Psalms 7:14 · Bible study
Psalms 7:14 Commentary: The Wicked’s Travail of Iniquity
Hebrew · 11 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
How the childbirth metaphor in Psalm 7:14 depicts the wicked’s deliberate effort to do evil and the inevitable failure of their plans.
Research Summary
- Meaning: The wicked's deliberate effort to do evil ends in self-deception and failure.
- Key words: Iniquity (worthlessness), Mischief (trouble), Falsehood (deception), the progression from plan to result.
- Main debate: Whether 'falsehood' means a lie told or the disappointment of failed expectations; most commentators favor the latter.
- Social-Theological theme: God's justice ensures sin carries its own punishment; the righteous Judge vindicates the innocent.
- Best use: Comfort for the oppressed and a warning against plotting evil, showing that sin's promised outcomes are illusory.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
Behold, the wicked man travails with evil; he conceives trouble and births falsehood.
WEB World English Bible 2000
Behold, he travails with iniquity. Yes, he has conceived mischief, and brought out falsehood.
KJV King James Version 1769
Behold, he travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
Behold, he travaileth with iniquity; Yea, he hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
Lo, he travaileth with iniquity, And he hath conceived perverseness, And hath brought forth falsehood.
Darby Darby Bible 1890
Behold, he travaileth with iniquity, yea, he hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood:
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
And in it he hath prepared to instruments of death, he hath made ready his arrows for them that burn.
Translations in other languages (10 available)
He aquí ha tenido parto de iniquidad: concibió trabajo, y parió mentira.
Eis que o injusto está com dores de perversidade; e está em trabalho de parto, e gerará mentiras.
Il dirige sur lui des traits meurtriers,
Siehe, der hat Böses im Sinn; mit Unglück ist er schwanger und wird Lüge gebären.
En heeft dodelijke wapenen voor hem gereed gemaakt; Hij zal Zijn pijlen tegen de hittige vervolgers te werk stellen.
Ecco, il malvagio è in doglie per produrre iniquità. Egli ha concepito malizia e partorisce menzogna.
Zgotował nań broń śmiertelną, a strzały swoje na prześladowników przyprawił.
приготовляет для него сосуды смерти, стрелы Свои делает палящими.
試看 惡人因奸惡 而劬勞，所懷 的是毒害，所生 的是虛假。
That man is a worker of evil; the seed of wrongdoing has given birth to deceit.
Verse in Context
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators across traditions agree that Psalm 7:14 uses the metaphor of childbirth to depict the wicked man's deliberate, painful effort to produce evil. The verse employs three stages: travail, conception, and birth. Yet the 'birth' is falsehood, not primarily a lie told to others, but self-deception and final disappointment. Barnes notes that after all his labor, the wicked is 'abortive', his plan fails. Keil and Delitzsch observe the unusual sequence where travail is mentioned before conception, reflecting the Hebrew verbs and indicating the intensity of the effort. The Cambridge Bible calls it 'studied ambiguity,' where the wicked's intended evil becomes his own undoing. This reading is set within David's protest of innocence and his confidence that God, as righteous Judge, will vindicate him. The metaphor thus serves both to warn against plotting evil and to comfort the oppressed.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Low
What is clear: The wicked labors intensely to do evil, but the outcome is ultimately empty and self-defeating.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Order of verbs (travails, conceived, brought forth) | All commentators see the metaphor as describing the wicked's intense, deliberate effort to do evil. | Some note the sequence is out of natural order (travail before conception). Keil and Delitzsch argue the Hebrew verbs are not strictly sequential but describe the whole process. Others see it as deliberate irony. |
| Meaning of 'falsehood' | Most agree that the wicked's outcome is not simply a lie but results in failure and self-deception. | Barnes specifically says it is disappointment, not a lie told to others. The Cambridge Bible calls it 'vanity and failure.' Some older interpretations see it as the wicked's lying speech. |
| Identity of 'he' | The verse is understood as a description of the wicked in general, consistent with the context of judgment. | Some commentators, especially older ones like Matthew Henry, apply it specifically to David's enemies (Saul or Cush). Others read it as a proverb-like statement about all who oppose God. |
| Relation to divine judgment (vv.12, 16) | This verse is part of a larger depiction of how God judges the impenitent wicked. | Is 'falsehood' the direct judgment of God, or the natural consequence of sin? Most see it as both: God's justice works through the inherent self-destructive nature of evil. |
| Childbirth metaphor and sin | The metaphor shows sin as a labor that requires effort and produces results. | Whether the emphasis is on the pain of the labor (Wesley, Clarke) or the disappointment of the birth (Barnes, Keil). Both are present. |
Historical & Cultural Context
The title of Psalm 7 describes it as a Shiggaion of David, composed concerning Cush the Benjamite. Most commentators, including Calvin and Lange, identify Cush as a slanderer from the tribe of Benjamin, likely connected to King Saul's court. The historical setting appears to be David's flight from Saul and the false accusations leveled against him. The childbirth metaphor in verse 14 is part of a larger section (vv.12, 16) describing the fate of the impenitent wicked.
