Psalms 7:12

If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
turn	יָ֭שׁוּב Ya.shuv	H7725	to turn back (hence · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
whet	יִלְט֑וֹשׁ yil.To.osh	H3913	properly · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
sword	חַרְבּ֣וֹ char.Bo	H2719	drought · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
bent	דָ֝רַ֗ךְ da.Rakh	H1869	to tread · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
bow	קַשְׁתּ֥וֹ kash.To	H7198	a bow · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
ready	וַֽיְכוֹנְנֶֽהָ Vay.kho.Ne.ha	H3559	properly · conjunction + verb, piel sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular

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

Acts 3:19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the L…
Matthew 3:10 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast int…
Isaiah 55:6-7 Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
Deuteronomy 32:41 If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate…
Psalms 85:4 Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease.
Ezekiel 18:30 Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all you…
Isaiah 27:1 In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpe…
Isaiah 34:5 For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment.

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 7:10–end

David having lodged his appeal with God by prayer and a solemn profession of his integrity, in the former part of the psalm, in this latter part does, as it were, take out judgment upon the appeal, by faith in the word of God, and the assurance it gives of the happiness and safety of the righteous and the certain destruction of wicked people that continue impenitent. I. David is confident that he shall find God his powerful protector and Saviour, and the patron of his oppressed innocency (Psa 7:10): "My defence is of God. Not only, God is my defender, and I shall find him so; but I look for defence and safety in no other; my hope for shelter in a time of danger is placed in God alone; if I h…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 7:12

They are here distinctly pointed out, though by changing the person, a very common mode of speech, one is selected as a representative of wicked men generally. The military figures are of obvious meaning.

John Gill on Psalms 7:12

If he turn not,.... Not God, but the enemy, or the wicked man, spoken of Psalm 7:5; if he turn not from his wicked course of life, to the Lord to live to him, and according to his will; unless he is converted and repents of his sin, and there is a change wrought in him, in his heart and life; the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions read, "if ye turn not", or "are not converted", an apostrophe to the wicked; he will whet his sword: God is a man of war, and he is sometimes represented as accoutred with military weapons; see Isaiah 59:17; and among the rest with the sword of judgment, which he may be said to whet, when he prepares sharp and sore judgments for his enemies,…

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John Calvin on Psalms 7:12-14

Psalm 7:12-14 12. If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow and made it ready. [111] 13. And he hath prepared for [112] the instruments of death; he shall make fit his arrows for them that persecute. [113] 14. Behold, he shall travail to bring forth iniquity; he hath conceived wickedness, and he shall bring forth falsehood. [114] 12 If he turn not These verses are usually explained in two ways. The meaning is, that if David's enemies should persevere in their malicious designs against him, there is denounced against them the vengeance which their obstinate wickedness deserves. Accordingly, in the second clause, they supply the name of God,--If he turn not, GOD will whet…

The Church Fathers

The ones who are burning are those who have received the flaming arrows of the devil.
— Evagrius Ponticus, NOTES ON THE PSALMS 7:14

And so many say that this is said of the devil; that is, unless ye be converted, unless ye do penance, ye will be in his power. 'He hath bent his bow, and made it ready.' The devil always has his bow ready, he shoots arrows with which to strike us.
— Jerome, Homily 3, on Psalm 7

These are not words of punishment, note, but of threat: he said wield, not inflict; bent his bow, not fired the arrow. And to teach us against whom he will fire the arrows, he immediately attached the words "he made his arrows into flaming shafts," that is, those taking combustible material of sin, building with wood, hay and stubble, as the divine apostle says, will be struck with these fiery arrows.
— Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 7:7

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

Bow — The bow was in use in early times both in war and in the chase (Gen. 21:20; 27:3; 48:22). The tribe of Benjamin were famous for the use of the bow (1 Chr. 8:40; 12:2; 2 Chr. 14:8; 17:17); so also…
Cush — Black. (1.) A son, probably the eldest, of Ham, and the father of Nimrod (Gen. 10:8; 1 Chr. 1:10). From him the land of Cush seems to have derived its name. The question of the precise locality of…
Psalms — The psalms are the production of various authors. “Only a portion of the Book of Psalms claims David as its author. Other inspired poets in successive generations added now one now another…
Shiggaion — From the verb shagah, “to reel about through drink,” occurs in the title of Ps. 7. The plural form, shigionoth, is found in Hab. 3:1. The word denotes a lyrical poem composed under strong mental…
Sword — Of the Hebrew was pointed, sometimes two-edged, was worn in a sheath, and suspended from the girdle (Ex. 32:27; 1 Sam. 31:4; 1 Chr. 21:27; Ps. 149:6: Prov. 5:4; Ezek. 16:40; 21:3-5). It is a symbol…
Anger Of God, The · Against: Impenitence — Against: Impenitence
Conversion · Danger of neglecting — Danger of neglecting
Sword, The · Sharpened and furbished before going to war — Sharpened and furbished before going to war

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 7:12

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 7:10–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 7:12

John Gill on Psalms 7:12

John Calvin on Psalms 7:12-14

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Psalms 7:12

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 7:10–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 7:12

John Gill on Psalms 7:12

John Calvin on Psalms 7:12-14

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Psalms 7:11-13

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Psalms 7:12-13

Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 7:12