Psalms 53:5

KJV1611 – Modern English

There they were in great fear, where no fear was; for God has scattered the bones of him who encamps against you; you have put them to shame, because God has despised them.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

הֲלֹ֥א יָדְעוּ֮ פֹּ֤עֲלֵ֫י אָ֥וֶן אֹכְלֵ֣י עַ֭מִּי אָ֣כְלוּ לֶ֑חֶם אֱ֝לֹהִ֗ים לֹ֣א קָרָֽאוּ׃

Transliteration

Do-not yādəʿû pōʿălê ʾāwen ʾōkəlê ʿammî ʾākəlû leḥem ʾĕlōhîm not qārāʾû

Grammar Details

• *hălōʾ*: interrogative particle + negative particle - do not?/have not?
• *yādəʿû*: verb, qal perfect, 3rd plural - they knew/have known
• *pōʿălê*: noun, masculine plural construct - workers of
• *ʾāwen*: noun, masculine singular - iniquity/evil
• *ʾōkəlê*: participle, qal active, masculine plural construct - eaters of
• *ʿammî*: noun, masculine singular with 1st singular suffix - my people
• *ʾākəlû*: verb, qal perfect, 3rd plural - they ate/devoured
• *leḥem*: noun, masculine singular - bread/food
• *ʾĕlōhîm*: noun, masculine plural - God/gods
• *lōʾ*: negative particle - not
• *qārāʾû*: verb, qal perfect, 3rd plural - they called/invoked

Word Meanings

• *pōʿălê*: workers/doers/practitioners
• *ʾāwen*: iniquity/evil/wickedness/trouble
• *leḥem*: bread/food/sustenance
• *qārāʾû*: called/invoked/summoned

Other Translations

• Linguistic Bible Translation from Source Texts

  Do they not understand, these evildoers who devour my people as they eat bread and do not call upon God?

• King James Version 1769 (Standard Version)

  There were they in great fear, where no fear was: for God hath scattered the bones of him that encampeth against thee: thou hast put them to shame, because God hath despised them.

• American Standard Version with Strong's Numbers

  There were they in great fear, where no fear was; For God hath scattered the bones of him that encampeth against thee: Thou hast put them to shame, because of God hath rejected them.

• King James Version with Strong's Numbers

  There were they in great fear{H8804)}, where no fear was: for God hath scattered{H8765)} the bones of him that encampeth{H8802)} against thee: thou hast put them to shame{H8689)}, because God hath despised{H8804)} them.

• Coverdale Bible (1535)

  They are afrayed, where no feare is: for God breaketh the bones of them that besege the: thou puttest them to confucion, for God despiseth them.

• Geneva Bible (1560)

  There they were afraide for feare, where no feare was: for God hath scattered the bones of him that besieged thee: thou hast put them to confusion, because God hath cast them off.

• Bishops' Bible (1568)

  They shalbe greatly there afraide where no cause of feare is: for the Lord wyll breake the bones of hym that besiegeth thee, thou wylt put them to shame, because the Lorde hath despised them.

• Authorized King James Version (1611)

  There were they in great fear, [where] no fear was: for God hath scattered the bones of him that encampeth [against] thee: thou hast put [them] to shame, because God hath despised them.

• Webster's Bible (1833)

  There they were in great fear, where no fear was, For God has scattered the bones of him who encamps against you. You have put them to shame, Because God has rejected them.

• Young's Literal Translation (1862/1898)

  There they feared a fear -- there was no fear, For God hath scattered the bones of him Who is encamping against thee, Thou hast put to shame, For God hath despised them.

• American Standard Version (1901)

  There were they in great fear, where no fear was; For God hath scattered the bones of him that encampeth against thee: Thou hast put them to shame, because of God hath rejected them.

• American Standard Version (1901)

  There were they in great fear, where no fear was; For God hath scattered the bones of him that encampeth against thee: Thou hast put them to shame, because of God hath rejected them.

• Bible in Basic English (1941)

  They were in great fear, where there was no cause for fear: for the bones of those who make war on you have been broken by God; you have put them to shame, because God has no desire for them.

• World English Bible (2000)

  There they were in great fear, where no fear was, for God has scattered the bones of him who encamps against you. You have put them to shame, because God has rejected them.

• NET Bible® (New English Translation)

  They are absolutely terrified, even by things that do not normally cause fear. For God annihilates those who attack you. You are able to humiliate them because God has rejected them.

