Psalm 7:12

12 If ye will not repent, he will furbish his sword; he has bent his bow, and made it ready.

Psalm 7:12 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 7:12

If he turn not
Not God, but the enemy, or the wicked man, spoken of ( Psalms 7:5 Psalms 7:9 Psalms 7:11 ) ; 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 Isaiah 59:18 ) ; 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, ( Isaiah 27:1 ) ( Deuteronomy 32:41 ) ;

he hath bent his bow, and made it ready;
drawn his bow of vengeance, and put it on the full stretch, and made it ready with the arrows of his wrath, levelled against the wicked, with whom he is angry; which is expressive of their speedy and inevitable ruin, in case of impenitence; see ( Lamentations 2:4 ) ( Lamentations 3:12 Lamentations 3:13 ) ; or "trod his bow", as is the usual phrase elsewhere; see ( Psalms 11:2 ) ( Lamentations 2:4 ) ( 3:12 ) ; which was done by the feet, and was necessary when the bow was a strong one, as Jarchi on ( Psalms 11:2 ) ; observes; and so the Arabs, as Suidas ^F7 relates, using arrows the length of a man, put their feet on the string of the bow instead of their hands.

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FOOTNOTES:

F7 In voce (arabev) .

Psalm 7:12 In-Context

10 My help is righteous, coming from God who saves the upright in heart.

11 God is a righteous judge, and strong, and patient, not inflicting vengeance every day.

12 If ye will not repent, he will furbish his sword; he has bent his bow, and made it ready.

13 And on it he has fitted the instruments of death; he has completed his arrows for the raging ones.

14 Behold, he has travailed with unrighteousness, he has conceived trouble, and brought forth iniquity.