Psalm verses for when someone is against you, grouped by what they are doing, with the full text and a printable sheet.
Enemies are everywhere in the psalms. Many headings place the writer on the run, and the enemies are rarely faceless. They lie, they gossip, they set traps, and sometimes they are old friends. The psalms do not pretend these people are harmless. They describe them in detail, then hand the problem to God, sometimes with requests that are hard to read. A few also do the harder thing and pray for the people causing the harm.
The verses are grouped by what the other person is doing to you, from open attack to quiet betrayal, and then by what you want to do about it. Tick the ones that fit and print them as a single sheet.
Psalms for protection from enemies, when the opposition is many people at once or feels that way.
I will not be afraid of tens of thousands of peoplewho have set themselves against me on every side.
I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about.
The heading places this psalm in David's flight from his own son Absalom. Tens of thousands on every side is the worst case, and the verse still says it will not be afraid.
from the wicked who oppress me,my deadly enemies, who surround me.
From the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who compass me about.
The enemies are called deadly, and they surround the writer. The verse before asks to be hidden under the shadow of God's wings from exactly these people.
Though I walk in the middle of trouble, you will revive me.You will stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies.Your right hand will save me.
Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me: thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me.
Trouble is walked through, not avoided. The verse puts God's hand against the anger of the enemies and his right hand on the one praying.
Many enemies in the psalms use words, not weapons. These verses are for gossip, false accusation and being wronged by someone close.
for they have opened the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of deceit against me.They have spoken to me with a lying tongue.
For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.
The attack is entirely spoken: the mouth of the wicked, the mouth of deceit, a lying tongue. The psalm opens by asking God not to stay silent while they talk.
All day long they twist my words.All their thoughts are against me for evil.
Every day they wrest my words: all their thoughts are against me for evil.
All day long they twist my words. It describes being misquoted on purpose, and the same psalm answers it earlier: when I am afraid, I will put my trust in you.
But it was you, a man like me,my companion, and my familiar friend.
But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance.
The writer says an enemy's insult could have been endured. What hurts is that it came from a companion and familiar friend, someone he once walked with in God's house.
Yes, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted,who ate bread with me,has lifted up his heel against me.
Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.
A trusted friend who shared bread has turned against the writer. The psalm places this betrayal beside a sickbed, when the writer could least defend himself.
For searches about psalms against enemies and psalms of vengeance. Each of these verses asks God to act. None has the speaker taking revenge.
Contend, LORD, with those who contend with me.Fight against those who fight against me.
Plead my cause, O LORD, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me.
The whole prayer fits in one line: fight against those who fight against me. The fight is handed to God rather than taken up by the one praying.
LORD, you God to whom vengeance belongs,you God to whom vengeance belongs, shine out.
O LORD God, to whom vengeance belongeth; O God, to whom vengeance belongeth, shew thyself.
Vengeance is said to belong to God, twice in one verse. The psalm goes on to name who it wants judged: those who kill the widow and the fatherless.
They have prepared a net for my steps.My soul is bowed down.They dig a pit before me.They fall into the middle of it themselves. Selah.
They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down: they have digged a pit before me, into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves. Selah.
The enemies dig a pit and fall into it themselves. The verse does not ask for their downfall. It reports that the trap caught its own makers.
Don’t kill them, or my people may forget.Scatter them by your power, and bring them down, Lord our shield.
Slay them not, lest my people forget: scatter them by thy power; and bring them down, O Lord our shield.
An unusual request: don't kill them. The psalm asks for the enemies to be scattered and brought down instead, or else the people may forget.
The same psalms that complain about enemies also show the writer praying for them, or checking whether he is the one in the wrong.
But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth.I afflicted my soul with fasting.My prayer returned into my own bosom.
But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom.
When his accusers were sick, the writer wore sackcloth and fasted for them. The psalm sets this beside how they repaid him, which is the heart of its complaint.
In return for my love, they are my adversaries;but I am in prayer.
For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer.
They answer love with hostility, and the reply is short: but I am in prayer. It sits inside a psalm that later asks for severe judgment on the same people.
if I have rewarded evil to him who was at peace with me(yes, I have plundered him who without cause was my adversary),
If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me; (yea, I have delivered him that without cause is mine enemy:)
Just after asking to be saved from his pursuers (7:1), the writer asks to be judged himself if he has repaid evil to someone at peace with him. The prayer turns to his own record.
For times when the people around you have proved unreliable. These verses say where trust is safer placed.
It is better to take refuge in the LORD,than to put confidence in man.
It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.
It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to put confidence in man. Verse 9 repeats the line with princes in place of man.
Don’t put your trust in princes,in a son of man in whom there is no help.
Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.
Don't put your trust in princes, in a son of man in whom there is no help. Verse 4 gives the reason: a person dies, and in that day his thoughts perish.
Everyone lies to his neighbor.They speak with flattering lips, and with a double heart.
They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.
Everyone lies to his neighbor, with flattering lips and a double heart. The psalm opens with help, LORD, because the faithful seem to have failed.
I said in my haste,“All people are liars.”
I said in my haste, All men are liars.
I said in my haste, all people are liars. The writer reports his own words as spoken in haste, at a time when, as verse 10 says, he was greatly afflicted.
For being talked about by many, accused by false witnesses, or pursued without a cause.
For I have heard the slander of many, terror on every side,while they conspire together against me,they plot to take away my life.
For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side: while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life.
I have heard the slander of many, terror on every side. The slander comes with a plot against the writer's life, and verse 14 answers it: but I trust in you, LORD.
Don’t deliver me over to the desire of my adversaries,for false witnesses have risen up against me,such as breathe out cruelty.
Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty.
False witnesses have risen up against me, such as breathe out cruelty. The request is not to be handed over to what the adversaries want.
Princes have persecuted me without a cause,but my heart stands in awe of your words.
Princes have persecuted me without a cause: but my heart standeth in awe of thy word.
Princes have persecuted me without a cause. The response is in the same verse: my heart stands in awe of your words.
All of your commandments are faithful.They persecute me wrongfully.Help me!
All thy commandments are faithful: they persecute me wrongfully; help thou me.
They persecute me wrongfully. The verse sets this beside the statement that God's commandments are faithful, and ends with a short plea for help.
Psalm 109, Psalm 58 and Psalm 35 contain requests that are hard to read. Psalm 109 asks that an enemy's days be few and his children fatherless. Psalm 58 asks God to break the teeth of the wicked. Every one of these requests is spoken to God. None describes the writer doing it himself. The same psalms first describe the enemy's cruelty, and Psalm 109 ends by saying God stands at the right hand of the needy.
Psalm 35 is the most direct: it opens by asking God to fight those who fight against the writer. Psalm 3 suits being surrounded, and Psalm 55 suits betrayal by a friend.
Psalm 17 asks to be hidden under the shadow of God's wings from deadly enemies who surround the writer. Psalm 59 opens with deliver me from my enemies, my God.
Psalm 94 opens by calling God the one to whom vengeance belongs. Psalm 58 and Psalm 109 also ask for judgment on enemies, and all three leave the judging to God.
Psalm 55:12 to 14 describes being hurt by a close friend rather than an enemy. Psalm 41:9 describes a trusted friend who shared bread and then turned against the writer.
Not as a command. Psalm 35:13 shows the writer praying and fasting for people who later repaid him evil for good, and in Psalm 109:4 he answers their hostility with prayer.
Psalm Verses for ProtectionPsalms for Protection from EvilPsalms for JusticePsalms for AngerPsalms for FearPsalms about Forgiving Others and Reconciliation