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Psalm 41:5

My enemies speak evil against me: “When will he die, and his name perish?”

3The LORD will sustain him on his sickbed, and restore him from his bed of illness.
4I said, “LORD, have mercy on me! Heal me, for I have sinned against you.”
5My enemies speak evil against me: “When will he die, and his name perish?”
6If he comes to see me, he speaks falsehood. His heart gathers iniquity to itself. When he goes abroad, he tells it.
7All who hate me whisper together against me. They imagine the worst for me.
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← Psalm 41:4Psalm 41:6 →
Notice

The enemies want both a death and a vanished name, adding the cruelty of being wished away to the suffering of someone already on a sickbed.

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

What does the wish that his name perish add to the enemies’ desire for his death?

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What would naming cruel words before God allow you to say that you have held back?

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Connect

Where else Scripture says this

6 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
Proverbs 10:7The memory of the righteous is blessed, but the name of the wicked will rot.Both passages connect a person's name with what remains after death; Psalm 41 records enemies wishing that name would perish.
Psalm 102:8My enemies reproach me all day. Those who are mad at me use my name as a curse.Both psalms describe enemies using speech to harm the sufferer, with his name caught up in their hostility.
Psalm 38:12They also who seek after my life lay snares. Those who seek my hurt speak mischievous things, and meditate deceits all day long.Both passages describe hostile speech from people who want the sufferer dead or hurt.
Job 20:7yet he will perish forever like his own dung. Those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’Both passages speak of death and disappearance, though Psalm 41 presents these as an enemy's wish.
Job 18:17His memory will perish from the earth. He will have no name in the street.A name and memory perishing is the shared concern: Psalm 41 records that wish, while Job 18 describes that fate.
Psalm 22:6–8But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised by the people.Both psalms speak from the position of someone facing contempt, expressed through evil speech in Psalm 41 and reproach in Psalm 22.
Where this verse fits

Illness or diagnosis. injustice and anger. broken friendship.

What the Bible says about anger →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Tell God which cruel words still trouble you

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Encouragement

Such cruelty can be named before God without softening what was said. In this psalm, the person whose enemies wish him dead has just asked YHWH for mercy.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 41:5. 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 41 · 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).