Psalms 7:2

Lest he tear my soul like a lion, rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver.

King James Version · Read in your translation · Open the Explore console

Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
tear	יִטְרֹ֣ף yit.Rof	H2963	to pluck off or pull to pieces · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
soul	נַפְשִׁ֑י naf.Shi	H5315	properly · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
lion	כְּאַרְיֵ֣ה ke.'ar.Yeh	H738	a lion · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
pieces	פֹּ֝רֵ֗ק po.Rek	H6561	to break off or crunch · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
deliver	מַצִּֽיל ma.Tzil	H5337	to snatch away · verb, hiphil active participle, masculine singular 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 50:22 Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.
Isaiah 38:13 I reckoned till morning, that, as a lion, so will he break all my bones: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.
2 Timothy 4:17 Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might…
1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
Deuteronomy 33:20 And of Gad he said, Blessed be he that enlargeth Gad: he dwelleth as a lion, and teareth the arm with the crown of the head.
Psalms 35:15 But in mine adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together: yea, the abjects gathered themselves together against me, and I knew…
Judges 18:28 And there was no deliverer, because it was far from Zidon, and they had no business with any man; and it was in the valley that lieth by Bet…
2 Samuel 14:6 And thy handmaid had two sons, and they two strove together in the field, and there was none to part them, but the one smote the other, and…

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 7:1-9

Shiggaion is a song or psalm (the word is used so only here and Hab 3:1) - a wandering song (so some), the matter and composition of the several parts being different, but artificially put together - a charming song (so others), very delightful. David not only penned it, but sang it himself in a devout religious manner unto the Lord, concerning the words or affairs of Cush the Benjamite, that is, of Saul himself, whose barbarous usage of David bespoke him rather a Cushite, or Ethiopian, than a true-born Israelite. Or, more likely, it was some kinsman of Saul named Cush, who was an inveterate enemy to David, misrepresented him to Saul as a traitor, and (which was very needless) exasperated Sa…

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John Gill on Psalms 7:2

Lest he tear my soul like a lion,.... That is, one of his persecutors, the chief of them; it may be Saul, whom the psalmist compares to a lion for his majesty and greatness, the lion being the king among beasts; and for his authority, power, and might, and for his wrath and cruelty, which he feared; and which, should it be exerted on him, would tear his soul, or himself, in pieces; would rend his soul from his body, and dispatch his life; see Proverbs 19:12. So the Apostle Paul calls the Roman governor, before whom he was, and from whose hands he was delivered, a lion, for his power and fierceness, 2 Timothy 4:17. And so our adversary the devil, the chief of all persecutors, and who instigat…

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John Calvin on Psalms 7:1-2

Psalm 7:1-2 1. O Jehovah, my God, in thee do I:trust: save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me. 2. Lest he seize upon my soul as a lion, and tear it in pieces, while there is none to deliver it. At the commencement of the psalm, David speaks of having many enemies, and in the second verse he specifies some one in the singular number. And certainly, since the minds of all men were inflamed against him, he had very good reason for praying to be delivered from all his persecutors. But as the wicked cruelty of the king, like a firebrand, had kindled against him, though an innocent person, the hatred of the whole people, he had good reason also for turning his pen particularly ag…

The Church Fathers

Cush is the one who went to Abasalom in the guise of a traitor, and brought to naught the counsel of Ahithophel and saved David from death. When David learned of these things, he knew that his Savior was not a man but God.
— Pseudo-Athanasius, EXPOSITION ON PSALM 7

To be sure, he had assembled an army and had a large number with him; so why does he say, "with no one to ransom or save me"? Because he considers not even the whole world as help should he not enjoy influence from on high, nor does he think of it as solitude if he is alone, as long as he shares in help from God.
— John Chrysostom, COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 7:3

Who is that one except he who says, "There is no one who can save except me," the one who has come to seek and to save that which has been lost and to give his soul as a ransom for many? These things show that God the Father saves through God the Son. Through this the deity of the Father and the Son must not be distinguished by the words above and must not be seen as different from one another.
— Didymus the Blind, FRAGMENTS ON THE PSALMS 7:2

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

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…
Lion — “The most powerful, daring and impressive of all carnivorous animals, the most magnificent in aspect and awful in voice.” At present lions do not exist in Palestine; but they must in ancient times…
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…
Lion · Fierceness of — Fierceness of
Lion, The · Rends its prey — Rends its prey

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 7:2

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 7:1-9

John Gill on Psalms 7:2

John Calvin on Psalms 7:1-2

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Psalms 7:2

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 7:1-9

John Gill on Psalms 7:2

John Calvin on Psalms 7:1-2

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Psalms 7:1-2

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Psalms 7:2

Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 7:2