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Psalm 55:10
Day and night they prowl around on its walls. Malice and abuse are also within her.
8“I would hurry to a shelter from the stormy wind and storm.”
9Confuse them, Lord, and confound their language, for I have seen violence and strife in the city.
10Day and night they prowl around on its walls. Malice and abuse are also within her.
11Destructive forces are within her. Threats and lies don’t depart from her streets.
12For it was not an enemy who insulted me, then I could have endured it. Neither was it he who hated me who raised himself up against me, then I would have hidden myself from him.
Notice
Walls offer little sense of safety when prowlers patrol them day and night and abuse has already found a home inside the city.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What stands out to you about danger being both on the walls and within the city?
Write on thisWhat place, if any, comes to mind as you read about malice and abuse within these walls?
Write on thisConnect
Where else Scripture says this
12 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 59:14–15Both passages describe figures going around a city, with evening in Psalm 59 and unceasing activity in Psalm 55.
Isaiah 59:6–15Their webs won’t become garments. They won’t cover themselves with their works. Their works are works of iniquity, and acts of violence are in their hands.Malice and abuse within the city share Isaiah’s concern with wrongdoing expressed through harmful acts.
John 18:28They led Jesus therefore from Caiaphas into the Praetorium. It was early, and they themselves didn’t enter into the Praetorium, that they might not be defiled, …The link is limited: the psalm names abuse within a city, while John describes Jesus being led to the Praetorium.
Psalm 59:6They return at evening, howling like dogs, and prowl around the city.Both passages use prowling around a city to portray danger, with Psalm 59 adding the sound of howling dogs.
Acts 9:24but their plot became known to Saul. They watched the gates both day and night that they might kill him,Both describe danger day and night at a city’s boundary: prowlers on the walls and would-be killers watching the gates.
Ezekiel 9:4The LORD said to him, “Go through the middle of the city, through the middle of Jerusalem, and set a mark on the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry …Both locate wrongdoing within a city; Ezekiel also names people who sigh and cry over what happens there.
Psalm 31:13For I have heard the slander of many, terror on every side, while they conspire together against me, they plot to take away my life.Both portray surrounding danger, through prowling and abuse in Psalm 55 and slander and murderous plots in Psalm 31.
John 18:3Judas then, having taken a detachment of soldiers and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.Both scenes carry menace: Psalm 55 describes prowling and abuse, while John describes Judas arriving with an armed group.
2 Samuel 17:1–2Moreover Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me now choose twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David tonight.Night offers no respite in either scene: prowlers patrol the walls, and Ahithophel proposes pursuing David that night.
2 Samuel 16:21–22Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Go in to your father’s concubines that he has left to keep the house. Then all Israel will hear that you are abhorred by your …The shared thread is harm within a community: the psalm names abuse, and Ahithophel urges sexual exploitation to strengthen Absalom’s position.
Zephaniah 3:1–3Woe to her who is rebellious and polluted, the oppressing city!Both portray a city marked by harm within it, naming malice and abuse in the psalm and oppression in Zephaniah.
Hosea 7:6For they have prepared their heart like an oven, while they lie in wait. Their anger smolders all night. In the morning it burns as a flaming fire.Both portray danger continuing through the night into the day, through prowling in the psalm and smoldering anger in Hosea.
Where this verse fits
Injustice and anger. anxiety or panic.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
There is room in prayer to name abuse without softening the word. Here, Scripture records a complaint to God about harm that continues day and night.
Now put it in your words.
Start an entry on Psalm 55:10. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.
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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).