Psalms 78:57

57 Like their people who lived before them, they turned away from him and were not faithful. They were like a bow that doesn't shoot straight. They couldn't be trusted.

Psalms 78:57 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 78:57

But turned back
From God and his worship, apostatized from the true religion, and turned to idols:

and dealt unfaithfully, like their fathers;
in the wilderness; see ( Psalms 78:8 Psalms 78:36 Psalms 78:37 ) ,

they were turned aside like a deceitful bow;
that promises well to carry the arrow right, but drops it at the feet of the archer; or carries it another way, so that it misses the mark, The Targum is,

``as a bow casting arrows;''

to the ground, and not to the mark; see ( Hosea 7:16 ) , or being too much stretched is suddenly broken, and kills the archer; or returns to its own nature; so Arama.

Psalms 78:57 In-Context

55 He drove the nations out to make room for his people. He gave to each family a piece of land to pass on to their children. He settled the tribes of Israel in their homes.

56 But they put God to the test. They refused to obey the Most High God. They didn't keep his laws.

57 Like their people who lived before them, they turned away from him and were not faithful. They were like a bow that doesn't shoot straight. They couldn't be trusted.

58 They made God angry by going to their high places. They made him jealous by worshiping the statues of their gods.

59 When God saw what the people were doing, he was very angry. He turned away from them completely.