Psalms 3:7

Arise, O LORD; save me, O my God: for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek bone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
Arise	ק֘וּמָ֤ה ku.Mah	H6965	to rise (in various applications · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular + paragogic he
LORD	יְהוָ֨ה Yah.weh	H3068	Jehovah · proper noun, a title
save	הוֹשִׁ֘יעֵ֤נִי ho.Shi.'E.ni	H3467	properly · verb, hiphil imperative, 2nd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix
God	אֱלֹהַ֗י 'e.lo.Hai	H430	gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
smitten	הִכִּ֣יתָ hi.Ki.ta	H5221	to strike (lightly or severely · verb, hiphil perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
enemies	אֹיְבַ֣י 'o.ye.Vai	H341	hating · verb, qal active participle, masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
bone	לֶ֑חִי Le.chi	H3895	the cheek (from its fleshiness) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
broken	שִׁבַּֽרְתָּ shi.Bar.ta	H7665	to burst (literally or figuratively) · verb, piel perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
teeth	שִׁנֵּ֖י shi.Nei	H8127	a tooth (as sharp) · noun, common feminine dual construct
ungodly	רְשָׁעִ֣ים re.sha.'Im	H7563	morally wrong · noun, common masculine plural absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Psalms 58:6 Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O LORD.
Job 29:17 And I brake the jaws of the wicked, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth.
Job 16:10 They have gaped upon me with their mouth; they have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully; they have gathered themselves together against…
Psalms 10:12 Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up thine hand: forget not the humble.
Psalms 59:5 Thou therefore, O LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to visit all the heathen: be not merciful to any wicked transgressors. Selah.
Psalms 6:4 Return, O LORD, deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies’ sake.
Psalms 7:6 Arise, O LORD, in thine anger, lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies: and awake for me to the judgment that thou hast commande…
Psalms 12:5 For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the LORD; I will set him in safety from him that puffe…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 3:4–end

David, having stirred up himself by the irritations of his enemies to take hold on God as his God, and so gained comfort in looking upward when, if he looked round about him, nothing appeared but what was discouraging, here looks back with pleasing reflections upon the benefit he had derived from trusting in God and looks forward with pleasing expectations of a very bright and happy issue to which the dark dispensation he was now under would shortly be brought. I. See with what comfort he looks back upon the communion he had had with God, and the communications of his favour to him, either in some former trouble he had been in, and through God's goodness got through, or in this hitherto. Dav…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 3:7

Arise, O Lord--God is figuratively represented as asleep to denote His apparent indifference (Psa 7:6). The use of "cheekbone" and "teeth" represents his enemies as fierce, like wild beasts ready to devour (Psa 27:2), and smiting their cheekbone (Kg1 22:24) denotes violence and insult. thou hast broken--God took his part, utterly depriving the enemy of power to injure.

John Gill on Psalms 3:7

Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God,.... God sometimes, in the apprehension of his people, seems to be as if he was asleep: when he does not appear to them and for them, and does not exert his power on their behalf, then they call to him to awake and arise; see Psalm 44:23; and it may be some respect is had to the words of Moses when the ark set forward, Numbers 10:35; and it may be observed, that though David enjoyed so much peace and tranquillity of mind, and was in such high spirits as not to be afraid of ten thousands of men, yet he did not neglect the right means of deliverance and safety, prayer to God, who he knew was his God; and he addresses him as such, and uses his covenant interest…

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John Calvin on Psalms 3:7–end

Psalm 3:7-8 7. Arise, O Lord, save me, O my God; for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek-bone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly. 8. Salvation belongeth unto the Lord; thy blessing is upon thy people. Selah. 7 Arise, O Lord. As in the former verses David boasted of his quiet state, it would now appear he desires of the Lord to be preserved in safety during the whole of his life; as if he had said, Lord, since thou hast overthrown my enemies, grant that this thy goodness may follow me, and be continued even to the end of my course. But because it is no uncommon thing for David, in the Psalms, to mingle together various affections, it seems more probable, that, after ha…

The Church Fathers

The phrase "breaking the teeth of sinners," that is to say, depriving them of all strength, is by comparison with wild beasts, which when bereft of their teeth are quite undaunting and open to attack.
— Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 3:4

It is not that God is awakened while sleeping or lying down for rest, but it is common for the divine Scriptures to express a matter through a metaphor, to say something about God using what is familiar to us.
— Cassiodorus, EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 3:8

The teeth of sinners are thoughts foreign to reason coming to us on account of our nature by which our enemies approach us, just like using their teeth time after time again to devour our flesh. That is, those [are] things that spring forth from the flesh: "Manifest are the works of the flesh," as the apostle says.
— Evagrius Ponticus, NOTES ON THE PSALMS 3:8

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Cheek — Smiting on the cheek was accounted a grievous injury and insult (Job 16:10; Lam. 3:30; Micah 5:1). The admonition (Luke 6:29), “Unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other,”…

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Psalms 3:7

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 3:4–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 3:7

John Gill on Psalms 3:7

John Calvin on Psalms 3:7–end

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Psalms 3:7

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 3:4–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 3:7

John Gill on Psalms 3:7

John Calvin on Psalms 3:7–end

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Psalms 3:7–end

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Psalms 3:7-8

Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 3:7