Psalms 38:19 Meaning and Explanation
“But mine enemies are lively, and they are strong: and they that hate me wrongfully are multiplied.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →One of the oldest complaints in Scripture is the strength of people who deserve none. Verse 19 sets the psalmist's failing body beside his enemies' vigour and lets the contrast stand without softening it. The honesty here is worth noticing. Scripture allows a sufferer to say that the arrangement looks unfair, and to say it in prayer.
While the sufferer weakens, his opponents thrive. They are vigorous, numerous, and growing, and their hatred rests on falsehood, which sharpens the injustice of his situation.
The Context of Psalms 38:19
This verse follows the confession of verse 18 and returns the psalm to its outward troubles. The speaker has described a body without soundness in verse 3, failing strength in verse 10, and readiness to fall in verse 17. Against that background his opponents appear healthy and increasing. Verse 20 identifies them as those who repay good with evil, opposing him because he follows what is good. Verses 21 and 22 close the psalm with three requests: that God stay near, come quickly, and act as Saviour.
What Does Psalms 38:19 Mean?
Three descriptions pile up. Lively means full of life, vigorous, the very quality the psalmist has lost. Strong speaks of numbers and force together. Multiplied adds growth over time, so the opposition is gaining while he declines. The final word carries the sting: they hate me wrongfully. Their hostility rests on something false, which means he can find no cause in himself that would explain it. Set against verse 18, where he owns his real sin, the line draws a careful distinction. He confesses what is true of him and refuses to accept a charge that is untrue.
Groundless hatred is a recurring theme in the psalms. Psalm 35 and Psalm 69 both use the language of being hated without cause, and Psalm 25 counts enemies who hate with cruel hatred. The psalter treats this as a genuine feature of life before God, worth naming plainly in prayer. Placing it after confession keeps two truths together. A person can be guilty in one direction and wronged in another, and honest prayer handles each on its own terms. The psalm's structure also refuses despair. Having said the worst of it, the speaker turns in the final verses to ask God to come near and to help.
Jesus applied this same complaint to Himself, telling the disciples that the world's hatred of Him fulfilled the word written in their law about being hated without a cause. He drew that language from the psalms of David, and Psalm 38:19 stands in the same family. His enemies also appeared strong and multiplied while He grew weak, and the crucifixion looked like the final proof of that arithmetic. The resurrection changed what the numbers meant. For anyone facing hostility they did nothing to earn, this psalm and its fulfilment together give permission to name the injustice and reason to keep asking God for help.
Psalms 38:19 in the Original Language
sheqer (שֶׁקֶר), 'wrongfully' -- falsehood or a lie. The phrase describes people whose hatred is built on what is untrue, so the KJV renders the noun adverbially: they hate him on false grounds, with no honest case behind the hostility.
Bible Verses Related to Psalms 38:19
“Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me: neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause.”
- Psalm 35:19
“They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away.”
- Psalm 69:4
“Consider mine enemies; for they are many; and they hate me with cruel hatred.”
- Psalm 25:19
“But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.”
- John 15:25
Where Psalms 38:19 Echoes in Scripture
John 15:25 has Jesus quoting the psalms about hatred without a cause and applying it to the opposition He faced. Psalm 35:19 and Psalm 69:4 carry that wording, and Psalm 38:19 belongs with them. The echo matters for readers of this psalm, since it means the experience described here was taken up rather than left behind. Christ knew the arithmetic of strong enemies and a failing body from the inside, and He entrusted the outcome to His Father.
How to Apply Psalms 38:19 Today
Comparison is a heavy burden when we are weak and someone opposing us is flourishing. This verse gives us a way to carry it: say the comparison out loud to God instead of running it silently on repeat. Naming the unfairness in prayer keeps it from curdling into resentment. It also helps to separate the two questions the psalm keeps apart. Where we are genuinely at fault, we deal with it honestly. Where we are hated on false grounds, we can leave the verdict with God and keep doing good.
Reflection & Prayer
Whose strength are we measuring ourselves against today, and what would change if we handed that ledger to God? A prayer: LORD, they are strong and I am tired. You know what is true about me and what is false. Keep me from bitterness, hold me up while the trouble lasts, and be my salvation. Amen.