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Psalm 53:5
ESV There they are, in great terror, where there is no terror! For God scatters the bones of him who encamps against you; you put them to shame, for God has rejected them.
NIV But there they are, overwhelmed with dread, where there was nothing to dread. God scattered the bones of those who attacked you; you put them to shame, for God despised them.
NASB They were in great fear there, where no fear had been; For God scattered the bones of him who encamped against you; You put them to shame, because God had rejected them.
CSB Then they will be filled with dread -- dread like no other -- because God will scatter the bones of those who besiege you. You will put them to shame, for God has rejected them.
NLT Terror will grip them, terror like they have never known before. God will scatter the bones of your enemies. You will put them to shame, for God has rejected them.
KJV There were they in great fear, where no fear was: for God hath scattered the bones of him that encampeth against thee: thou hast put them to shame, because God hath despised them.

What does Psalm 53:5 mean?

This verse might be a prophetic remark about the destruction of the Assyrian army. This happened long after David, during the time of King Hezekiah when the angel of the Lord struck down 185,000 Assyrian soldiers (2 Kings 19:35).

Prophetic or not, Psalm 53:5 pictures the destruction of those who do not fear God but experience great terror when God judges them. This terror might also be aimed at the armies that follow the Devil at the end of the millennium. They, too, will lay siege to Jerusalem, but they will experience terror when God judges them by raining fire upon them (Revelation 20:7–9).

The reference to the dead bodies scattered by God indicates the dreadful disgrace that He will inflict on the wicked. Under Mosaic law, even the body of an executed villain was to be respectfully buried. Deuteronomy 21:22–23 instructs: "And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God." For God to scatter corpses is a sign of immense shame and wrath.
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