Bible Strands
Psalms 44:19
But You have crushed us in the lair of jackals; You have covered us with deepest darkness.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses God, declaring that Israel’s hearts and steps have not strayed from the covenant path despite enduring severe national distress.
The words — The Hebrew verb דִּכִּיתָנוּ (dikita.nu) literally means "you have crushed," paired with בְּצַלְמָוֶת (be.tzal.ma.vet), which translates directly as "with deep darkness."
The thread — The phrase "deep darkness" corresponds to the imagery in Job 3:5, while the mention of jackals parallels the speaker's description of alienation in Job 30:29.
Why it lands — The text records the speaker's experience of divine judgment as overwhelming and isolating, then frames that experience within a context of maintained covenant loyalty.
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
Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death.
Cross-references
- Psalms 23:4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
- Job 3:5 May darkness and gloom reclaim it, and a cloud settle over it; may the blackness of the day overwhelm it.
- Job 30:29 I have become a brother of jackals, a companion of ostriches.
- Psalms 51:8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones You have crushed rejoice.
- Isaiah 34:13 Her towers will be overgrown with thorns, her fortresses with thistles and briers. She will become a haunt for jackals, an abode for ostriches.
- Jeremiah 14:17 You are to speak this word to them: ‘My eyes overflow with tears; day and night they do not cease, for the virgin daughter of my people has been shattered by a crushing blow, a severely grievous wound.
- Psalms 38:8 I am numb and badly crushed; I groan in anguish of heart.
- Psalms 60:1 For the choirmaster. To the tune of “The Lily of the Covenant.” A Miktam of David for instruction. When he fought Aram-naharaim and Aram-zobah, and Joab returned and struck down 12,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt. You have rejected us, O God; You have broken us; You have been angry; restore us!
- Psalms 74:13 You divided the sea by Your strength; You smashed the heads of the dragons of the sea;
- Isaiah 27:1 In that day the LORD will take His sharp, great, and mighty sword, and bring judgment on Leviathan the fleeing serpent—Leviathan the coiling serpent—and He will slay the dragon of the sea.