Psalms 7:12
in Psalms 7If one does not repent, God will sharpen His sword; He has bent and strung His bow.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
If a man turn not, he will whet his sword; He hath bent his bow, and made it ready;
KJV
If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready.
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This verse in Psalms 7
Commentary
16 notes on this verseJust as men who are polishing up their arms indicate by this action the attack in war, so Scripture, wishing to bespeak a movement of God toward vengeance, says that he polishes his sword. "He has bent his bow." … There is no bowstring that stretches the bow of God, but a punitive power, now strained tight, again loosened. Scripture threatens the sinner that future punishments are prepared for him, if he remains in his sin.
This site's exposition
God will sharpen His sword
on Psalms 7:12-14
The judgment waits on repentance. If the man does not repent, God sharpens His sword, bends and strings His bow, and ordains His arrows with fire. Verse 14 draws the wicked man's evil as a pregnancy, travailing with evil, conceiving trouble, and giving birth to falsehood.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
"Unless ye be converted," He says, "He will brandish His sword" [Psalm 7:12]. The Lord Man Himself may be taken to be God's double-edged sword, that is, His spear, which at His first coming He will not brandish, but hides as it were in the sheath of humiliation: but He will brandish it, when at the second coming to judge the quick and dead, in the manifest splendour of His glory, He shall flash light on His righteous ones, and terror on the ungodly. For in other copies, instead of, "He shall brandish His sword," it has been written, "He shall make bright His spear:" by which word I think the last coming of the Lord's glory most appropriately signified: seeing that is understood of His person, which another Psalm has, "Deliver, O Lord, my soul from the ungodly, Your spear from the enemies of Your hand. He has bent His bow, and made it ready." The tenses of the words must not be altogether overlooked, how he has spoken of "the sword" in the future, "He will brandish;" of "the bow" in the past, "He has bent:" and these words of the past tense follow after.
That same adversary, Absalom, as if he has been born again from ourselves, prepares the war against us. Our sound judgment concerning the matter, or rather our alliance with God, turns him who is bloodthirsty against us back. For because he attributes the cause of the good things that have been accomplished for him through "the words of Cush" to God, he composes this thanksgiving.… It would be worthwhile to apply the figures of the story to the virtuous life, how the advice that saves us becomes the strangling of the adversary; and this saving advice has been recorded, on the one hand, in the history, and on the other, in the psalm.
These are not words of punishment, note, but of threat: he said wield, not inflict; bent his bow, not fired the arrow. And to teach us against whom he will fire the arrows, he immediately attached the words "he made his arrows into flaming shafts," …
'Unless ye be converted, he will brandish his sword.' This passage admits a twofold understanding. For many think it is said of God, so that, for example's sake, it is said to sinners. And what does it say? 'Unless ye be converted, he will brandish his sword': that is, unless ye do penance, the Lord will strike you with his sword. But let us see whether the things that follow can be fitted to the person of the Lord. 'He hath bent his bow, and made it ready.' This can be said of God. 'And in it he hath prepared the vessels of death.' This is difficult, for the Lord does not have vessels of death, but vessels of life; but this too can somehow be understood of the person of the Saviour. But that which follows, 'Behold, he hath been in labour with injustice, and hath conceived sorrow and brought forth iniquity, he hath opened a pit and dug it out,' cannot at all be taken of God. We are compelled, therefore, by necessity, on account of the things that follow which are harsher and more arrogant, not to understand of God, 'Unless ye be converted, he will brandish his sword.'
And so many say that this is said of the devil; that is, unless ye be converted, unless ye do penance, ye will be in his power. 'He hath bent his bow, and made it ready.' The devil always has his bow ready, he shoots arrows with which to strike us.
9 more voices on this verse
The Church Fathers1 voice
The ones who are burning are those who have received the flaming arrows of the devil.
The Medieval Church2 voices
Then when he says, "Unless," he shows that the Lord prepares himself to inflict punishment, even though he delays for a reason. And this preparation is set forth: first on God's part as the one punishing; second on man's part as the one punished or …
A commentator
BonaventureCollations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 17 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
Scripture enlightens a posteriori through strict judgments. For God always imposes strict judgments upon transgressions of the precepts, as in the cases of Lucifer, Adam and his wife, the depraved upon whom came the flood, the prideful who built the tower of Babel, the Chananeans …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
If he turn not,....
The Nineteenth Century5 voices
If he turn not - This clause the Syriac adds to the preceding verse. Most of the versions read, “If ye return not.” Some contend, and not without a great show of probability, that the two verses should be read in connection, thus: “God is a just Judge; a God who is provoked every day. If (the sinner) turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready.” This, no doubt, gives the sense of both.
"If he turn not, he will whet his sword." What blows are those which will be dealt by that long uplifted arm! God's sword has been sharpening upon the revolving stone of our daily wickedness, and if we will not repent, it will speedily cut us in pieces. Turn or burn is the sinner's only alternative. "He hath bent his bow and made it ready."
