Psalms 76:3

There brake he the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle. Selah.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
brake	שִׁבַּ֣ר shi.Bar	H7665	to burst (literally or figuratively) · verb, piel perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
arrows	רִשְׁפֵי rish.fei-	H7565	a live coal · noun, common masculine plural construct
bow	קָ֑שֶׁת Ka.shet	H7198	a bow · noun, common feminine singular absolute
shield	מָגֵ֬ן ma.Gen	H4043	a shield (i.e. the small one or buckler) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
sword	וְחֶ֖רֶב ve.Che.rev	H2719	drought · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular absolute
battle	וּמִלְחָמָ֣ה u.mil.cha.Mah	H4421	a battle (i.e. the engagement) · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular absolute
Selah	סֶֽלָה Se.lah	H5542	suspension (of music) · interjection

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 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.
Isaiah 37:35-36 For I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.
Ezekiel 39:3-4 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
Ezekiel 39:9-10 And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, t…
2 Chronicles 14:12-13 So the LORD smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled.
2 Chronicles 20:25 And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away the spoil of them, they found among them in abundance both riches with the dead bodies…
2 Chronicles 32:21 And the LORD sent an angel, which cut off all the mighty men of valour, and the leaders and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria. So…

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 76:1-6

The church is here triumphant even in the midst of its militant state. The psalmist, in the church's name, triumphs here in God, the centre of all our triumphs. I. In the revelation God had made of himself to them, Psa 76:1. It is the honour and privilege of Judah and Israel that among them God is known, and where he is known his name will be great. God is known as he is pleased to make himself known; and those are happy to whom he discovers himself - happy people that have their land filled with the knowledge of God, happy persons that have their hearts filled with that knowledge. In Judah God was known as he was not known in other nations, which made the favour the greater, inasmuch as it…

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John Gill on Psalms 76:3

There brake he the arrows of the bow.... The Targum is, "there brake he the arrows and the bows of the people that make war;'' the word translated "arrows", signifies "sparks or coals of fire"; see Job 5:7 and is used of arrows, because they fly swiftly, as sparks do, or because of their brightness, or because fiery; so we read of "the fiery darts of Satan", Ephesians 6:16, and perhaps they may be meant here: when Christ our Lord suffered near Jerusalem, he spoiled principalities and powers, and broke their strength and might, and made peace by the blood of his cross, in which he triumphed over them; for the destroying of these instruments of war with what follow: the shield, and the swo…

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John Calvin on Psalms 76:1-6

Psalm 76:1-6 1. God is known in Judah; his name is great in Israel. 2. And his tabernacle was in Salem, and his dwelling-place in Zion. 3. There he broke the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle. Selah. 4. Thou art more glorious and terrible than the mountains of prey. 5. The stout hearted were spoiled, they slept their sleep, [266] and all the men of might have not found their hands. 6. At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob! the chariot and the horse were cast into a deep sleep. 1. God is known in Judah. In the outset, we are taught that it was not by human means that the enemies of Israel were compelled to retire without accomplishing any thing, but by the ever-to-be-reme…

The Church Fathers

"There He has broken the strength of bows, and the shield, and the sword, and the battle" [Psalm 76:3]. Where has He broken? In that eternal peace, in that perfect peace. And now, my brethren, they that have rightly believed see that they ought not to rely on themselves: and all the might of their own menaces, and whatsoever is in them whetted for mischief, this they break in pieces; and whatsoever they deem of great virtue wherewith to protect themselves temporally, and the war which they were waging against God by defending their sins, all these things He has broken there.
— Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 76

There he broke the strength of bows. There. Where? In Jerusalem and Zion. Jerusalem is interpreted "peace," Zion "watchtower": let us see, then, what is peace, and what is the watchtower. Let us interpret it in two ways: either the human soul, in which is the peace of God and contemplation; or else the Church, or else the holy Scripture. For there is peace, and there is the dwelling and the watchtower of God. There he broke the strength of bows: those burning arrows which the devil used to shoot. The shield, and the sword, and the battle. And the battle: that of which it is said in another place, "Scatter the nations that desire wars." And what follows? Selah, which the Septuagint interpret "diapsalma," and in Hebrew it is said "always." See, then, that the Lord always breaks the shield and the sword and the battle.
— Jerome, Homily 9, on Psalm 75

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

Neginoth — I.e., songs with instrumental accompaniment, found in the titles of Ps. 4; 6; 54; 55; 67; 76; rendered “stringed instruments,” Hab. 3:19, A.V. It denotes all kinds of stringed instruments, as the…
Arrows · Illustrative: (Broken), of destruction of power — Illustrative: (Broken), of destruction of power
War · God in — God in

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 76:3

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 76:1-6

John Gill on Psalms 76:3

John Calvin on Psalms 76:1-6

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Psalms 76:3

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 76:1-6

John Gill on Psalms 76:3

John Calvin on Psalms 76:1-6

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Psalms 76:1-3

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Psalms 76:3

Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 76:3