conversion, for it is threatened with that proviso: If he turn not from his evil way, if he do not let fall his enmity against the people of God, then let him expect it will be his ruin; but, if he turn, it is implied that his sin shall be pardoned and all shall be well.
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
In three graphic pictures we see the slanderer's history. A woman in travail furnishes the first metaphor. "He travaileth with iniquity." He is full of it, pained until he can carry it out, he longs to work his will, he is full of pangs until his evil intent is executed. "He hath conceived mischief." This is the original of his base design. The devil has had doings with him, and the virus of evil is in him. And now behold the progeny of this unhallowed conception.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
The first clause expresses the general idea that wicked men labor to do evil, the others carry out the figure fully. 31:2 illustrate the statement whether alluded to or not. These verses are expository of Ps 7:14, showing how the devices of the wicked end in disappointment, falsifying their expectations.
In three graphic pictures we see the slanderer's history. A woman in travail furnishes the first metaphor. "He travaileth with iniquity." He is full of it, pained until he can carry it out, he longs to work his will, he is full of pangs until his evil intent is executed. "He hath conceived mischief." This is the original of his base design. The devil has had doings with him, and the virus of evil is in him. And now behold the progeny of this unhallowed conception. The child is worthy of its father, his name of old was, "the father of lies, " and the birth doth not belie the parent, for he brought forth falsehood. Thus, one figure is carried out to perfection; the Psalmist now illustrates his meaning by another, taken from the stratagems of the hunter.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Behold, he travaileth with iniquity - The wicked man does. The allusion here is to the pains and throes of child-birth; and the idea is, that the wicked man labors or struggles, even with great pain, to accomplish his purposes of iniquity. All his efforts, purposes, plans, are for the promotion of evil. And hath conceived mischief - That is, he hath formed a scheme of mischief. The allusion here is common when speaking of forming a plan of evil. And brought forth falsehood - The birth is falsehood; that is, self-deception, or disappointment. It does not mean that falsehood was his aim or purpose, or that he had merely accomplished a lie; but the idea is, that after all his efforts and pains, after having formed his scheme, and labored hard (as if in the pangs of child-birth) to bring it forth, it was abortive. He would be disappointed, and would fail at last. This idea is expressed more distinctly in the following verse, and the design of the whole is to say that any plan or purpose of wickedness must be in the end a failure, since God is a righteous Judge, and will vindicate His own cause.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
And..for him And for the wicked man, the Holy One, blessed be He, has prepared deadly weapons.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
If he does not repent [i.e., if] the wicked [does not repent] of his wickedness.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הִנֵּ֥ה | hineh | there! | H2009 → | 843 times |
| יְחַבֶּל־ | yechabel- | he is in labor with | H2254 → | |
| אָ֑וֶן | ʾaven | wickedness | H205 → | 77 times |
| וְהָרָ֥ה | veharah | and he conceives | H2029 → | |
| עָ֝מָ֗ל | ʾamal | mischief | H5999 → | 55 times |
| וְיָ֣לַד | veyalad | and he brings forth | H3205 → | 496 times |
| שָֽׁקֶר׃ | shaker | falsehood | H8267 → | 113 times |
הִנֵּ֥הthere!
hinehH2009 →843 times
יְחַבֶּל־he is in labor with
yechabel-H2254 →
אָ֑וֶןwickedness
ʾavenH205 →77 times
וְהָרָ֥הand he conceives
veharahH2029 →
עָ֝מָ֗לmischief
ʾamalH5999 →55 times
וְיָ֣לַדand he brings forth
veyaladH3205 →496 times
שָֽׁקֶר׃falsehood
shakerH8267 →113 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
James 1:15Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
it leads to
- Isaiah 59:4
No one calls for justice; no one pleads his case honestly. They rely on empty pleas; they tell lies; they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Job 15:35
They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb is pregnant with deceit.”
- Romans 5:12–21
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, so also death was passed on to all men, because all sinned.
- Genesis 2:17
but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”
- Genesis 3:6
When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave…
- Isaiah 59:4
Through
Isaiah 33:11You conceive chaff; you give birth to stubble. Your breath is a fire that will consume you.
it leads to
- James 1:15
Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- James 1:15
Through
Job 15:35They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb is pregnant with deceit.”
it leads to
- Hosea 10:13
You have plowed wickedness and reaped injustice; you have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you have trusted in your own way and in the multitude of your mighty men,
- Isaiah 59:4–5
No one calls for justice; no one pleads his case honestly. They rely on empty pleas; they tell lies; they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.
- Hosea 10:13
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Psalms
This page draws on 12 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Psalms; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 1; Gregory of Nyssa, INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PSALMS 2:11.148-49; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Homily 3, on Psalm 7; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Exposition on the Psalms of David.