Bible Strands
Psalms 143:12
And in Your loving devotion, cut off my enemies. Destroy all who afflict me, for I am Your servant.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses the LORD in immediate succession to a request for revival and rescue from trouble, petitioning for judgment against those who are oppressing his life. The words — חַסְדּ֑ךָ (chasdecha) translates literally to “your covenant loyalty,” while תַּצְמִית (tatzmit) and הַאֲבַדְתָּ (ha'avadta) both render as “you will destroy.” The thread — The command to destroy enemies runs parallel to Psalms 54:5, the declaration of servitude echoes Psalms 116:16, and the possessive claim “I am Yours” matches Psalms 119:94. Why it lands — The text requires a reader to accept that deliverance and judgment are executed according to divine covenant faithfulness, not human merit.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies, and destroy all them that afflict my soul: for I am thy servant.
Cross-references
- Psalms 54:5 He will reward my enemies with evil. In Your faithfulness, destroy them.
- Psalms 116:16 Truly, O LORD, I am Your servant; I am Your servant, the son of Your maidservant; You have broken my bonds.
- Psalms 119:94 I am Yours; save me, for I have sought Your precepts.
- 1 Samuel 24:12 May the LORD judge between you and me, and may the LORD take vengeance on you, but my hand will never be against you.
- 1 Samuel 25:29 And should someone pursue you and seek your life, then the life of my lord will be bound securely by the LORD your God in the bundle of the living. But He shall fling away the lives of your enemies like stones from a sling.
- 1 Samuel 26:10 David added, “As surely as the LORD lives, the LORD Himself will strike him down; either his day will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish.
- Psalms 52:5 Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin; He will snatch you up and tear you away from your tent; He will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah
- Psalms 55:23 But You, O God, will bring them down to the Pit of destruction; men of bloodshed and deceit will not live out half their days. But I will trust in You.
- Psalms 136:15 but swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea. His loving devotion endures forever.