Psalms 89:23
in Psalms 89I will crush his foes before him and strike down those who hate him.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And I will beat down his adversaries before him, And smite them that hate him.
KJV
And I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him.
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This verse in Psalms 89
Commentary
9 notes on this verseAnd I will beat down his foes before his face —crushing them and their plans. God himself thus fights the battles of his Son, and effectually overturns his foes. And plague them that hate him, or smite his haters. May none of us learn the terror of this threatening, which is surely being fulfilled upon all those unbelievers who have rejected the Son of God, and died in the hardness of their hearts. The prophecy is also having another fulfilment in the overthrow of systems of error, and the vexation caused to their promoters.
This site's exposition
You once spoke in a vision
on Psalms 89:19-23
The oracle is God's own speech: help laid on a warrior, and one man chosen from the people. Verse 20 names him, I have found My servant David, and Paul repeats the line at Acts 13:22. The hand and the arm that hold him are God's.
This site's exposition
I will crush his foes
God is the subject of both verbs. Albert Barnes drew that the power to defeat David's enemies was God's, and linked strike down to the plagues on Egypt, blows from God's hand.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"I will cut in pieces His enemies before His face" [Psalm 89:23]. They are cut in pieces from their conspiracy, and in that they believe they are cut in pieces; for they believe by degrees; as when the calf's head was ground small, they will come to be the drink of God's people. For Moses ground down the calf's head, and sprinkled it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink it. [Exodus 32:20] All the unbelieving are ground: they believe by degrees; and they are drunk by the people of God, and pass into Christ's body. "I will cut in pieces His foes before His face: and put to flight them that hate Him."
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Some apply this to the ruin which God brought upon the Jewish nation, that persecuted Christ and put him to death. But all Christ's enemies, who hate him and will not have him to reign over them, shall be brought forth and slain before him, Luke xix. (3.) That he should be the great trustee of the covenant between God and men, that God would be gracious and true to us (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
); therefore it is here said, In my name shall his horn be exalted; this shall be his glory, that God's name is in him ( Exod. xxiii. 21 ), and that he acts in God's name.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
And I will beat down his foes before his face,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Then--when the covenant was established, of whose execution the exalted views of God now given furnish assurance. thou . . . to thy holy one--or godly saint, object of favor (Ps 4:3). Nathan is meant (2Sa 7:17; 1Ch 17:3-15). laid help--literally, "given help." David was chosen and then exalted.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
And I will beat down his foes before his face - I will crush them, or destroy them: showing that the power of doing this was not his own, but was the power of God exerted in his behalf. And plague them that hate him - His enemies. I will bring “plagues” upon them: calamities, judgments, afflictions. The word is commonly used to denote those judgments which come directly from the hand of God - as famine, pestilence, wasting sickness, the plague, or the “plagues” of Egypt. Exo 12:13; Exo 30:12; Num 8:19; Num 17:11-12. These are all in the hand of God, and can be employed at his pleasure, as storms and tempests may be, in executing his purposes.
The words behind it
5 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְכַתּוֹתִ֣י | vekhatoti | and I will crush | H3807 → | |
| מִפָּנָ֣יו | mipanav | from before him | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| צָרָ֑יו | tzarav | opponents his | H6862 → | 109 times |
| וּמְשַׂנְאָ֥יו | umesanav | and [those who] hate him | H8130 → | 146 times |
| אֶגּֽוֹף׃ | ʾegof | I will strike down | H5062 → |
וְכַתּוֹתִ֣יand I will crush
vekhatotiH3807 →
מִפָּנָ֣יוfrom before him
mipanavH6440 →2123 times
צָרָ֑יוopponents his
tzaravH6862 →109 times
וּמְשַׂנְאָ֥יוand [those who] hate him
umesanavH8130 →146 times
אֶגּֽוֹף׃I will strike down
ʾegofH5062 →
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
2 Samuel 7:9I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make for you a name like the greatest in the land.
it leads to
- 2 Samuel 5:10
And David became greater and greater, for the LORD God of Hosts was with him.
- 1 Chronicles 17:8
I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make for you a name like the greatest in the land.
- Psalms 18:37–42
I pursued my enemies and overtook them; I did not turn back until they were consumed.
- 2 Samuel 8:6
Then he placed garrisons in Aram of Damascus, and the Arameans became subject to David and brought him tribute. So the LORD made David victorious wherever he went.
- 1 Samuel 18:14
and he continued to prosper in all his ways, because the LORD was with him.
- 2 Samuel 5:10
Through
Psalms 132:18I will clothe his enemies with shame, but the crown upon him will gleam.”
it leads to
- Psalms 35:26
May those who gloat in my distress be ashamed and confounded; may those who exalt themselves over me be clothed in shame and reproach.
- Job 8:22
Your enemies will be clothed in shame, and the tent of the wicked will be no more.”
- Psalms 35:26
Through
2 Samuel 7:1After the king had settled into his palace and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him,
it leads to
- Proverbs 16:7
When a man’s ways please the LORD, He makes even the man’s enemies live at peace with him.
- Proverbs 16:7
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies12
On this verse
About Psalms
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Psalms; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 89; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 4; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.