drought · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
enter
תָּב֣וֹאta.Vo'
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
heart
בְלִבָּ֑םve.li.Bam
H3820
the heart · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
bows
וְ֝קַשְּׁתוֹתָ֗םve.ka.she.to.Tam
H7198
a bow · conjunction + noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
broken
תִּשָּׁבַֽרְנָהti.sha.Var.nah
H7665
to burst (literally or figuratively) · verb, niphal imperfect, 3rd person feminine plural
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 7:14-15 Behold, he travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood.
Psalms 35:8 Let destruction come upon him at unawares; and let his net that he hath hid catch himself: into that very destruction let him fall.
1 Samuel 31:4 Then said Saul unto his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through,…
2 Samuel 17:23 And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass, and arose, and gat him home to his house, to his city, and pu…
Psalms 46:9 He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.
Jeremiah 51:56 Because the spoiler is come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, every one of their bows is broken: for the LORD God o…
Hosea 1:5 And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.
Hosea 2:18 And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 37:7-20
In these verses we have,
I. The foregoing precepts inculcated; for we are so apt to disquiet ourselves with needless fruitless discontents and distrusts that it is necessary there should be precept upon precept, and line upon line, to suppress them and arm us against them. 1. Let us compose ourselves by believing in God: "Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him (Psa 37:7), that is, be well reconciled to all he does and acquiesce in it, for that is best that is, because it is what God has appointed; and be well satisfied that he will still make all to work for good to us, though we know not how or which way." Be silent to the Lord (so the word is), not with a sullen, but a submissive sil…
sword, and . . . bow--for any instruments of violence.
slay--literally, "slaughter" (Sa1 25:11).
poor and needy--God's people (Psa 10:17; Psa 12:5). The punishment of the wicked as drawn on themselves--often mentioned (compare Psa 7:15-16; Psa 35:8).
John Gill on Psalms 37:15
Their sword shall enter into their own heart,.... As Saul's did into his, 1 Samuel 31:4;
and their bows shall be broken; the meaning is, that their efforts shall be fruitless, and their attempts in vain; the mischief they have contrived and designed for others shall fall upon themselves; see Psalm 7:15; and therefore the saints should not be fretful and envious.
John Calvin on Psalms 37:12-15
Psalm 37:12-15
12. The wicked plotteth against the righteous, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth. 13. But the Lord [27] shall laugh at him; for he seeth that his day is coming. 14. The wicked draw their sword, and bend their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, and to slay those that are of upright ways. 15. But their sword shall enter into their own heart, and their bow shall be broken.
12. The wicked plotteth against the righteous. David here anticipates an objection which might have been taken to the preceding verse. Where, it might be said, can tranquillity and joy be found when the wicked are mad with rage, and plot every kind of mischief against the children of God? And how shall…
The Church Fathers
Even if the sinner tries to plot against the righteous person and is bent on carrying it through in every way, do not then grind your teeth at his going unpunished. God will spit on his plot, knowing that he will suffer sometime and that it is he who will sustain harm from his plot against the righteous.
When one of the enemies approaches to wound you and you want to "turn his own sword back against his heart," according to the Scripture text, then do as we tell you. Distinguish within yourself the thought he has launched against you, as to what it is, how many elements it consists of and among these what sort of thing it is that most afflicts the mind.… As you engage in this careful examination, the thought will be destroyed and dissipate in its own consideration, and the demon will flee from you when your intellect has been raised to the heights by this knowledge.
(Verse 15.) And therefore the spear of sinners will enter into their hearts, and their bow will be broken. Just as peace returns to the servants of God from those who do not receive the blessed peace, so too the wickedness of sinners, with which they try to harm the righteous, will turn back to their own destruction; so that they may be killed by their own weapons and wounds. For often the javelins are thrown back upon those who threw them. This also happened in a recent war, when the unbelievers and sacrilegious attacked someone who trusted in the Lord and tried to take away his kingdom, threatening the churches of the Lord with cruel persecutions; so that suddenly a wind arose, which stripped the shields from the hands of the unbelievers, and turned the weapons and missiles against the army of the sinner. The enemy was still missing, and now they could not withstand the battles of the winds, and they were struck by their own spears. And what is worse, those wounds were not of the body, but of the mind; for they were losing heart, as they realized they were fighting against God. So they went out as provocateurs, and from the quiver of their own hearts they brought forth poisoned arrows of treachery against the Christian people; but their impiety turned back upon their own heads. Finally, they themselves are undone by their own treachery, and the Lord has dispersed the traps prepared for the faithful; so that not only could they not harm the pious, but they were exposed by their own resources and turned their weapons against the enemy. How much better would it have been if they had not drawn their sword from its sheath, that is, if they had not uttered impious words at all? For if everyone must give an account for idle talk, how much more will they atone for words of sacrilege with severe punishments? You have tested us with fire, says David (Ps. XVI, 3). Therefore, we will all be tested by fire. And Ezekiel says: Behold, the Lord Almighty is coming; and who will endure the day of his coming, or who will stand when he appears to us? For he will come like the fire of a refiner and like the lye of a launderer; and he will sit refining and purifying like gold and silver: and he will purify the sons of Levi and pour them out like gold and like silver, and they will offer sacrifice to the Lord in righteousness (Malachi III, 2 and 3). Therefore, the sons of Levi…
Dictionary and topics
Psalms, Book Of — The present Hebrew name of the book is Tehill’im, “Praises;” but in the actual superscriptions of the psalms the word Tehillah is applied only to one, (Psalms 145:1) ... which is indeed emphatically…
Bow, The · Of the vanquished, broken and burned — Of the vanquished, broken and burned
Punishment Of The Wicked, The · Often brought about by their evil designs — Often brought about by their evil designs
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).
That which corresponds to the "treading" or stringing of the bow is the drawing from the sheath or unsheathing of the sword: פּתח, Eze 21:28, cf. Psa 55:22. The combination ישׁרי־דּרך is just like תמימי־דוך, Psa 119:1. The emphasis in Psa 37:14 is upon the suffix of בלבּם: they shall perish by their own weapon. קשּׁתותם has (in Baer) a Shebג dirimens, as also in Isa 5:28 in correct texts.
Tyndale Open Study Notes on Psalms 37:14-15
The weapons of the wicked will turn against them (cp. 7:12-13).
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 37:15
Their sword shall enter into their own heart, and their bows shall be broken.
Their sword shall enter into their own heart. Like Haman they shall be hanged upon the gallows built by themselves for Mordecai. Hundreds of times has this been the case. Saul, who sought to slay David, fell on his own sword; and the bow, his favourite weapon, the use of which he taught the children of Israel, was not able to deliver him on Gilboa. And their bows shall be broken. Their inventions of evil shall be rendered useless. Malice outwits itself. It drinks the poisoned cup which it mixed for another, and burns itself in the fire which it kindled for its neighbour. Why need we fret at the prosperity of the w…
