Psalms 139:19 · Bible study
Psalms 139:19 Commentary: Wrath, Justice, and Holy Longing
Hebrew · 9 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Why does the psalmist pray for God to kill the wicked? Explore the grammar, context, and tension with enemy love in this imprecatory verse.
Research Summary
- Meaning: A prayerful wish for God to act against the wicked, followed by a command for the wicked to leave the psalmist.
- Key words: ’im (optative “if only”), qatal (slay), elohah (God), rasha‘ (wicked), ’anshei damim (men of blood).
- Main debate: Whether this is a righteous zeal for God’s glory or an expression of personal vindictiveness.
- Theological theme: The problem of evil in light of God’s omniscience and justice.
- Best use: A passage for honest lament and for examining the motives behind our cries for justice.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
O God, that You would slay the wicked— away from me, you bloodthirsty men—
WEB World English Bible 2000
If only you, God, would kill the wicked. Get away from me, you bloodthirsty men!
KJV King James Version 1769
Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: Depart from me therefore, ye bloodthirsty men.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
Dost Thou slay, O God, the wicked? Then, men of blood, turn aside from me!
Darby Darby Bible 1890
Oh that thou wouldest slay the wicked, OGod! And ye men of blood, depart from me.
Translations in other languages (9 available)
De cierto, oh Dios, matarás al impío; apartaos pues de mí, hombres sanguinarios.
Ah, Deus, tomara que mates ao perverso! E vós, homens sanguinários, afastai-vos de mim;
O Dieu, puisses-tu faire mourir le méchant!
Ach Gott, daß du tötetest die Gottlosen, und die Blutgierigen von mir weichen müßten!
O God! dat Gij den goddeloze ombracht! en gij, mannen des bloeds, wijkt van mij!
Certo, tu ucciderai l’empio, o Dio; perciò dipartitevi da me, uomini di sangue.
Zabiłlibyś, o Boże! niezbożnika, tedyćby mężowie krwawi odstąpili odemnie;
神啊，你必要 殺戮 惡人；所以，你們好流人血 的，離開 我去吧！
If only you would put the sinners to death, O God; go far from me, you men of blood.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · Psalms 139:19
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators agree that Psalm 139:19 expresses a strong wish, not a prediction, for God to judge the wicked. The Hebrew opens with ’im (אִם), a conditional particle that here functions as an optative: “If only you would kill. . . .” (Keil & Delitzsch). Barnes calls the transition from God’s omniscience to this prayer “sudden and remarkable,” but he sees a logic: pondering God’s all‑seeing presence forces the psalmist to face the reality of evil. The Cambridge Bible compares the psalmist’s perplexity to Job’s (Job 21:7). Gill grounds the petition in God’s attributes: since God is omniscient and omnipresent, he knows the wicked and can act. All agree that the cry is not mere personal revenge. Matthew Henry treats it as a holy separation from evil, not a bloodthirsty wish. Calvin’s broader context notes that the psalmist, after being awed by God’s knowledge, declares “he has no sympathy with the ungodly.” The prayer flows from a burning desire for God’s honor.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Medium
Main views:
- Prophetic wish for judgment: Sees the prayer as an anticipation of the final judgment, in line with Isaiah 11:4 and Revelation 19:15.
- Righteous zeal, not revenge: The psalmist is not personally vindictive but is zealous for God’s honor (verse 20), as argued by Matthew Henry and Gill.
- Tension with NT ethics: Some Christians view the verse as an expression of an older ethic that must be reinterpreted through Jesus’ teaching on enemy love.
What is clear: The psalmist is passionately aligned with God, deeply grieved by evil, and seeks separation from the wicked, while immediately submitting to God’s examination (vv. 23–24).
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Nature of the prayer | Christians agree the psalmist is expressing a strong desire for God to judge wickedness. | Some see it as a prophetic wish for final judgment; others see it as a permissible lament; still others argue it reflects an Old Testament ethic superseded by Christ. |
| Compatibility with enemy love | All acknowledge the tension with Jesus' command to love enemies (Matthew 5:44). | Some harmonize by distinguishing between personal vengeance and concern for God’s honor; others view the psalm as a model for raw honesty that Christians can still use, as long as they also pray for enemies. |
| Authorship and date | The superscription attributes the psalm to David. | Conservative scholars hold to Davidic authorship; critical scholars point to Aramaisms and the use of 'Eloah' to argue for a later, possibly exilic, date. |
Historical & Cultural Context
Psalm 139 is attributed to David, though some commentators (e.g., Lange, Keil & Delitzsch) question the Davidic date because of Aramaic forms like qatal (תִּקְטֹל) and the divine name Eloah (אֱל֥וֹהַּ), which appears most often in Job. Nevertheless, the psalm’s content reflects the conditions of a king hunted by enemies, a situation David knew intimately. Within the psalm, verses 19, 22 mark a sharp turn from meditative awe to passionate imprecation. Barnes suggests that the thought of God’s universal presence suddenly fixes the psalmist’s mind on those who defy such a God. The Hebrew noun damim (דָמִים, “bloods”) in the phrase “men of blood” (אַנְשֵׁי דָמִים) points to violent, murderous people (cf. Proverbs 29:10). In ancient Israel, such persons were a real threat, not just abstract sinners. The optative construction “if only” (אִם־ with imperfect) appears elsewhere to express longing (e.g., Psalm 81:9; 95:7). The imperative “depart” (סוּרוּ) to the wicked echoes the language of temple separation (Psalm 119:115). The psalmist is not pleading for personal revenge but for God to vindicate his own name by removing those who defy him (verse 20). The prayer fits the pattern of communal lament and individual complaint, where the sufferer cries out for God’s intervention against the oppressors of the covenant community.
