Psalm 53:5 - Printer Friendly

ESV: There they are, in great terror, where there is no terror! For God scatters the bones of him who encamps against you; you put them to shame, for God has rejected them.

NIV: But there they are, overwhelmed with dread, where there was nothing to dread. God scattered the bones of those who attacked you; you put them to shame, for God despised them.

NASB: They were in great fear there, where no fear had been; For God scattered the bones of him who encamped against you; You put them to shame, because God had rejected them.

CSB: Then they will be filled with dread -- dread like no other -- because God will scatter the bones of those who besiege you. You will put them to shame, for God has rejected them.

NLT: Terror will grip them, terror like they have never known before. God will scatter the bones of your enemies. You will put them to shame, for God has rejected them.

KJV: 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.

NKJV: There they are 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.

This verse might be a prophetic remark about the destruction of the Assyrian army. This happened long after David, during the time of King Hezekiah when the angel of the Lord struck down 185,000 Assyrian soldiers (2 Kings 19:35).

Prophetic or not, Psalm 53:5 pictures the destruction of those who do not fear God but experience great terror when God judges them. This terror might also be aimed at the armies that follow the Devil at the end of the millennium. They, too, will lay siege to Jerusalem, but they will experience terror when God judges them by raining fire upon them (Revelation 20:7–9).

The reference to the dead bodies scattered by God indicates the dreadful disgrace that He will inflict on the wicked. Under Mosaic law, even the body of an executed villain was to be respectfully buried. Deuteronomy 21:22–23 instructs: "And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God." For God to scatter corpses is a sign of immense shame and wrath.

Psalm 53:4–6 writes about the judgment God brings on the wicked. Psalm 73:18–20 also speaks about the terror the wicked will experience when God judges them. By contrast the future of the righteous is bright. Salvation will come to Israel in the form of Messiah's kingdom.

David's worshipful song points out the recklessness and evil of denying the existence of God. That attitude leads to evil, but God also notes that the entire human race has chosen to ignore Him and go their own way. Those who oppose God will, eventually, be thoroughly defeated by God's holiness. The psalm ends with David's prayer for the salvation and restoration of Israel.

This brief collection of verses is arranged for use in music or worship. It is similar to Psalm 14 and is quoted in part in Romans 3. Here David depicts the human race as evil and incapable of producing any truly good deeds in God's sight. David, the psalmist, longs for the establishment of God's kingdom on earth. When the kingdom arrives, there will be great joy. Ephesians 2:1–3 also portrays humanity as spiritually evil, and Isaiah 12 also describes the kingdom as a time of great joy.

The book of Psalms is composed of individual songs, hymns, or poems, each of which is a ''Psalm'' in and of itself. These works contain a wide variety of themes. Some Psalms focus on praising and worshipping God. Others cry out in anguish over the pain of life. Still other Psalms look forward to the coming of the Messiah. While some Psalms are related, each has its own historical and biblical context.