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Psalm 7:16
The trouble he causes shall return to his own head. His violence shall come down on the crown of his own head.
14Behold, he travails with iniquity. Yes, he has conceived mischief, and brought out falsehood.
15He has dug a hole, and has fallen into the pit which he made.
16The trouble he causes shall return to his own head. His violence shall come down on the crown of his own head.
17I will give thanks to the LORD according to his righteousness, and will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High.
Notice
Violence falling on its maker’s own head is a stark picture of judgment, one that can meet your longing for justice and unsettle you.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
How does the repeated phrase “his own head” shape your response to this judgment?
Write on thisWhere do you long to see someone’s harmful plans fail as the pit-digger’s plans do?
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 10:2In arrogance, the wicked hunt down the weak. They are caught in the schemes that they devise.Both describe wrongdoing turning against its makers: the wicked are caught in their schemes, and violence returns to its source.
Psalm 94:23He has brought on them their own iniquity, and will cut them off in their own wickedness. The LORD, our God, will cut them off.Both describe wrongdoers bearing their own evil, with Psalm 94 naming the LORD as the one who brings judgment.
Esther 9:25but when this became known to the king, he commanded by letters that his wicked plan, which he had planned against the Jews, should return on his own head, and …Both describe evil returning on its maker’s own head; Esther recounts a royal command ending in execution.
Esther 7:10So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king’s wrath was pacified.Haman dies on the gallows prepared for Mordecai, matching the psalm’s pattern of intended harm returning upon its maker.
Psalm 37:12–13The wicked plots against the just, and gnashes at him with his teeth.Both portray malicious intent, though Psalm 37:12 describes the wicked plotting while Psalm 7:16 describes the harm returning.
Psalm 140:9As for the head of those who surround me, let the mischief of their own lips cover them.Both use the head as the place where a person’s own mischief returns, one as declaration and one as prayer.
1 Kings 2:32The LORD will return his blood on his own head, because he fell on two men more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword, and my father …Both describe violence returning on the perpetrator’s head; Kings names the LORD as judge and identifies the men killed.
1 Samuel 24:12–13May the LORD judge between me and you, and may the LORD avenge me of you; but my hand will not be on you.Both concern judgment for harm; Samuel records an appeal for the LORD’s vengeance, while the psalm declares that violence will return.
1 Samuel 28:19Moreover the LORD will deliver Israel also with you into the hand of the Philistines; and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The LORD will deliver the …Both announce a severe outcome, though Samuel predicts defeat and death without describing violence returning to its maker.
1 Samuel 31:3–4The battle went hard against Saul, and the archers overtook him; and he was greatly distressed by reason of the archers.The shared thread is violence suffered; Samuel describes Saul under attack without stating the psalm’s pattern of returning harm.
1 Samuel 26:10David said, “As the LORD lives, the LORD will strike him; or his day shall come to die, or he shall go down into battle and perish.Both anticipate downfall, though David names possible ways death may come while the psalm specifies a wrongdoer’s own violence returning.
Proverbs 24:16for a righteous man falls seven times and rises up again, but the wicked are overthrown by calamity.Both describe the downfall of the wicked, with the psalm tracing that downfall to the violence the wrongdoer causes.
Where this verse fits
Injustice and anger.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
The passage moves from violence returning on its maker to thanks for YHWH’s righteousness. It gives you no timetable for justice; its confidence rests in God’s righteous rule.
Now put it in your words.
Start an entry on Psalm 7:16. 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).