Textual Notes
The consulted sources note no significant textual variants for Psalm 139:19. Keil & Delitzsch discuss the unusual form yěmārūḵ (יְמָרוּךָ) in verse 20 and the writing nāššû’ for “they lift up,” but these do not affect verse 19. The Hebrew text is stable across manuscripts.
Reception History
Imprecatory psalms like this one have been received with unease throughout church history. Early Christian writers such as Augustine interpreted them as prophecies against spiritual enemies (sin, death, the devil). Medieval commentators often allegorized the “bloody men” as heretics or persecutors of the church. During the Reformation, Luther and Calvin saw them as the prayer of a righteous sufferer who identifies with God’s cause. In modern times, many Christians wrestle with how to incorporate such fierce language into worship, often choosing to read them as honest models of lament that can be transformed by the gospel. The verse continues to challenge readers to hold together justice and mercy, as seen in Christ.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- From awe to anguish: The psalmist moves from marveling at God’s intimate knowledge to confronting the stark reality of evil.
- A prayer for justice, not revenge: The Hebrew grammar shows a wish, not a demand, the psalmist leaves room for God’s timing and mercy.
- Holy separation: “Depart from me” is not hatred of persons but a refusal to share in their rebellion.
Five-point outline
- Context: God’s omniscience (vv. 1, 18) leads naturally to the problem of evil.
- Cry: “If only you would kill the wicked”, the raw honesty of lament.
- Confrontation: The psalmist names the enemies as God’s enemies, not merely his own.
- Separation: The imperative to the wicked, distance from the psalmist.
- Self-examination: Verses 23, 24 immediately follow, inviting God to search the speaker’s own heart.
Illustration hooks
- Watching news reports of injustice and feeling the same cry rise: “Lord, when will you act?”
- A friend who has suffered betrayal and struggles to pray for the offender without hypocrisy.
- The relief of saying aloud, “I hate that this happened,” without pretending to have warm feelings.
Questions your congregation is asking
- Is it okay to tell God I want him to punish evil people?
- How does this verse fit with Jesus’ command to love our enemies?
- Does praying imprecatory psalms make me a bad Christian?
Leading a Discussion
Psalm 139:19 can feel jarring after the tender verses that precede it. This passage invites us to be honest with God about the presence of evil and to examine our own hearts in the process. Read the verse slowly, then let the questions guide your group.
Discussion questions
- What words or phrases in verse 19 stand out to you? Why?
- The psalmist uses the Hebrew ’im (“if only”), a wish, not a statement of fact. How does that shift your understanding of the verse?
- How does the context of God’s omniscience (vv. 1, 18) prepare for this prayer?
- In verse 20, the psalmist gives a reason for his cry. What does that reason tell you about his primary concern?
- Compare this prayer with Jesus’ words in Luke 23:34 (“Father, forgive them”). How do you hold these two together?
- When have you felt something like this cry? Was it justified, or did it reveal something in your own heart?
- Verses 23, 24 immediately follow with a request for self-examination. Why do you think the psalmist places that here?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Psalms 5:6 | You will destroy those who speak lies. Yahweh abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. |
| Psalms 6:8 | Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity, for Yahweh has heard the voice of my weeping. |
| Psalms 9:17 | The wicked shall be turned back to Sheol, even all the nations that forget God. |
| Psalms 55:23 | But you, God, will bring them down into the pit of destruction. Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days, but I will trust in you. |
| Psalms 64:7 | But God will shoot at them. They will be suddenly struck down with an arrow. |
| Psalms 94:23 | He has brought on them their own iniquity, and will cut them off in their own wickedness. Yahweh, our God, will cut them off. |
| Psalms 119:115 | Depart from me, you evildoers, that I may keep the commandments of my God. |
| Isaiah 11:4 | but he will judge the poor with righteousness, and decide with equity for the humble of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the breath of his lips he will kill the wicked. |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
8 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Adam Clarke's Commentary Methodist/Wesleyan 1826
Clarke considers the closing verses of this psalm disconnected from the earlier material, leading him to suspect they are a fragment from another psalm. He also notes that the phrase "ye bloody men" translates a Hebrew expression meaning "men of blood," that is, people guilty of death.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible Protestant 1832
Barnes explains the abrupt shift in the psalm as a natural reaction to realizing God’s omniscience. The thought that such a God sees everything instantly brings to mind the wicked’s guilt and danger. The psalmist then urgently wants to be separate from them, not sharing their conduct or fate.
Calvin's Commentaries Reformed 1564
Calvin argues that David wrote this psalm to strip away every excuse and pretense, forcing the reader to face the fact that nothing is hidden from God. The proof lies in our very creation: the One who formed every part of us in the womb cannot possibly be ignorant of how we live.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
The psalmist struggles not with evil as an idea but with evil people who openly defy God. He asks God to remove them from the world, and he separates himself from their company to avoid being led into sin, then prays for his own heart to be purified and guided.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The Geneva note highlights how the psalmist first calls on God to destroy the wicked, then immediately turns and commands them to leave
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill reads this verse as a prophecy of God's final judgment, specifically against the Antichrist and antichristian powers. He identifies the singular "wicked one" with the man of sin who will be slain by Christ's breath, and as a collective body of all Christ's enemies who oppose his reign.
Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary Protestant 1876
Keil and Delitzsch highlight the verse's unusual Aramaic forms and the divine name Eloah, which resemble the language of Job. They explain the difficult transition from optative to imperative as expressing the psalmist's intense emotion, and argue that the phrase "lifted up to vanity" is understood from context as swearing falsely by God's name.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Matthew Henry highlights the wonder that God's total knowledge of us becomes a source of tender care rather than judgment. The same omniscience that could have watched over us to harm has instead been employed for our good, through countless kind counsels and providential acts we cannot fathom.