Psalms 139:20
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
For they speak against you wickedly, and your enemies take your name in vain.
American King James Version (AKJV)
For they speak against you wickedly, and your enemies take your name in vain.
American Standard Version (ASV)
For they speak against thee wickedly, And thine enemies take thy name in vain.
Basic English Translation (BBE)
For they go against you with evil designs, and your haters make sport of your name.
Webster's Revision
For they speak against thee wickedly, and thy enemies take thy name in vain.
World English Bible
For they speak against you wickedly. Your enemies take your name in vain.
English Revised Version (ERV)
For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain.
Definitions for Psalms 139:20
Clarke's Psalms 139:20 Bible Commentary
Thine enemies take thy name in vain - Bishop Horsley translates the whole verse thus: -
"They have deserted me who are disobedient to thee;
"They who are sworn to a rash purpose - thy refractory adversaries."
The original is obscure: but I cannot see these things in it. Some translate the Hebrew thus: "Those who oppose thee iniquitously seize unjustly upon thy cities;" and so almost all the Versions. The words, thus translated, may apply to Sanballat, Tobiah, and the other enemies of the returned Jews, who endeavored to drive them from the land, that they might possess the cities of Judea.
Barnes's Psalms 139:20 Bible Commentary
For they speak against thee wickedly - This is one form or manifestation of their character as wicked people, that they speak maliciously against God. The psalmist, therefore, desired to have nothing to do with them. It is always a sufficient reason for avoiding the society, the friendship, and the fellowship of others, when they profane, blaspheme, or calumniate the name of God. From such men we should at once withdraw. Piety shrinks from the society of such men, whatever may be their rank, or their social qualities, and turns away in pain, in sorrow, in abhorrence. See the notes at Psalm 26:9.
And thine enemies take thy name in vain - It is proof that they are thine enemies that they take thy name in vain, or that they are profane men; it is a sufficient reason for desiring to be separated from them.