Psalm 59:11
New International Version
But do not kill them, Lord our shield, or my people will forget. In your might uproot them and bring them down.

New Living Translation
Don’t kill them, for my people soon forget such lessons; stagger them with your power, and bring them to their knees, O Lord our shield.

English Standard Version
Kill them not, lest my people forget; make them totter by your power and bring them down, O Lord, our shield!

Berean Standard Bible
Do not kill them, or my people will forget. Scatter them by Your power, and bring them down, O Lord, our shield.

King James Bible
Slay them not, lest my people forget: scatter them by thy power; and bring them down, O Lord our shield.

New King James Version
Do not slay them, lest my people forget; Scatter them by Your power, And bring them down, O Lord our shield.

New American Standard Bible
Do not kill them, or my people will forget; Scatter them by Your power and bring them down, Lord, our shield.

NASB 1995
Do not slay them, or my people will forget; Scatter them by Your power, and bring them down, O Lord, our shield.

NASB 1977
Do not slay them, lest my people forget; Scatter them by Thy power, and bring them down, O Lord, our shield.

Legacy Standard Bible
Do not slay them, or my people will forget; Make them wander about by Your power, and bring them down, O Lord, our shield.

Amplified Bible
Do not kill them, or my people will forget; Scatter them and make them wander [endlessly] back and forth by Your power, and bring them down, O Lord our shield!

Christian Standard Bible
Do not kill them; otherwise, my people will forget. By your power, make them homeless wanderers and bring them down, Lord, our shield.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Do not kill them; otherwise, my people will forget. By Your power, make them homeless wanderers and bring them down, Lord, our shield.

American Standard Version
Slay them not, lest my people forget: Scatter them by thy power, and bring them down, O Lord our shield.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Do not kill them, lest my people forget, but shake them by your power and chase them LORD JEHOVAH, my trust.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Slay them not, lest they forget thy law; scatter them by thy power; and bring them down, O Lord, my defender.

Contemporary English Version
Don't kill them, or everyone may forget! Just use your mighty power to make them tremble and fall. You are a shield for your people.

Douay-Rheims Bible
God shall let me see over my enemies: slay them not, lest at any time my people forget. Scatter them by thy power; and bring them down, O Lord, my protector:

English Revised Version
Slay them not, lest my people forget: scatter them by thy power, and bring them down, O Lord our shield.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Do not kill them. Otherwise, my people may forget. Make them wander aimlessly by your power. Bring them down, O Lord, our shield,

Good News Translation
Do not kill them, O God, or my people may forget. Scatter them by your strength and defeat them, O Lord, our protector.

International Standard Version
Don't kill them! Otherwise, my people may forget. By your power make them stumble around; bring them down low, Lord, our Shield.

JPS Tanakh 1917
Slay them not, lest my people forget, Make them wander to and fro by Thy power, and bring them down, O Lord our shield.

Literal Standard Version
Do not slay them, lest my people forget, | Shake them by Your strength, | And bring them down, O Lord our shield.

Majority Standard Bible
Do not kill them, or my people will forget. Scatter them by Your power, and bring them down, O Lord, our shield.

New American Bible
Slay them not, God, lest they deceive my people. Shake them by your power; Lord, our shield, bring them down.

NET Bible
Do not strike them dead suddenly, because then my people might forget the lesson. Use your power to make them homeless vagabonds and then bring them down, O Lord who shields us!

New Revised Standard Version
Do not kill them, or my people may forget; make them totter by your power, and bring them down, O Lord, our shield.

New Heart English Bible
Do not kill them, or my people may forget. Scatter them by your power, and bring them down, Lord our shield.

Webster's Bible Translation
Slay them not, lest my people forget: scatter them by thy power; and bring them down, O Lord our shield.

World English Bible
Don’t kill them, or my people may forget. Scatter them by your power, and bring them down, Lord our shield.

Young's Literal Translation
Slay them not, lest my people forget, Shake them by Thy strength, And bring them down, O Lord our shield.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Deliver Me From My Enemies
10My God of loving devotion will come to meet me; God will let me stare down my foes. 11Do not kill them, or my people will forget. Scatter them by Your power, and bring them down, O Lord, our shield. 12By the sins of their mouths and the words of their lips, let them be trapped in their pride, in the curses and lies they utter.…

Cross References
Deuteronomy 4:9
Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen, and so that they do not slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and grandchildren.

