Psalm 58:7

7 Let them run [away] like water [that] runs off. [When] he bends [the bow], let his arrows [be] as though they were cut off.

Psalm 58:7 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 58:7

Let them melt away as waters [which] run continually
Let them be disheartened, and their courage fail them, and let there be no spirit left in them, ( Joshua 7:5 ) ; or let them be unstable as water that is continually running, ever upon the flux and motion; let them never be settled, but always changing in their state and circumstances, ( Genesis 49:4 ) ; or let them "come to nought", as the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions; which is the case of water that runs over or runs away: or "let them be despised", as Jarchi, and the Arabic, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions; being useless and unprofitable, as water is when passed and gone: or let their ruin and destruction be as swift as the gliding water; let them be brought to desolation in a moment; ( Job 24:18 ) ; and let it be irrecoverable, as water running over the cup, and scattering itself, is spilled upon the ground, and cannot be gathered up, ( 2 Samuel 14:14 ) . The Targum is,

``let them melt in their sins as water;''

[when] he bendeth [his bow to shoot] his arrows, let them be as cut in
pieces;
either when the wicked man bends his bow to shoot his arrows against the righteous; when he devises, his chief against him, shoots out bitter words, and attempts to do hurt unto him; let it be as if the string of his bow and his arrows were all cut to pieces; let all his designs, words, and actions, be without effect, and let not his hand perform his enterprise: or when God bends his bow against the wicked, so Jarchi; and prepares the instruments of death for them, and ordains his arrows against the persecutors, ( Psalms 7:12 Psalms 7:13 ) ; let then his and his people's enemies be cut off, as the tops of the ears of corn; as the word used signifies, ( Job 24:24 ) . The words may be rendered, "let him (God) direct his arrows; as the tops of the ears of corn are cut off" {f}; so let them be.

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FOOTNOTES:

F6 (wllmty wmk) "concidantur, succidantur instar spicarum", Michaelis.

Psalm 58:7 In-Context

5 so that it does not hear [the] voice of charmers [or the] skilled caster of spells.

6 O God, break their teeth in their mouth. Break off [the] fangs of [the] young lions, O Yahweh.

7 Let them run [away] like water [that] runs off. [When] he bends [the bow], let his arrows [be] as though they were cut off.

8 [Let them be] like a snail [that] melts away [as] it goes; [like the] stillborn of woman [that] do not see [the] sun.

9 Before your pots can feel [the heat of] a thornbush, whether green [or] {dry}, he will sweep it away.

Footnotes

• [a] Or "as though they were withered [stalks]"