This imagery is common in ancient wisdom literature, appearing in Job 15:35 and Isaiah 59:4, where the wicked conceive trouble and give birth to worthless results. In the ancient world, childbirth was a familiar image for intense, painful effort. To use this imagery for the wicked's scheming underscores both the extreme energy they invest and the certainty that their plan will fail. The poet reverses the natural order: instead of bringing forth life, the wicked bring forth deception. Gill notes that the word rendered 'falsehood' means 'a vain thing, no fruit at all, but wind or stubble.'
The progression from conception to travail to birth mirrors human planning, but the outcome is opposite to what the wicked intends. The following verses (15, 16) reinforce this: the pit dug for another traps the digger. The metaphor serves a legal and theological point: God's justice ensures that evil recoils on the evildoer. David's confidence rests on this principle, as he appeals to God as righteous Judge.
Textual Notes
The consulted sources note no significant textual variants for Psalm 7:14. The verse is stable across manuscripts.
Reception History
Christians have long read Psalm 7:14 as part of the broader biblical teaching that sin contains its own punishment. Reformation-era commentators like Calvin and the Geneva Bible emphasized the irony of the wicked's labour, seeing the verse as a warning against opposing God's anointed. Matthew Henry used it to comfort the persecuted. In the New Testament, James 1:15 echoes the metaphor, showing that lust conceives sin and sin produces death. The verse has been a source of assurance that God's justice will ultimately prevail, and a sobering warning that plotting evil is a self-defeating effort.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- The Labor of Evil: The wicked expend intense energy to conceive and bring about harm. This is not passive temptation but active, painful effort, like childbirth.
- The Lie of Evil: The promised result is 'falsehood', not just a lie told to others, but a deception that fails to deliver. The wicked's plan is self-defeating.
- The Justice of God: God, as righteous judge, ensures that evil recoils on its perpetrator. The metaphor flows into v.15, 16: the pit dug for another becomes the digger's own grave.
Five-point outline
- Conception of mischief: the wicked's plan begins in the mind, deliberately formed.
- Travail with iniquity: the plan is nurtured with pain and determination.
- Bringing forth falsehood: the actual outcome is empty and disappointing.
- Self-destruction: the consequence rebounds on the wicked (v.15, 16).
- Praise to God: David responds not with vengeance but with thanksgiving to the righteous Judge (v.17).
Illustration hooks
- A person spends years building a reputation on lies and manipulation. When exposed, everything collapses. The effort was real; the result was falsehood.
- In a workplace, someone schemes to undermine a coworker, but the plan backfires and costs them their own position. The 'pit' they dug becomes their own.
- The universal experience of investing enormous effort in a project that promises success but ends in disappointment, mirrored in the spiritual reality of sin.
Questions your congregation is asking
- If God is just, why do the wicked sometimes prosper for so long? This verse shows their prosperity is a labor that ends in falsehood.
- Does the metaphor mean every sinful plan will fail? The psalm addresses the ultimate outcome under God's judgment, not necessarily immediate results.
- How can I tell when my own plans are becoming 'conceived mischief'? The call is to examine motives, are we laboring in faith or in self-centered ambition?
Leading a Discussion
This verse uses the intimate, physical imagery of childbirth to describe the wicked's determined efforts and their inevitable failure. As you discuss, consider how the metaphor reveals both the seriousness of sin and the certainty of God's justice.
