Psalms 144:6

6 Send flashes of lightning and scatter your enemies; shoot your arrows and send them running.

Psalms 144:6 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 144:6

Cast forth lightning, and scatter them
The mountains, the kings and kingdoms of the earth; the enemies of David, and of Christ, and of his people; particularly the Jews, who have been scattered all over the earth by the judgments of God upon them; cast forth like lightning, which is swift, piercing, penetrating, and destructive; shoot out thine arrows, and destroy them;
or, "trouble them" F11; as the Targum, Septuagint, and Arabic versions, nearer to the Hebrew: these also design the sore judgments of God, the arrows of famine, pestilence, and sword; which fly swiftly, pierce deeply, cut sharply, and, like fiery darts, give great pain and trouble. So Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret them of the decrees which come down from heaven, as Aben Ezra does ( Psalms 144:5 ) : by "lightning" Arama understands the flame of fire which comes out with thunder; and by "arrows" the thunderbolt, which he calls a stone hardened in the air like iron.


FOOTNOTES:

F11 (Mmhtw) "ac turba eos", Tigurine version; "et conturba eos", Cocceius, Michaelis.

Psalms 144:6 In-Context

4 We are like a puff of wind; our days are like a passing shadow.
5 O Lord, tear the sky open and come down; touch the mountains, and they will pour out smoke.
6 Send flashes of lightning and scatter your enemies; shoot your arrows and send them running.
7 Reach down from above, pull me out of the deep water, and rescue me; save me from the power of foreigners,
8 who never tell the truth and lie even under oath.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.