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Bible in Basic English

Psalms 7:4

If I have given back evil to him who did evil to me, or have taken anything from him who was against me without cause;

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Evil for Good;   Honesty;   Integrity;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Forgiveness of Injuries;   Ingratitude;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Shiggaion;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Cush (1);   David;   Shiggaion;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Confessions and Credos;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Cush;   English Versions;   Psalms;   Sin;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Hating, Hatred;   Reward;   Reward (2);   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Shiggaion;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Psalms the book of;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Cush (2);  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
if I have done harm to one at peace with meor have plundered my adversary without cause,
Hebrew Names Version
If I have rewarded evil to him who was at shalom with me (Yes, I have delivered him who without cause was my adversary),
King James Version
If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me; (yea, I have delivered him that without cause is mine enemy:)
English Standard Version
if I have repaid my friend with evil or plundered my enemy without cause,
New Century Version
Have I done wrong to my friend or stolen without reason from my enemy?
New English Translation
or have wronged my ally, or helped his lawless enemy,
Amplified Bible
If I have done evil to him who was at peace with me, Or without cause robbed him who was my enemy,
New American Standard Bible
If I have done evil to my friend, Or have plundered my enemy for no reason,
World English Bible
If I have rewarded evil to him who was at peace with me (Yes, I have delivered him who without cause was my adversary),
Geneva Bible (1587)
If I haue rewarded euill vnto him that had peace with mee, (yea I haue deliuered him that vexed me without cause)
Legacy Standard Bible
If I have rewarded evil to him who is at peace with me,Or have plundered my adversary without cause,
Berean Standard Bible
if I have rewarded my ally with evil, if I have plundered my foe without cause,
Contemporary English Version
I have not betrayed a friend or had pity on an enemy who attacks for no reason.
Complete Jewish Bible
Adonai my God, if I have caused this, if there is guilt on my hands,
Darby Translation
If I have rewarded evil to him that was at peace with me; (indeed I have freed him that without cause oppressed me;)
Easy-to-Read Version
I have done nothing to hurt a friend or to help his enemies.
George Lamsa Translation
If I have been vengeful to him that has done me evil, and if I have oppressed my enemies without a cause;
Lexham English Bible
if I have repaid my ally with harm, or if I have plundered my enemy without cause,
Literal Translation
if I have repaid evil to one at peace with me or I have plundered one oppressing me without cause,
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Yff I haue rewarded euell vnto the yt dealt frendly wt me or hurte the yt wt out eny cause are myne enemies:
American Standard Version
If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me (Yea, I have delivered him that without cause was mine adversary;)
JPS Old Testament (1917)
O LORD my God, if I have done this; if there be iniquity in my hands;
King James Version (1611)
If I haue rewarded euill vnto him that was at peace with me: (yea I haue deliuered him that without cause is mine enemie.)
Bishop's Bible (1568)
If I haue done euyll vnto hym that had peace with me: and [if] I haue [not] deliuered hym that is without a cause myne aduersarie?
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
if I have requited with evil those who requited me with good; may I then perish empty by means of my enemies.
English Revised Version
If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me; (yea, I have delivered him that without cause was mine adversary:)
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
if Y `yeldide to men yeldynge to me yuels, falle Y `bi disseruyng voide fro myn enemyes;
Update Bible Version
If I have rewarded evil to him that was at peace with me; (Yes, I have delivered him that without cause was my adversary;)
Webster's Bible Translation
If I have rewarded evil to him that was at peace with me; (yes, I have delivered him that without cause is my enemy:)
New King James Version
If I have repaid evil to him who was at peace with me, Or have plundered my enemy without cause,
New Living Translation
if I have betrayed a friend or plundered my enemy without cause,
New Life Bible
if I have done wrong to him who was at peace with me, or without a reason have robbed him who worked against me,
New Revised Standard
if I have repaid my ally with harm or plundered my foe without cause,
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
If I have requited my friend with wrong, - or have oppressed mine adversary without need,
Douay-Rheims Bible
(7-5) If I have rendered to them that repaid me evils, let me deservedly fall empty before my enemies.
Revised Standard Version
if I have requited my friend with evil or plundered my enemy without cause,
Young's Literal Translation
If I have done my well-wisher evil, And draw mine adversary without cause,
New American Standard Bible (1995)
If I have rewarded evil to my friend, Or have plundered him who without cause was my adversary,

Contextual Overview

1 O Lord my God, I put my faith in you; take me out of the hands of him who is cruel to me, and make me free; 2 So that he may not come rushing on my soul like a lion, wounding it, while there is no one to be my saviour. 3 O Lord my God, if I have done this; if my hands have done any wrong; 4 If I have given back evil to him who did evil to me, or have taken anything from him who was against me without cause; 5 Let my hater go after my soul and take it; let my life be crushed to the earth, and my honour into the dust. (Selah.) 6 Come up, Lord, in your wrath; be lifted up against my haters; be awake, my God, give orders for the judging. 7 The meeting of the nations will be round you; take your seat, then, over them, on high. 8 The Lord will be judge of the peoples; give a decision for me, O Lord, because of my righteousness, and let my virtue have its reward. 9 O let the evil of the evil-doer come to an end, but give strength to the upright: for men's minds and hearts are tested by the God of righteousness.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

If I: Psalms 55:20, Psalms 109:5, Genesis 44:4, Proverbs 17:3, Jeremiah 18:20, Jeremiah 18:21