Deuteronomy 6:12
be careful not to forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

Psalm 18:2
The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer. My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

Psalm 84:9
Take notice of our shield, O God, and look with favor on the face of Your anointed.

Psalm 106:27
to disperse their offspring among the nations and scatter them throughout the lands.

Psalm 144:6
Flash forth Your lightning and scatter them; shoot Your arrows and rout them.

Isaiah 33:3
The peoples flee the thunder of Your voice; the nations scatter when You rise.


Treasury of Scripture

Slay them not, lest my people forget: scatter them by your power; and bring them down, O Lord our shield.

Slay

Genesis 4:12-15
When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth…

Judges 1:6,7
But Adonibezek fled; and they pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes…

Ecclesiastes 9:5
For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.

scatter

Psalm 44:11
Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat; and hast scattered us among the heathen.

Psalm 52:5
God shall likewise destroy thee for ever, he shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place, and root thee out of the land of the living. Selah.

Leviticus 26:33
And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste.

bring

Job 40:12
Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low; and tread down the wicked in their place.

our shield

Psalm 3:3
But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.

Psalm 84:11
For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.

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Psalm 59
1. David prays to be delivered from his enemies
6. He complains of their cruelty
8. He trusts in god
11. He prays against them
16. He praises God














(11) Slay them not, lest my people forget . . .--The Spartans refused to allow the destruction of a neighbouring city, which had often called forth their armies, saying, "Destroy not the whetstone of our young men." Timon, in the play, is made to say--

"Live loath'd and long

You smiling smooth detested parasites,"

that the ruin of Athens might be complete, if deferred. National feeling, too, has often insisted on extreme modes of punishment, partly from vindictive feeling, partly for deterrent purposes. Witness the sequel to the Indian mutiny. But where is the parallel to the feeling that seems uppermost in the Psalmist's mind, viz., a wish for protracted retribution on the nations for the moral benefit of Israel?

Scatter them.--Better, make them wander: a word applied to Cain and to the Israelite wanderings in the wilderness.

Verse 11. - Slay them not, lest my people forget; i.e. my true people - faithful Israel. The psalmist's "first thought is, that by lingering on in life for a while the wicked may be more edifying monuments of the Divine anger" (Cheyne). (For a parallel, see Exodus 9:16.) Scatter them by thy power; or, make them wanderers (comp. Genesis 4:12, 14). It has been often noted that David's curse seems to have passed on to the entire nation of the Jews. And bring them down, O Lord our Shield; i.e. "cast them down from their honourable positions bring them into misery and disgrace - O Lord, who art our Defense and Shield" (comp. Psalm 3:3; Psalm 18:2; Psalm 28:7).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Do not
אַל־ (’al-)
Adverb
Strong's 408: Not

kill them,
תַּהַרְגֵ֤ם ׀ (ta·har·ḡêm)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - second person masculine singular | third person masculine plural
Strong's 2026: To smite with deadly intent

or
פֶּֽן־ (pen-)
Conjunction
Strong's 6435: Removal, lest

my people
עַמִּ֗י (‘am·mî)
Noun - masculine singular construct | first person common singular
Strong's 5971: A people, a tribe, troops, attendants, a flock

will forget.
יִשְׁכְּח֬וּ (yiš·kə·ḥū)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 7911: To mislay, to be oblivious of, from want of memory, attention

Scatter them
הֲנִיעֵ֣מוֹ (hă·nî·‘ê·mōw)
Verb - Hifil - Imperative - masculine singular | third person masculine plural
Strong's 5128: To quiver, wave, waver, tremble, totter

by Your power,
בְ֭חֵילְךָ (ḇə·ḥê·lə·ḵā)
Preposition-b | Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 2428: A force, an army, wealth, virtue, valor, strength

and bring them down,
וְהוֹרִידֵ֑מוֹ (wə·hō·w·rî·ḏê·mōw)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Imperative - masculine singular | third person masculine plural
Strong's 3381: To come or go down, descend

O Lord,
אֲדֹנָֽי׃ (’ă·ḏō·nāy)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 136: The Lord

our shield.
מָֽגִנֵּ֣נוּ (mā·ḡin·nê·nū)
Noun - common singular construct | first person common plural
Strong's 4043: A shield, a protector, the scaly hide of the crocodile


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OT Poetry: Psalm 59:11 Don't kill them or my people may (Psalm Ps Psa.)
Psalm 59:10
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