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Psalm 119:85

The proud have dug pits for me, contrary to your law.

83For I have become like a wineskin in the smoke. I don’t forget your statutes.
84How many are the days of your servant? When will you execute judgment on those who persecute me?
85The proud have dug pits for me, contrary to your law.
86All of your commandments are faithful. They persecute me wrongfully. Help me!
87They had almost wiped me from the earth, but I didn’t forsake your precepts.
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← Psalm 119:84Psalm 119:86 →
Notice

The dug pits make the threat deliberate and concealed, while “contrary to your law” names the wrong by God's standard.

Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.

What does the image of a dug pit convey about the harm described here?

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How does naming harm as “contrary to your law” shape what you would bring before God?

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Connect

Where else Scripture says this

8 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.

This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Psalm 35:7For without cause they have hidden their net in a pit for me. Without cause they have dug a pit for my soul.Both prayers describe pits dug to trap the speaker, naming the attack as wrongful.
Proverbs 16:27A worthless man devises mischief. His speech is like a scorching fire.Both describe harm being planned, with dug pits in the psalm and devised mischief in Proverbs.
Psalm 119:110The wicked have laid a snare for me, yet I haven’t gone astray from your precepts.Both describe traps set for the speaker and refer to God's commands amid that danger.
Psalm 10:2In arrogance, the wicked hunt down the weak. They are caught in the schemes that they devise.Both connect pride with planned harm against another person, pictured through pits or a hunt.
Jeremiah 18:20Should evil be recompensed for good? For they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember how I stood before you to speak good for them, to turn away your wrath from …Both speakers tell God that others have dug a pit for them and protest the wrong being done.
Psalm 7:15He has dug a hole, and has fallen into the pit which he made.Both use the image of a dug pit; Psalm 7 adds that the person who made it falls into it.
Exodus 21:33“If a man opens a pit, or if a man digs a pit and doesn’t cover it, and a bull or a donkey falls into it,Both mention a dug pit that endangers another, though Exodus describes an uncovered hazard and the psalm describes deliberate entrapment.
Jeremiah 18:22Let a cry be heard from their houses when you bring a troop suddenly on them; for they have dug a pit to take me and hidden snares for my feet.Both speakers describe pits dug to capture them; Jeremiah also asks God to bring violent judgment on those responsible.
Where this verse fits

Injustice and anger. fear for the future.

What the Bible says about anger →What the Bible says about fear →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Pray for someone facing deliberate harm

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Encouragement

The psalmist speaks to God while the pits remain. His complaint leaves the danger unresolved, yet God's law still stands as the measure of what is wrong.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 119:85. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.

Keep goingPsalm 119 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).