I have: 1 Samuel 24:7, 1 Samuel 24:10, 1 Samuel 24:11, 1 Samuel 26:9-17, 1 Samuel 26:24

without: 1 Samuel 19:4, 1 Samuel 19:5, 1 Samuel 20:1, 1 Samuel 22:14, 1 Samuel 24:11-15, 1 Samuel 24:17-19, 1 Samuel 25:28, 1 Samuel 25:29, 1 Samuel 26:21

Reciprocal: Numbers 5:22 - the woman Deuteronomy 21:7 - General 1 Samuel 20:8 - if there be 2 Samuel 22:21 - rewarded 2 Chronicles 20:11 - how they reward us Job 31:22 - let Psalms 13:2 - enemy Psalms 17:3 - shalt Psalms 25:3 - without Psalms 38:20 - render Psalms 139:24 - And see Matthew 5:22 - without Matthew 5:44 - General Luke 6:27 - Love John 15:25 - They Acts 16:28 - cried 1 Thessalonians 5:15 - none

Cross-References

Genesis 2:5
In the day when the Lord God made earth and heaven there were no plants of the field on the earth, and no grass had come up: for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to do work on the land.
Genesis 6:3
And the Lord said, My spirit will not be in man for ever, for he is only flesh; so the days of his life will be a hundred and twenty years.
Genesis 6:7
And the Lord said, I will take away man, whom I have made, from the face of the earth, even man and beast and that which goes on the earth and every bird of the air; for I have sorrow for having made them.
Genesis 6:13
And God said to Noah, The end of all flesh has come; the earth is full of their violent doings, and now I will put an end to them with the earth.
Genesis 6:17
For truly, I will send a great flow of waters over the earth, for the destruction from under the heaven of all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything on the earth will come to an end.
Genesis 7:10
And after the seven days, the waters came over all the earth.
Genesis 7:11
In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, all the fountains of the great deep came bursting through, and the windows of heaven were open;
Genesis 7:12
And rain came down on the earth for forty days and forty nights.
Genesis 7:17
And for forty days the waters were over all the earth; and the waters were increased so that the ark was lifted up high over the earth.
Genesis 7:21
And destruction came on every living thing moving on the earth, birds and cattle and beasts and everything which went on the earth, and every man.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me,.... That is, when Saul was at peace with him; when he lived at his court, and ate at his table his meaning is, that he did not conspire against him, nor form schemes to deprive him of his crown nor of his life: or, as it may be rendered, "if I have rewarded to him that rewarded me evil" u; that is, as Jarchi explains it, if I rewarded him as he rewarded me, evil for evil. This David did not; and it is eminently true of Christ his antitype, 1 Peter 2:23; and in it he ought to be imitated by every believer, Romans 12:17;

yea, I have delivered him that without cause is mine enemy; meaning Saul, who persecuted David without any just reason, and whom David delivered without any obligation to do it; not for any benefit and kindness he had received from him; for the phrase "without cause" may be read in connection either with the word "delivered" w; for the deliverance was wrought without any cause or merit on Saul's part, or profit to David; or with the word "enemy", for Saul was David's enemy without any just cause on David's part: and the deliverance referred to was when he cut off Saul's skirt, in the cave at Engedi, and spared his life; and when he took away his spear from him, as he was sleeping in the trench, and did not destroy him, nor suffer those that would to do it, 1 Samuel 24:4. The words may be rendered, "only I stripped him" x. The sense is, that he cut off the skirt of his coat, and took away his spear, and so in part stripped him both of his clothes and armour, at two different times; not to do him any hurt, but to let him know, as Jarchi observes, that he was delivered into his hands, and he could have slain him, but did not. The same Jewish writer interprets the word used "of stripping of garments"; and Aben Ezra observes, from R. Moses, that the "vau", rendered "yea", signifies "only", as in Genesis 42:10.

u "Si malum malo rependi", Castalio. w ריקם "absque emolumento ullo ad me inde redeunte", Gussetius. x Verbum חלץ "proprie extrahere, &c. significat, et de vestibus quae alieui exuuntur et eripiuntur proprie dicitur", De Dieu.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me - If I have done evil; or if I have requited him that was friendly by some unjust and evil conduct. If I have come upon him wantonly and unprovoked, and have done him wrong. This seems to have been the substance of the accusation; and, as remarked above, it is most probable that the accuser (Cush) referred to himself.

Yea, I have delivered him that without cause is mine enemy - So far is this from being true, that the very reverse is true. So far from taking advantage of another that was at peace with me, and depriving him of his just rights by fraud or force, it is a fact that I have rescued from impending danger the man that was at war with me, and that was an avowed enemy. It would seem probable that in this he refers to this very Cush, and means to say that there had been some occasion in which he, who was long hostile to him, was wholly in his power, and when he had not only declined to take advantage of him, but had actually interposed to rescue him from danger. An instance of this kind actually occurred in the life of David, in his treatment of Saul 1 Samuel 24:10-11; and it is “possible” that David referred to that case, and meant to say that that was an indication of his character, and of his manner of treating others. Those who suppose that the whole psalm refers to Saul (see the introduction, Section 2), of course regard this as the specific case referred to. There may have been other instances of the same kind in the life of David, and there is no improbability in supposing that on some occasion he had treated this very man, “Cush,” in this way, and that he refers here to that fact.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 7:4. Yea, I have delivered him — When, in the course of thy providence, thou didst put his life in my hand in the cave, I contented myself with cutting off his skirt, merely to show him the danger he had been in, and the spirit of the man whom he accused of designs against his life; and yet even for this my heart smote me, because it appeared to be an indignity offered to him who was the Lord's anointed. This fact, and my venturing my life frequently for his good and the safety of the state, sufficiently show the falsity of such accusations, and the innocence of my life.


 
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