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Psalm 73:6
Therefore pride is like a chain around their neck. Violence covers them like a garment.
4For there are no struggles in their death, but their strength is firm.
5They are free from burdens of men, neither are they plagued like other men.
6Therefore pride is like a chain around their neck. Violence covers them like a garment.
7Their eyes bulge with fat. Their minds pass the limits of conceit.
8They scoff and speak with malice. In arrogance, they threaten oppression.
Notice
A chain and a garment make pride and violence visible, exposing the disturbing ease with which people can wear what should bring shame.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What does pride worn like a chain suggest about how these people see themselves?
Write on thisWhere have you seen violence treated as a mark of status rather than a cause for shame?
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
1 John 2:16For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—isn’t the Father’s, but is the world’s.Both name pride; John identifies it with the world, while the psalm depicts it as something people wear.
Psalm 109:18He clothed himself also with cursing as with his garment. It came into his inward parts like water, like oil into his bones.Both describe wrongdoing as a garment: violence clothes people in Psalm 73, while cursing clothes the person in Psalm 109.
1 Peter 5:5Likewise, you younger ones, be subject to the elder. Yes, all of you clothe yourselves with humility and subject yourselves to one another; for “God resists …Both use clothing to describe conduct, with Peter urging humility where the psalm portrays people dressed in violence and adorned with pride.
Job 41:34He sees everything that is high. He is king over all the sons of pride.”Pride appears in both verses, though Job describes a figure’s supremacy and the psalm describes people wearing pride like jewelry.
Judges 8:26The weight of the golden earrings that he requested was one thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold, in addition to the crescents, and the pendants, and the …Both mention clothing and neck chains, though Judges lists royal clothing and camels’ chains while the psalm uses adornment as a moral image.
Proverbs 3:31Don’t envy the man of violence. Choose none of his ways.Violence is the shared concern: the psalm depicts people clothed in it, and Proverbs warns against envying or choosing a violent man’s ways.
Proverbs 1:9for they will be a garland to grace your head, and chains around your neck.Both use chains around the neck as imagery, though Proverbs presents adornment as grace and the psalm makes it pride.
Daniel 4:30The king spoke and said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built for the royal dwelling place by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?”The king’s boast about his power and majesty voices the pride that the psalm pictures as a chain around the neck.
Ezekiel 16:11I decked you with ornaments, put bracelets on your hands, and put a chain on your neck.Both mention a chain on the neck; Ezekiel describes an ornament given, while the psalm uses the chain for pride.
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 …The psalm portrays violence as clothing; Micah describes prophets preparing war against those who do not feed them.
Esther 3:1After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes who were with him.The limited link is social advantage: Haman receives high rank, while the psalm’s surrounding lines describe people free from common burdens.
Genesis 41:42Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand, and put it on Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in robes of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck.Robes and a neck chain mark Joseph’s honor in Genesis; the psalm uses those kinds of adornment to portray pride and violence.
Where this verse fits
Injustice and anger. envy and comparison. sermon or Bible study notes.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
God’s Word does not hide the sight of people wearing pride and violence without shame. Their ease does not change what the verse names: pride and violence.
Now put it in your words.
Start an entry on Psalm 73:6. 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).