What Does Psalm 80:6 Mean?
You make us a strife to our neighbors, and our enemies mock among themselves.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours: and our enemies laugh among themselves.THE KEY
The enemies’ “laughter” is derision: the verse shows suffering turned into a public spectacle.
THE MEANING
You can become a point of contention to those around you while opponents turn your exposure into mockery. The verse names public humiliation as part of the wound, not an incidental detail.
THE ROOT
יִלְעֲגוּ
yilʿăgû
GROWS FROM
לעג
laʿag
to mock or deride
“mock” in this verse is yilʿăgû. English “laugh” can suggest ordinary amusement, but this Hebrew root carries the force of mockery. Here the enemies’ laughter turns the community’s suffering into something they ridicule.
ALSO GROWS
loʿeg: mocking; one who mocks
לֹעֵג
Jeremiah 20:7 uses this form for the one who mocks, making the derision in this verse clearer.
laʿag: mockery, scorn
לַעַג
Psalm 44:13 uses the related noun for public derision, showing how the root names both the act of mocking and the scorn it creates.
לִשְׁכֵנֵינוּ
lishkhenenu
GROWS FROM
שכן
shakan
to dwell, settle, inhabit
The word for neighbors is rooted in dwelling: these are people who live nearby. The conflict and humiliation in the verse unfold in shared space, among those close at hand.
ALSO GROWS
shakan: to dwell, settle
שָׁכַן
The verb names inhabiting a place; a neighbor is someone who dwells nearby.
mishkan: dwelling place, tabernacle
מִשְׁכָּן
This word for a dwelling place shares the same root, revealing the link between neighbors and the spaces people inhabit.
THE PATTERN
Public suffering deepens into humiliation when nearby witnesses or opponents turn it into spectacle.
You set us a reproach to our neighbors; a scorn and a derision to those who circle us.O LORD, you have coaxed me, and I was coaxed. You are stronger than I, and you have prevailed. I have become laughter all the day; everyone mocks me.They twisted a crown of thorns and set it on his head, and put a reed in his right hand. They bent the knee before him and mocked him, saying, Rejoice, King of the Jews!THE THREAD
O LORD, you have coaxed me, and I was coaxed. You are stronger than I, and you have prevailed. I have become laughter all the day; everyone mocks me.Both verses use לעג (laʿag, to mock or deride): Psalm 80 speaks of enemies mocking a community, while Jeremiah names the same derision directed at one person. The shared root makes clear that this “laughter” carries scorn, not joy.
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