Bible Strands
Psalms 80:6
You make us contend with our neighbors; our enemies mock us.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses God directly, describing Israel's current suffering while the surrounding verses (Psalms 80:5, 80:7) frame the plea for divine restoration.
The words — The Hebrew verb תְּשִׂימֵנוּ (te.sime.nu) translates literally as "you make us," combined with מָדוֹן (ma.don), "a contention," to state that God actively places the people in conflict with their neighbors.
The thread — This pattern of God ordaining communal reproach runs through Psalms 44:13 and Psalms 79:4, which record the identical formulation of Israel becoming a scorn to those around them.
Why it lands — The text asserts that neighborly hostility and enemy mockery originate from divine action, requiring the reader to seek God's intervention rather than attributing the crisis solely to human opposition.
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
Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours: and our enemies laugh among themselves.
Cross-references
- Psalms 79:4 We have become a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and derision to those around us.
- Judges 16:25 And while their hearts were merry, they said, “Call for Samson to entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison to entertain them. And they stationed him between the pillars.
- Psalms 44:13 You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, a mockery and derision to those around us.
- Isaiah 36:8 Now, therefore, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you two thousand horses—if you can put riders on them!
- Isaiah 36:12 But the Rabshakeh replied, “Has my master sent me to speak these words only to you and your master, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are destined with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?”
- Isaiah 37:23 Whom have you taunted and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel!
- Jeremiah 15:10 Woe to me, my mother, that you have borne me, a man of strife and conflict in all the land. I have neither lent nor borrowed, yet everyone curses me.
- Jeremiah 48:27 Was not Israel your object of ridicule? Was he ever found among thieves? For whenever you speak of him you shake your head.
- Ezekiel 36:4 therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD. This is what the Lord GOD says to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys, to the desolate ruins and abandoned cities, which have become a spoil and a mockery to the rest of the nations around you.
- Revelation 11:10 And those who dwell on the earth will gloat over them and celebrate and send one another gifts, because these two prophets had tormented them.