Psalms 139:19

New King James Version

Oh, that You would slay the wicked, O God! Depart from me, therefore, you bloodthirsty men.

Parallel Translations

English Standard Version
Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God! O men of blood, depart from me!

Geneva Bible (1587)
Oh that thou wouldest slay, O God, the wicked and bloody men, to whom I say, Depart ye from mee:

Christian Standard Bible®
God, if only you would kill the wicked—you bloodthirsty men, stay away from me—

Hebrew Names Version
If only you, God, would kill the wicked. Get away from me, you bloodthirsty men!

Easy-to-Read Version
You murderers, get away from me! God, kill those wicked people—

Amplified Bible
O that You would kill the wicked, O God; Go away from me, therefore, men of bloodshed.

American Standard Version
Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: Depart from me therefore, ye bloodthirsty men.

Contemporary English Version
How I wish that you would kill all cruel and heartless people and protect me from them!

Complete Jewish Bible
God, if only you would kill off the wicked! Men of blood, get away from me!

JPS Old Testament (1917)
If Thou but wouldest slay the wicked, O God--depart from me therefore, ye men of blood;

King James Version (1611)
Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Oh that thou wouldest slay the wicked, O God; depart from me, ye men of blood.

English Revised Version
Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloodthirsty men.

Berean Standard Bible
O God, that You would slay the wicked-away from me, you bloodthirsty men-

Lexham English Bible
If only you would kill the wicked, O God— so get away from me, you bloodthirsty men—

Literal Translation
Surely You will slay the wicked, O God; and men of blood will turn away from me.

New Century Version
God, I wish you would kill the wicked! Get away from me, you murderers!

New English Translation
If only you would kill the wicked, O God! Get away from me, you violent men!

New Living Translation
O God, if only you would destroy the wicked! Get out of my life, you murderers!

New Life Bible
If only You would kill the sinful, O God, and the men of blood would go away from me!

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Wilt thou not, O GOD, slay the lawless one? Therefore, ye men of bloodshed, depart from me!

Douay-Rheims Bible
(138-19) If thou wilt kill the wicked, O God: ye men of blood, depart from me:

George Lamsa Translation
Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God; depart from me therefore, you bloody men.

Good News Translation
O God, how I wish you would kill the wicked! How I wish violent people would leave me alone!

New American Standard Bible
If only You would put the wicked to death, God; Leave me, you men of bloodshed.

King James Version
Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
For truely thou wylt slay O Lord the wicked man: and the blood thirstie men [to whom I euer say] depart ye from me.

New Revised Standard
O that you would kill the wicked, O God, and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me—

Darby Translation
Oh that thou wouldest slay the wicked, O +God! And ye men of blood, depart from me.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For thou, God, schalt slee synneris; ye menquelleris, bowe awei fro me.

Young's Literal Translation
Dost Thou slay, O God, the wicked? Then, men of blood, turn aside from me!

World English Bible
If only you, God, would kill the wicked. Get away from me, you bloodthirsty men!

Revised Standard Version
O that thou wouldst slay the wicked, O God, and that men of blood would depart from me,

Update Bible Version
Surely you will slay the wicked, O God: Depart from me therefore, you bloodthirsty men.

Webster's Bible Translation
Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men.

Bible in Basic English
If only you would put the sinners to death, O God; go far from me, you men of blood.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Wilt thou not slaye ye wicked (oh God) that the bloudethyrstie mighte departe fro me?

New American Standard Bible (1995)
O that You would slay the wicked, O God; Depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed.

Legacy Standard Bible
Oh that You would slay the wicked, O God!O men of bloodshed, depart from me.

