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Psalm 59:15
They shall wander up and down for food, and wait all night if they aren’t satisfied.
13Consume them in wrath. Consume them, and they will be no more. Let them know that God rules in Jacob, to the ends of the earth. Selah.
15They shall wander up and down for food, and wait all night if they aren’t satisfied.
16But I will sing of your strength. Yes, I will sing aloud of your loving kindness in the morning. For you have been my high tower, a refuge in the day of my distress.
17To you, my strength, I will sing praises. For God is my high tower, the God of my mercy.
Notice
Enemies wandering for food through the night form a harsh picture within David’s prayer for judgment, where those who threaten him are themselves left searching.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What changes when you read this hungry wandering as part of David’s prayer against those threatening him?
Write on thisWhat do you notice about the enemies’ night and David’s morning song in the surrounding verses?
Write on thisWhat would you want to bring before God after reading this severe prayer for judgment?
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
Job 15:23He wanders abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’ He knows that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.Both passages describe someone wandering in search of food, with darkness or a night of waiting surrounding that search.
Psalm 109:10Let his children be wandering beggars. Let them be sought from their ruins.Both portray wandering and unmet need within prayers for judgment; Psalm 109 directs that severe wish toward an enemy’s children.
James 5:9Don’t grumble, brothers, against one another, so that you won’t be judged. Behold, the judge stands at the door.The connection is limited to judgment in the surrounding prayer; James addresses grumbling within the community rather than enemies searching for food.
Psalm 37:25I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his children begging for bread.Food seeking connects these passages: enemies wander hungry in Psalm 59, while Psalm 37 recounts never seeing the righteous person’s children begging.
Job 30:1–7“But now those who are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I considered unworthy to put with my sheep dogs.The nearby dog comparison is the narrow link: David describes threatening enemies, while Job speaks with contempt of his mockers’ fathers.
Lamentations 5:9We get our bread at the peril of our lives, because of the sword in the wilderness.Both passages concern obtaining food amid hostility, though Lamentations speaks from the position of people whose search puts their lives at risk.
2 Samuel 15:20Whereas you came but yesterday, should I today make you go up and down with us, since I go where I may? Return, and take back your brothers. Mercy and truth be …Both describe going up and down without a settled destination; Samuel concerns David’s uncertain route rather than a search for food.
Isaiah 56:11Yes, the dogs are greedy. They can never have enough. They are shepherds who can’t understand. They have all turned to their own way, each one to his gain, …Dogs and unsatisfied appetite connect Isaiah’s description of greedy shepherds with the enemies portrayed in Psalm 59 and its preceding verse.
Lamentations 4:9–10Those who are killed with the sword are better than those who are killed with hunger; for these pine away, stricken through, for lack of the fruits of the …Both describe lack of food, though Lamentations names death from hunger while Psalm 59 describes wandering and waiting through the night.
Isaiah 8:21They will pass through it, very distressed and hungry. It will happen that when they are hungry, they will worry, and curse their king and their God. They will …Both portray people moving about hungry; Isaiah adds distress and curses against their king and God.
Micah 3:5The LORD says concerning the prophets who lead my people astray—for those who feed their teeth, they proclaim, “Peace!” and whoever doesn’t provide for their …Food and hostility are the shared thread: David’s enemies seek food, while Micah’s prophets threaten those who do not feed them.
Deuteronomy 28:48therefore you will serve your enemies whom the LORD sends against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in lack of all things. He will put an iron yoke …Both place hunger within a setting of judgment, though Deuteronomy addresses people serving enemies rather than enemies wandering for food.
Where this verse fits
Injustice and anger. fear for the future. sermon or Bible study notes.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
This prayer takes threats seriously and leaves judgment with the God who rules. Its harsh picture belongs within David’s appeal to God, who is his refuge in distress.
Now put it in your words.
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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).