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Psalm 54:3

For strangers have risen up against me. Violent men have sought after my soul. They haven’t set God before them. Selah.

1For the Chief Musician. On stringed instruments. A contemplation by David, when the Ziphites came and said to Saul, “Isn’t David hiding himself among us?” Save me, God, by your name. Vindicate me in your might.
2Hear my prayer, God. Listen to the words of my mouth.
3For strangers have risen up against me. Violent men have sought after my soul. They haven’t set God before them. Selah.
4Behold, God is my helper. The Lord is the one who sustains my soul.
5He will repay the evil to my enemies. Destroy them in your truth.
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← Psalm 54:2Psalm 54:4 →
Notice

Violent men seek David’s life, and his prayer names both the danger they pose and their refusal to set God before them.

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

Where, if anywhere, do you see the kind of danger David names in this prayer?

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What connection do you see between the violence described here and disregard for 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 86:14God, the proud have risen up against me. A company of violent men have sought after my soul, and they don’t hold regard for you before them.Both prayers describe violent men seeking the speaker’s life and failing to regard God.
Psalm 36:1For the Chief Musician. By David, the servant of the LORD. A revelation is within my heart about the disobedience of the wicked: There is no fear of God before …Both passages describe wrongdoing alongside a failure to keep God before one’s eyes.
John 16:3They will do these things because they have not known the Father nor me.Psalm 54 describes people disregarding God; Jesus speaks of people who have not known the Father or him.
Psalm 53:4Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and don’t call on God?Both psalms describe people harming others while having no regard for God in their actions.
Psalm 143:3For the enemy pursues my soul. He has struck my life down to the ground. He has made me live in dark places, as those who have been long dead.Both prayers describe an enemy pursuing the speaker’s soul, with life itself under threat.
Job 19:13–15“He has put my brothers far from me. My acquaintances are wholly estranged from me.The shared thread is limited: David faces hostile strangers, while Job describes estrangement from brothers and acquaintances.
1 Samuel 23:20Now therefore, O king, come down. According to all the desire of your soul to come down; and our part will be to deliver him up into the king’s hand.”The psalm’s heading names the Ziphites’ report to Saul; Samuel records the offer to hand David over to the king.
Matthew 27:20–23Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the multitudes to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus.David describes men seeking his life; Matthew describes leaders persuading a crowd to seek Jesus’ destruction.
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 Psalm 54:3 for someone facing violence

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Encouragement

You do not have to soften the truth about violence when you pray. David names the threat to his life before the God he trusts as his helper.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 54:3. 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 54 · 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).