Psalms 9:3
in Psalms 9When my enemies retreat, they stumble and perish before You.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
When mine enemies turn back, They stumble and perish at thy presence.
KJV
When mine enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish at thy presence.
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This verse in Psalms 9
Commentary
11 notes on this verseThese things, he said, I will assuredly do "when my enemies are turned back." But who is such an enemy unless it is death, the enemy of life about which it is said, "You knew the enemy death will be destroyed." Destruction will be Death's end when he is turned back. But "back" where, unless the return into the pristine condition when he did not exist? "For God did not make death, but through the envy of the devil, death entered into the world."
This site's exposition
When my enemies retreat
on Psalms 9:3-6
The praise rests on something that happened. Enemies retreated and fell before God, and God upheld the singer's just cause from a throne where He judges righteously. From verse 5 the same judgment falls on nations, their name erased and their cities uprooted until the memory of them is gone.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
"They will be weakened, and perish from Your face" [Psalm 9:3]. Who will be weakened and perish, but the unrighteous and ungodly? "They will be weakened," while they shall avail nothing; "and they shall perish," because the ungodly will not be; "from the face" of God, that is, from the knowledge of God, as he perished who said, "But now I live not, but Christ lives in me." [Galatians 2:20] But why will the ungodly "be weakened and perish from your face?" "Because," he says, "You have made my judgment, and my cause:" that is, the judgment in which I seemed to be judged, You have made mine; and the cause in which men condemned me just and innocent, You have made mine. For such things served Him for our deliverance: as sailors too call the wind theirs, which they take advantage of for prosperous sailing.
Now, notice how he proclaims God's strength: "They will lose heart and perish before your face." Once more, on hearing "face," do not form an impression of anything bodily. At this point, in fact, he is suggesting God's power, his manifestation, the facility of his strength. Just as he says elsewhere, "He gazes on the earth and makes it tremble," so here too he says the same thing. His gaze, you see, is sufficient to destroy his enemies.
The Medieval Church1 voice
"When." Here is set forth the matter of the thanksgiving. First, specifically for himself; second, in general, "let them be turned back." Concerning the first, he does three things. First, he sets forth the deed; second, he praises the authority of the doer, at "the …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
When mine enemies are turned back,.... As the Philistines were, when Goliath their champion was dead; and as the men that came to apprehend Christ, David's antitype, went backwards and fell to the ground, through the superior power of Christ; and as sin, Satan, and the world, and at last antichrist, are made to retreat from the Lord's people, who are more than conquerors over them through Christ that has loved them.
The presence of the Lord, and the glory of his power, are sufficient for the destruction of his and his people's enemies. That is easily done which a man does with his very presence; with that God confounds his enemies, such a presence has he. This was fulfilled when our Lord Jesus, with one word, I am he, made his enemies to fall back at his presence ( John xviii.
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4 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
When mine enemies are turned back - Who these enemies were, the psalmist does not say. It is clear, however, as was remarked in the introduction, that the psalm was composed: (a) in view of a victory which had been achieved over some formidable enemies; and (b) in view of some dangers still impending from a similar source. The literal meaning of the passage here is, “In the turning of my enemies back;” that is, in their retreat, defeat, overthrow.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
When . . . are turned back--It is the result of God's power alone. He, as a righteous Judge (Ps 7:11), vindicates His people. He rebukes by acts as well as words (Ps 6:1;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
God's presence is evermore sufficient to work the defeat of our most furious foes, and their ruin is so complete when the Lord takes them in hand, that even flight cannot save them, they fall to rise no more when he pursues them. We must be careful, like David, to give all the glory to him whose presence gives the victory. If we have here the exultings of our conquering Captain, let us make the triumphs of the Redeemer the triumphs of the redeemed, and rejoice with him at the total discomfiture of all his foes.
When mine enemies are turned back - It is a sure sign of a nearly approaching complete conquest over sin, when, by resistance to its influences, it begins to lose its power. That is the time to follow on to know the Lord.
The words behind it
6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בְּשׁוּב־ | beshuv- | when turn | H7725 → | 1056 times |
| אוֹיְבַ֥י | ʾoyvai | enemies my | H341 → | 282 times |
| אָח֑וֹר | ʾachor | backwards | H268 → | 41 times |
| יִכָּשְׁל֥וּ | yikashelu | they stumble | H3782 → | 62 times |
| וְ֝יֹאבְד֗וּ | veyoedu | and they may perish | H6 → | 184 times |
| מִפָּנֶֽיךָ׃ | mipaneikha | from before you | H6440 → | 2123 times |
בְּשׁוּב־when turn
beshuv-H7725 →1056 times
אוֹיְבַ֥יenemies my
ʾoyvaiH341 →282 times
אָח֑וֹרbackwards
ʾachorH268 →41 times
יִכָּשְׁל֥וּthey stumble
yikasheluH3782 →62 times
וְ֝יֹאבְד֗וּand they may perish
veyoeduH6 →184 times
מִפָּנֶֽיךָ׃from before you
mipaneikhaH6440 →2123 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
Revelation 20:11Then I saw a great white throne and the One seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from His presence, and no place was found for them.
it leads to
- Revelation 21:1
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
- 2 Peter 3:7
And by that same word, the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
- Matthew 25:31
When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His glorious throne.
- Daniel 2:35
Then the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold were shattered and became like chaff on the threshing floor in summer. The wind carried them away, and not a trace of them could be found.…
- 2 Peter 3:10–12
But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and its works will be laid…
- Revelation 21:1
Through
2 Thessalonians 1:9They will suffer the penalty of eternal destruction, separated from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His might,
it leads to
- Matthew 25:41
Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
- Matthew 25:46
And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
- Matthew 25:41
Through
Psalms 76:7You alone are to be feared. When You are angry, who can stand before You?
it leads to
- Nahum 1:6
Who can withstand His indignation? Who can endure His burning anger? His wrath is poured out like fire; even rocks are shattered before Him.
- Nahum 1:6
About Psalms
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 9; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 1; Eusebius of Caesarea, COMMENTARY ON PSALMS 9:3-4; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 9:3; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Exposition on the Psalms of David.