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The New Park Street Pulpit, Sermon No. 106: “Turn or Burn” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1856)
proposed
IF THE SINNER turn not, God will whet his sword.” So, then, God has a sword, and he will punish man on account of his iniquity. This evil generation hath laboured to take away from God the sword of his justice; they have endeavoured to prove themselves that God will “clear the guilty,” and will by no means “punish iniquity, transgression and sin.” Two hundred years ago the predominant strain of the pulpit was one of terror: it was like Mount Sinai, it thundered forth the dreadful wrath of God, and from the lips of a Baxter or a Bunyan, you heard most terrible sermons, full to the brim with warnings of judgment to come. Perhaps some of the Puritanic fathers may have gone too far, and have given too great a prominence to the terrors of the Lord in their ministry: but the age in which we live has sought to forget those terrors altogether, and if we dare to tell men that God will punish them for their sins, it is charged upon us that want to bully them into religion, and if we faithfully and honestly tell our hearers that sin must bring after it certain destruction, it is said that we are attempting to frighten them into goodness. Now we care not what men mockingly impute to us; we feel it our duty, when men sin, to tell them they shall be punished, and so long as the world will not give up its sin we feel we must not cease our warnings. But the cry of the age is, that God is merciful, that God is love. Ay; who said he was not? But remember, it is equally true, God is just, severely and inflexibly just. He were not God, if he were not just; he could not be merciful if he were not just, for punishment of the wicked is demanded by the highest mercy to the rest of mankind.
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The New Park Street Pulpit, Sermon No. 106: “Turn or Burn” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1856)
proposed
IF THE SINNER turn not, God will whet his sword.” So, then, God has a sword, and he will punish man on account of his iniquity. This evil generation hath laboured to take away from God the sword of his justice; they have endeavoured to prove themselves that God will “clear the guilty,” and will by no means “punish iniquity, transgression and sin.”
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
If he turn not - If the wicked person does not repent. in the previous verse the psalmist had said that God is angry with the wicked every day; he here states what must be the consequence to the wicked if they persevere in the course which they are pursuing; that is, if they do not repent. God, he says, cannot be indifferent to the course which they pursue, but he is preparing for them the instruments of punishment, and he will certainly bring destruction upon them. It is implied here that if they would repent and turn they would avoid this, and would be saved: a doctrine which is everywhere stated in the Scriptures. He will whet his sword - He will sharpen his sword preparatory to inflicting punishment. That is, God will do this. Some, however, have supposed that this refers to the wicked person - the enemy of David - meaning that if he did not turn; if he was not arrested; if he was suffered to go on as he intended, he would whet his sword, and bend his bow, etc.; that is, that he would go on to execute his purposes against the righteous. See Rosenmuller in loc. But the most natural construction is to refer it to God, as meaning that if the sinner did not repent, He would inflict on him deserved punishment. The “sword” is an instrument of punishment (compare Rom 13:4); and to “whet” or sharpen it, is merely a phrase denoting that he would prepare to execute punishment. See Deu 32:41. He hath bent his bow - The bow, like the sword, was used in battle as a means of destroying an enemy. It is used here of God, who is represented as going forth to destroy or punish his foes. The language is derived from the customs of war. Compare Exo 15:3; Isa 63:1-4. The Hebrew here is,” his bow he has trodden,” alluding to the ancient mode of bending the large and heavy bows used in war, by treading on them in order to bend them. And made it ready - Made it ready to shoot the arrow. […]
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
If he does not repent [i.e., if] the wicked [does not repent] of his wickedness.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
My shield is upon God: – He might have said, My shield is God. What, then, is the significance of על, upon? Only that my reliance and stay is God, who will be my shield, for He is A deliverer of the upright of heart.
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
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אִם־ | ʾim- | if | H518 → | 1069 times |
| לֹ֣א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יָ֭שׁוּב | yashuv | anyone will repent | H7725 → | 1056 times |
| חַרְבּ֣וֹ | charbo | sword his | H2719 → | 413 times |
| יִלְט֑וֹשׁ | yiltoosh | he will sharpen | H3913 → | |
| קַשְׁתּ֥וֹ | kashto | bow his | H7198 → | 76 times |
| דָ֝רַ֗ךְ | darakh | he has bent | H1869 → | 62 times |
| וַֽיְכוֹנְנֶֽהָ׃ | vaykhoneha | and he has prepared it | H3559 → | 217 times |
אִם־if
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
לֹ֣אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
יָ֭שׁוּבanyone will repent
yashuvH7725 →1056 times
חַרְבּ֣וֹsword his
charboH2719 →413 times
יִלְט֑וֹשׁhe will sharpen
yiltooshH3913 →
קַשְׁתּ֥וֹbow his
kashtoH7198 →76 times
דָ֝רַ֗ךְhe has bent
darakhH1869 →62 times
וַֽיְכוֹנְנֶֽהָ׃and he has prepared it
vaykhonehaH3559 →217 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
Acts 3:19Repent, then, and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped away,
it leads to
- Acts 2:38
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
- Isaiah 44:22
I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like a mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.
- Isaiah 43:25
I, yes I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake and remembers your sins no more.
- Isaiah 1:16–20
Wash and cleanse yourselves. Remove your evil deeds from My sight. Stop doing evil!
- Matthew 13:15
For this people’s heart has grown callous; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts,…
- Acts 2:38
Through
Matthew 3:10The axe lies ready at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
it leads to
- John 15:6
If anyone does not remain in Me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers. Such branches are gathered up, thrown into the fire, and burned.
- Luke 3:9
The axe lies ready at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”
- Matthew 7:19
Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
- John 15:6
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Psalms
This page draws on 15 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Psalms; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 7; Basil of Caesarea, HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 11:7 (PS 7); Bonaventure, Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 17; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 1; Charles Spurgeon, The New Park Street Pulpit, Sermon No. 106: “Turn or Burn” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Evagrius Ponticus, NOTES ON THE PSALMS 7:14; Gregory of Nyssa, INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PSALMS 2:11.148-49; Jerome, Homily 3, on Psalm 7; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 7:7 and Thomas Aquinas, Exposition on the Psalms of David.