Contextual Overview

¹⁷ How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! ¹⁸ If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You. ¹⁹ Oh, that You would slay the wicked, O God! Depart from me, therefore, you bloodthirsty men. ²⁰ For they speak against You wickedly;Your enemies take Your name in vain. [fn] ²¹ Do I not hate them, O LORD, who hate You? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? ²² I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies. ²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; ²⁴ And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Surely: Psalms 5:6, Psalms 9:17, Psalms 55:23, Psalms 64:7, Psalms 94:23, Isaiah 11:4

depart from: Psalms 6:8, Psalms 119:115, Matthew 7:23, Matthew 25:41, 2 Corinthians 6:17

Reciprocal: Genesis 4:8 - Cain rose Genesis 49:6 - come 2 Chronicles 32:19 - spake Esther 7:6 - this wicked Psalms 26:9 - bloody men Psalms 59:2 - save

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God,.... Since he is God omniscient, and knows where they are, what they have done, are doing, and design to do; and God omnipresent, at hand to lay hold upon them; and God omnipotent, to hold them and inflict due punishment on them; this is a consequence rightly drawn from the above perfections of God. Or "if thou wilt slay the wicked" z, then, when I awake, I shall be with thee, as Kimchi connects the words; that is, be at leisure to attend to thy works and wonders, and daily employ myself in the contemplation of them, having no wicked persons near me to molest and disturb me. The word is singular in the original text, "the wicked one"; meaning either Saul, who was David's enemy without a cause, and did very wickedly and injuriously by him, whom he might expect God in due time would take out of the world; though he did not choose to lay his hand on the Lord's anointed, when he was in his power. Jarchi interprets it of Esau, by whom he means Edom or Rome, in the Rabbinic language, that it, the Christians; if he meant no more than the Papal Christians, he may be much in the right; the man of sin, the son of perdition, the wicked one, whom the Lord will slay with the breath of his lips, may be intended, the common enemy of Christ and his cause,

Isaiah 11:4. Though it may design a collective body of wicked men; all the followers of antichrist, all the antichristian states, on whom the vials of God's wrath will be poured; and even all the wicked of the earth, all Christ's enemies, that would not have him to reign over them, and none but they; the justice of God will not admit of it to slay the righteous with the wicked, and the omniscience of God will distinguish the one from the other, and separate the precious from the vile;

depart from me therefore, ye bloody men; men guilty of shedding innocent blood, and therefore by the law of God should have their blood shed; such particularly are antichrist and his followers, who deserve to have blood given them to drink, because they have shed the blood of the saints, Revelation 16:6; these and such as these the psalmist would have no company or fellowship with, lest he should be corrupted by them, fall into sin, and partake of deserved plagues with them, Revelation 18:4. Some consider these as the words of God, and in connection with the former, and by way of wish, thus, "O that thou wouldest slay the wicked, O God" a; and wouldest say, "depart from me, ye bloody men"; which will be said to the wicked at the last day, and even to such who have made a profession of the name of Christ, Matthew 7:23.

z אם תקטל "si occideris", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Musculus, &c. a So some in Vatablus.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God - Compare the notes at Isaiah 11:4. The literal translation of this would be, “If thou wilt slay the wicked.” It is not easy to account for the sudden and remarkable transition or diversion of the train of thought from the main subject of the psalm, in these verses Psalms 139:19-22, in which the psalmist gives vent to his feelings toward the wicked, and prays that they may depart from him. Perhaps the explanation of it may be, that as the psalmist was reflecting on the fact that God is everywhere present, that he searches the hearts of people, that he must know all their conduct, he was suddenly struck with the idea of the condition of wicked people in the presence, and under the eye, of such a Being. As God knows all things, he must know them; and this instantaneously suggested the idea of their guilt and danger. People of such characters could not deceive such a God. They could not but be known to him, and could not but be objects of his aversion. They could not, therefore, but be in danger.

Depart from me, therefore, ye bloody men - See Psalms 119:115. The Hebrew is, “Men of bloods;” that is, men who shed blood. The language is used to denote wicked men in general. The idea here is not that the psalmist was in danger from them at that time, but that he desired to be separate from that class of people; he did not wish to be ranked with them, to partake of their conduct, or to share in their fate. He had no sympathy with them, and he desired to be separate from them altogether.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 139:19. Surely thou wilt slay the wicked — The remaining part of this Psalm has no visible connexion with the preceding. I rather think it a fragment, or a part of some other Psalm.

Ye bloody men. — אנשי דמים anshey damim, men of blood, men guilty of death.