Psalm 78:57

57 Like their ancestors they were disloyal and faithless, as unreliable as a faulty bow.

Psalm 78:57 in Other Translations

57 But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful bow.

57 but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers; they twisted like a deceitful bow.

57 They turned back and were as faithless as their parents. They were as undependable as a crooked bow.

57 They were worse, if that's possible, than their parents: traitors - crooked as a corkscrew.

57 But turned back, and dealt treacherously like their fathers: They were turned aside like a deceitful bow.

57 They were disloyal and treacherous like their ancestors. They were like arrows shot from a defective bow.

57 They treacherously turned away like their fathers; they became warped like a faulty bow.

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.

Psalm 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.

Psalm 78:57 In-Context

55 He drove out nations before them and allotted their lands to them as an inheritance; he settled the tribes of Israel in their homes.

56 But they put God to the test and rebelled against the Most High; they did not keep his statutes.

57 Like their ancestors they were disloyal and faithless, as unreliable as a faulty bow.

58 They angered him with their high places; they aroused his jealousy with their idols.

59 When God heard them, he was furious; he rejected Israel completely.

Cross References

• 1. S 2 Chronicles 30:7; Ezekiel 20:27
• 2. S ver 9; Hosea 7:16