Psalms 7:2
in Psalms 7or they will shred my soul like a lion and tear me to pieces with no one to rescue me.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Lest they tear my soul like a lion, Rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver.
KJV
Lest he tear my soul like a lion, rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver.
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This verse in Psalms 7
Commentary
4 notes on this verse'Lest at any time he seize my soul like a lion.' This fits Saul, it does not fit Absalom. For how could he call Absalom a lion, of whom he says, 'Spare my boy Absalom'? If there he calls him a boy, and as it were a little child and one that knows nothing, how here does he proclaim him a lion? This, so far, according to the history. And there are many things that might be said, and the whole psalm can be interpreted historically in the person of Saul.
This site's exposition
I take refuge in You
on Psalms 7:1-2
David takes refuge in the LORD and asks to be saved from all his pursuers. The danger he pictures is a lion that shreds the soul and tears its prey to pieces, with no one to rescue him. He prays before he makes any defence.
The record, by era
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Lest he tear my soul like a lion - These words seem to answer well to Saul. As the lion is king in the forest; so was Saul king over the land. As the lion, in his fierceness, seizes at once, and tears his prey in pieces; so David expected to be seized and suddenly destroyed by Saul. He had already, in his rage, thrown his javelin at him, intending to have pierced him to the wall with it.
"Lest he tear my soul." Here is the plea of fear co-working with the plea of faith. There was one among David's foes mightier that the rest, who had both dignity, strength, and ferocity, and was, therefore, "like a lion." From this foe he urgently seeks deliverance. Perhaps this was Saul, his royal enemy; but in our own case there is one who goes about like a lion, seeking whom he may devour, concerning whom we should ever cry, "Deliver us from the Evil One."
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
A shiggayon of David Menachem says (p. 170) that this, too, is one of the names of a melody named for the instrument, and so he explained “on shigyonoth,” [in Habakkuk:1]. But our Sages (Mid.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| פֶּן־ | pen- | lest | H6435 → | 133 times |
| יִטְרֹ֣ף | yitrof | he should tear to pieces | H2963 → | 25 times |
| כְּאַרְיֵ֣ה | kearyeh | like a lion | H738 → | 80 times |
| נַפְשִׁ֑י | nafshi | self my | H5315 → | 754 times |
| פֹּ֝רֵ֗ק | porek | tearing | H6561 → | |
| וְאֵ֣ין | veein | and there not | H369 → | 789 times |
| מַצִּֽיל׃ | matzil | [is] a deliverer | H5337 → | 212 times |
פֶּן־lest
pen-H6435 →133 times
יִטְרֹ֣ףhe should tear to pieces
yitrofH2963 →25 times
כְּאַרְיֵ֣הlike a lion
kearyehH738 →80 times
נַפְשִׁ֑יself my
nafshiH5315 →754 times
פֹּ֝רֵ֗קtearing
porekH6561 →
וְאֵ֣יןand there not
veeinH369 →789 times
מַצִּֽיל׃[is] a deliverer
matzilH5337 →212 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
1 Peter 5:8Be sober-minded and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
it leads to
- Ephesians 6:11
Put on the full armor of God, so that you can make your stand against the devil’s schemes.
- James 4:7
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
- Ephesians 4:27
and do not give the devil a foothold.
- Job 2:2
“Where have you come from?” said the LORD to Satan. “From roaming through the earth,” he replied, “and walking back and forth in it.”
- 1 Peter 1:13
Therefore prepare your minds for action. Be sober-minded. Set your hope fully on the grace to be given you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
- Ephesians 6:11
Through
2 Timothy 4:17But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message would be fully proclaimed, and all the Gentiles would hear it. So I was delivered from the mouth of…
it leads to
- 1 Peter 5:8
Be sober-minded and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
- Philippians 1:12–14
Now I want you to know, brothers, that my circumstances have actually served to advance the gospel.
- Psalms 22:21
Save me from the mouth of the lion; at the horns of the wild oxen You have answered me!
- 1 Peter 5:8
About Psalms
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 1; Jerome, Homily 3, on Psalm 7; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.