Psalms 74 · Verse 20

Psalms 74:20

Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.
Psalms 74:20, King James Version

Psalms 74:20 in other translations

BSBConsider Your covenant, for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land.
WEBHonor your covenant, for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the earth.
ASVHave respect unto the covenant; For the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of violence.
YLTLook attentively to the covenant, For the dark places of earth, Have been full of habitations of violence.
DARBYHave respect unto the covenant; for the dark places of the earth are full of the dwellings of violence.
BBEKeep in mind your undertaking; for the dark places of the earth are full of pride and cruel acts.
WebsterHave respect to the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.

What does Psalms 74:20 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
20. And the prevalence of injustice in heathen lands is a reason for invoking God's regard to His promise (compare Nu 14:21; Psa 7:16; 18:48).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 20 Have respect unto the covenant - הבט לברית habbet labberith. Pay attention to the covenant sacrifice; to that offered by Abraham, Gen 15:9, etc., when the contracting parties, God and Abram, passed through between the separated parts of the covenant sacrifice. An indisputable type of Jesus Christ; and of God and man meeting in his sacrificed humanity. The dark places of the earth - The caves, dens, woods, etc., of the land are full of robbers, cut-throats, and murderers, who are continually destroying thy people, so that the holy seed seems as if it would be entirely cut off and the covenant promise thus be rendered void. The words may either apply to Chaldea or Judea. Judea was at this time little else than a den of robbers, its own natural inhabitants being removed. Chaldea was infested with hordes of banditti also.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Psalms 74:18-23

The psalmist begs that God would appear for the church against their enemies. The folly of such as revile his gospel and his servants will be plain to all. Let us call upon our God to enlighten the dark nations of the earth; and to rescue his people, that the poor and needy may praise his name. Blessed Saviour, thou art the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. Make thy people more than conquerors. Be thou, Lord…

Read the full comment on Psalms 74:18-23 →

Psalms 74:20 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

הַבֵּ֥טha.Betpay attentionH5027
לַבְּרִ֑יתla.be.Ritto the covenantH1285
כִּ֥יkiforH3588
מָלְא֥וּmal.'Uthey are fullH4390
מַחֲשַׁכֵּי\־ma.cha.sha.kei-[the] dark places ofH4285
אֶ֝֗רֶץ'E.retz[the] landH776
נְא֣וֹתne.'otsettlements ofH4999
חָמָֽס\׃cha.MasviolenceH2555

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Psalms 74:20

  • Psalms 106:45

    And he remembered for them his covenant, and repented according to the multitude of his mercies.

  • Genesis 17:7-8

    And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.

  • Hebrews 8:10

    For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

  • Psalms 89:34-36

    My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me.

  • Psalms 89:28

    My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him.

  • Psalms 105:8

    He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations.

  • Jeremiah 33:20-26

    Thus saith the Lord; If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season; Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers. As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me. Moreover the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, …

  • Ephesians 4:17-18

    This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:

  • Deuteronomy 12:31

    Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God: for every abomination to the Lord, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.

  • Leviticus 26:40-45

    If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me; And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity: Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land. The land also shall be left of them, and shall enjoy her sabbaths, while she lieth desolate without them: and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity: because, even because they despised my judgments, and because their soul abhorred my statutes. …

  • 2 Samuel 23:5

    Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow.

  • Psalms 89:39

    Thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant: thou hast profaned his crown by casting it to the ground.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Have.
89:28,34-36,39; 105:8; 106:45; Ge 17:7,8; Ex 24:6-8; Le 26:40-45
De 9:27; 2Sa 23:5; Jer 33:20-26; Lu 1:72-75; Heb 8:10
the dark.
De 12:31; Ro 1:29-31; Eph 4:17,18
habitations.
5:8; Ge 49:5-7

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Psalms 74:19

    O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked: forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever.

  • Psalms 74:20

    Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.

  • Psalms 74:21

    O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name.

Read all of Psalms 74

Psalms 74:20 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Mira al pacto: porque las tenebrosidades de la tierra llenas están de habitaciones de violencia.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Regarde à l’alliance! Car les lieux ténébreux de la terre sont pleins d’habitations de violence.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Schaue hin auf den Bund! denn die finsteren Örter der Erde sind voll von Wohnungen der Gewalttat.