if I sharpen my glittering sword, my hand grasps it in judgment; I will take vengeance on my adversaries, and will repay those who hate me.
Parallel Translations
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if I sharpen my glittering sword, my hand grasps it in judgment; I will take vengeance on my adversaries, and will repay those who hate me.
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If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me.
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If I whet My glittering sword, and My hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to Mine adversaries, and will recompense them that hate Me.
Cross-references (18)
Passages linked to Deuteronomy 32:41 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 66:16 For Yahweh will execute judgment by fire and by his sword on all flesh; and those slain by Yahweh will be many.
- Isaiah 34:5-6 For my sword has drunk its fill in the sky. Behold, it will come down on Edom, and on the people of my curse, for judgment. Yahweh’s sword is filled with blood. It is covered with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams; for Yahweh has a sacrifice in Bozrah, And a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
- Exodus 20:5 you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me,
- Psalms 7:12 If a man doesn’t repent, he will sharpen his sword; he has bent and strung his bow.
- Isaiah 27:1 In that day, Yahweh with his hard and great and strong sword will punish leviathan, the fleeing serpent, and leviathan the twisted serpent; and he will kill the dragon that is in the sea.
- Deuteronomy 5:9 You shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them; for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me;
- Deuteronomy 32:35 Vengeance is mine, and recompense, at the time when their foot slides; for the day of their calamity is at hand. Their doom rushes at them.”
- Isaiah 1:24 Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, the Mighty One of Israel, says: “Ah, I will get relief from my adversaries, and avenge myself on my enemies.
- Isaiah 59:18 According to their deeds, he will repay as appropriate, wrath to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies; he will repay the islands their due.
- Isaiah 66:6 A voice of tumult from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of Yahweh that repays his enemies what they deserve.
- Jeremiah 50:29 “Call together the archers against Babylon, all those who bend the bow. Encamp against her all around. Let none of it escape. Pay her back according to her work. According to all that she has done, do to her; for she has been proud against Yahweh, against the Holy One of Israel.
- Ezekiel 21:9-15 “Son of man, prophesy, and say, ‘Yahweh says: “A sword! A sword! It is sharpened, and also polished. It is sharpened that it may make a slaughter. It is polished that it may be as lightning. Should we then make mirth? The rod of my son condemns every tree. It is given to be polished, that it may be handled. The sword is sharpened. Yes, it is polished to give it into the hand of the killer.” ’ Cry and wail, son of man; for it is on my people. It is on all the princes of Israel. They are delivered over to the sword with my people. Therefore beat your thigh. “For there is a trial. What if even the rod that condemns will be no more?” says the Lord Yahweh. “You therefore, son of man, prophesy, and strike your hands together. Let the sword be doubled the third time, the sword of the fatally wounded. It is the sword of the great one who is fatally wounded, which enters into their rooms. I have set the threatening sword against all their gates, that their heart may melt, and their stumblings be multiplied. Ah! It is made as lightning. It is pointed for slaughter.
- Ezekiel 21:20 You shall appoint a way for the sword to come to Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and to Judah in Jerusalem the fortified.
- Zephaniah 2:12 You Cushites also, you will be killed by my sword.
- Mark 1:2 As it is written in the prophets, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you:
- Romans 1:30 backbiters, hateful to God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
- Romans 8:7 because the mind of the flesh is hostile toward God; for it is not subject to God’s law, neither indeed can it be.
- 2 Timothy 3:4 traitors, headstrong, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (8 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Deu 32:41 If I whet my glittering sword, and…
Deu 32:41 If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me.
Ver. 41. If I whet my glittering sword.] God first whets, before he smites; and first takes hold on judgment, before his judgments take hold on men. Est piger ad poenas, ad praemia velox. See the like, Psa 7:12. God was but six days in making the whole world, yet was he seven days in destroying that one city of Jericho, as Chrysostom observeth. "Fury is not in me." {Isa 27:4} As a bee stings not till provoked, so God punisheth not "till there be no other remedy." {2Ch 36:16}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain If once I begin to prepare for war, and…
If once I begin to prepare for war, and for the execution of my sentence.
Take hold on judgment, i.e. of the instruments of judgment, of the weapons of war. A metaphor from warriors that take their weapons into their hand when they intend to fight.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain I will make mine arrows drunk with blood,.... Signifying,…
I will make mine arrows drunk with blood,.... Signifying, that by various judgments he would bring upon them, which, like arrows, would come suddenly, fly swiftly, and pierce deeply, there would be a prodigious effusion of blood like that in Rev 14:20; so that these arrows, which cause it, being plunged and soaked, and covered in it, may be said to be inebriated with it, just as the sword is said to be bathed and filled with blood, Isa 34:5; which prophecy respects the same vengeance of Christ on the selfsame enemies of his as here; and as the whore of Rome is said to be drunken with the blood of the saints and martyrs of Jesus, the arrows of her destruction are represented in just retaliation as drunk with her blood, Rev 17:6,
and my sword shall devour flesh: the flesh of kings, of captains, of mighty men, of horses, and of them that sit on them the flesh of all men, bond and free, small and great, Rev 19:18; that is, shall destroy great multitudes of men:
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and that with the blood of the slain, and of the captives; that is, his arrows should be drunk not only with the blood of these that were wounded and killed, but of the captives; who commonly are spared, but in this case should not, their blood should be shed: it may be rendered, "because of the blood of the slain", &c. (y); because of the blood of the saints whom they have killed, and carried captive, and who have died in prisons:
from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy; or "of the enemy"; that is, from the time the enemy began to oppress the saints, and take revenge on them, and shed their blood; all that blood shall be found in them that has been from the beginning shed, and charged to their account, and revenged on them; just as the blood of all the righteous, from the beginning of the world, was brought upon the Jews, Mat 23:35. The Targum of Jerusalem is,"from the heads of their mighty men, the generals of their armies;''to, which agrees the Septuagint version,"from the head of the princes of the enemies;''and so may refer to the head or heads of the antichristian people, the pope of Rome, and his princes, the cardinals, and all the antichristian kings and states, the captains and generals of their armies, which will be brought to Armageddon, and there destroyed, see Psa 68:21.
(y) "propter sanguinem", Pagninus, Tigurine version.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain If I whet my sword - If once I…
If I whet my sword - If once I begin to prepare for war and for the execution of my sentence. Judgment - Of the instruments of judgment, of the weapons of war. A metaphor from warriors, that take their weapons into their hand, when they intend to fight.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Lightning, equally terrible and penetrating: fulminis acta modo. (Virgil,…
Lightning, equally terrible and penetrating: fulminis acta modo. (Virgil, Æneid ix.) (Calmet) --- Judgment, to punish with rigour my declared enemies. (Haydock) --- These verses seem to regard the idolatrous nations, (Menochius) though God will not fail to punish the guilty, wherever they may be found. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 41. I will render vengeance — As the divine…
41. I will render vengeance — As the divine Ruler Jehovah will administer justice. His enemies will be surely punished. Retribution will come upon the ungodly.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 41. whet] See on Deu_6:7. Jehovah as warrior, as…
41. whet] See on Deu_6:7. Jehovah as warrior, as often in later prophecy, e.g. Isaiah 63.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
Moses speaks a poetic song to the people of Israel. (See: Parallelism)
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When I sharpen my glittering sword
"When I sharpen my shining sword." This means God is preparing to judge and punish his enemies. AT: "When I am ready to judge my enemies" (See: Metonymy)
when my hand begins to bring justice
Here "hand" represents the whole person. AT: "when I get ready to judge the wicked" (See: Synecdoche)
translationWords
sword
hand
just
avenge
adversary
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.