Referenced Verses

• Lev 26:17 : 17 And I will set my face against you, and you shall be slain before your enemies: those that hate you shall reign over you; and you shall flee when none pursues you.
• Lev 26:36 : 36 And upon those who are left alive of you I will send faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as one flees from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursues.
• Prov 28:1 : 1 The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion.
• Ezek 6:5 : 5 And I will lay the dead carcasses of the children of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones all around your altars.
• Ps 141:7 : 7 Our bones are scattered at the mouth of the grave, as when one cuts and splits wood upon the earth.
• Jer 6:30 : 30 Rejected silver shall men call them, because the LORD has rejected them.
• Deut 28:65-67 : 65 And among these nations shall you find no ease, neither shall the sole of your foot have rest: but the LORD shall give you there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind: 66 And your life shall hang in doubt before you; and you shall fear day and night, and shall have no assurance of your life: 67 In the morning you shall say, Would God it were evening! and at evening you shall say, Would God it were morning! for the fear of your heart with which you shall fear, and for the sight of your eyes which you shall see.
• 1 Sam 14:15 : 15 There was trembling in the camp, in the field, and among all the people. The garrison and the raiders also trembled, and the earth quaked, so there was a very great trembling.
• 2 Kgs 7:6-7 : 6 For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host: and they said one to another, Lo, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us. 7 Therefore they arose and fled at twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their donkeys, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life.
• Job 15:21 : 21 A dreadful sound is in his ears; in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.
• Ps 2:4 : 4 He who sits in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.
• Ps 14:5 : 5 There they were in great fear, for God is with the generation of the righteous.
• Ps 35:4 : 4 Let them be confused and put to shame that seek after my soul; let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt.
• Ps 35:26 : 26 Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together that rejoice at my hurt; let them be clothed with shame and dishonor that magnify themselves against me.
• Ps 40:14 : 14 Let them be ashamed and confounded together who seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame who wish me evil.
• Ps 73:20 : 20 As a dream when one awakes; so, O Lord, when You wake up, You shall despise their image.
• Ps 83:16-17 : 16 Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek your name, O LORD. 17 Let them be confounded and troubled forever; yes, let them be put to shame and perish:
• Jer 8:1-2 : 1 At that time, says the LORD, they will bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of its princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves: 2 And they will spread them before the sun, the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, whom they have served, after whom they have walked, whom they have sought, and whom they have worshipped. They will not be gathered nor buried; they will be dung upon the face of the earth.
• Lam 2:6 : 6 And He has violently taken away His tabernacle, as if it were of a garden: He has destroyed His places of the assembly: the Lord has caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and has despised in the indignation of His anger the king and the priest.
• Isa 37:22-38 : 22 This is the word which the LORD has spoken concerning him; The virgin, the daughter of Zion, has despised you and laughed you to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you. 23 Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? and against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel. 24 By your servants you have reproached the Lord, and have said, By the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down its tall cedars and its choice fir trees: and I will enter the height of its border, the forest of its Carmel. 25 I have dug, and drunk water; and with the sole of my feet I have dried up all the rivers of besieged places. 26 Have you not heard long ago how I have done it, and of ancient times that I have formed it? Now have I brought it to pass, that you should lay waste fortified cities into ruinous heaps. 27 Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded: they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as grain blighted before it is grown up. 28 But I know your abode, and your going out, and your coming in, and your rage against me. 29 Because your rage against me and your tumult have come up into my ears, therefore I will put my hook in your nose, and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came. 30 And this shall be a sign to you: You shall eat this year such as grows of itself; and the second year what springs of the same: and in the third year sow, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 31 And the remnant that has escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward: 32 For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and those who escape out of Mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this. 33 Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor build a siege ramp against it. 34 By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, says the LORD. 35 For I will defend this city to save it for my own sake, and for my servant David's sake. 36 Then the angel of the LORD went forth, and struck down in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead bodies. 37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. 38 And it happened, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons killed him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Armenia: and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.
• Ezek 37:1-9 : 1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the middle of the valley which was full of bones, 2 And caused me to pass by them all around: and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed, they were very dry. 3 And he said to me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, you know. 4 Again he said to me, Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, O you dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. 5 Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live: 6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the LORD. 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 And when I looked, indeed, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them. 9 Then he said to me, Prophesy to the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus says the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army. 11 Then he said to me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off.