Discussion questions
- What stands out to you about the three verbs: travails, conceived, brought forth? Why do you think the poet uses childbirth imagery?
- How does the order of 'travail' then 'conception' strike you? Commentators note it seems out of sequence, what might that communicate about the wicked's effort?
- Read Job 15:35 and Isaiah 59:4. How do these passages echo the same idea? What do they add to your understanding?
- Barnes says 'falsehood' means the wicked's plan is 'abortive', it fails. How does this challenge the common view that sin offers real rewards?
- Why is it important that the verse sits between God's preparation of judgment (vv.12, 13) and the pit imagery (vv.15, 16)? How does context shape the meaning?
- In what ways do we see people today 'laboring with iniquity', investing enormous effort in things that will ultimately deceive them?
- How does this verse strengthen your confidence in God's justice, especially when wrongdoing seems to succeed?
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Job 15:20 | the wicked man writhes in pain all his days, even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor. |
| Job 15:35 | They conceive mischief and produce iniquity. Their heart prepares deceit.” |
| Isaiah 33:11 | You will conceive chaff. You will give birth to stubble. Your breath is a fire that will devour you. |
| Isaiah 59:4 | No one sues in righteousness, and no one pleads in truth. They trust in vanity and speak lies. They conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity. |
| Isaiah 59:5 | They hatch adders’ eggs and weave the spider’s web. He who eats of their eggs dies; and that which is crushed breaks out into a viper. |
| James 1:15 | Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin. The sin, when it is full grown, produces death. |
Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
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What the Commentators Say
10 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Adam Clarke's Commentary Methodist/Wesleyan 1826
Clarke reads the sequence "conceived mischief, travailed with iniquity, brought forth falsehood" as a vivid picture of Saul’s hate reaching its peak. The point is that every step of his plotting ends in emptiness: his hostility produced nothing but disappointment, with all his expectations utterly frustrated.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible Protestant 1832
Barnes reads the childbirth metaphor as describing the wicked man's painful, determined effort to bring his evil plans to completion. The key point is that the result, falsehood, means self-deception and disappointment, not a lie. After all his labor, his scheme fails, because God as righteous Judge ensures it.
Calvin's Commentaries Reformed 1564
Calvin sees the psalm as a four-part protest: David first clears his own conscience, then appeals to God's glory, steadies himself by recalling God's promises, and finally mocks his enemies' plots as sure to fail. He also notes the word Shiggaion likely names a tune or melody, not a musical instrument or a mood.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
The Cambridge Bible notes that the psalmist uses deliberately ambiguous language to mock the wicked man's plans. The "iniquity" he labors to produce proves worthless; the "mischief" he conceives for others collapses onto himself; the "falsehood" he brings forth deceives no one but him.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The Geneva note traces a complete cycle of evil: the wicked man labors with wickedness, conceives mischief, but in the end gives birth only to a lie. His schemes, however carefully nurtured, collapse into empty deception and cannot achieve what he intended.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill develops the image of a pregnant woman to show that the wicked are full of sin, eagerly laboring to commit it. But what they finally bring forth is falsehood and emptiness, not the success they expected. Their schemes against the righteous end in bitter disappointment and vanity.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871
JFB observes that the verse builds meaning in two stages. The opening clause states the general truth about wicked people actively working to do evil. The following clauses then extend that idea into a full picture, drawing out the metaphor completely.
Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary Protestant 1876
Keil-Delitzsch point out that the psalmist describes the sinner's punishment using the unusual sequence of travail before pregnancy. Sin's act, guilt and punishment flow together into one self-destructive process: the trouble a person prepares for others returns as a crushing burden on his own head. God's righteousness then reveals itself in wrath against the oppressor and mercy for the innocent.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Henry notes that David, having made his appeal to God, now acts by faith as if he is receiving the verdict. David's confidence rests entirely on God alone as his protector; he expects defense and safety from no other source, placing his shield upon God.
Wesley's Explanatory Notes Methodist/Wesleyan 1754
Wesley explains that the metaphor of "travelleth" describes a person's deep, determined plan and vigorous efforts to do harm, along with his restless, painful drive until the mischief is accomplished.