Throw out lightning, and scatter them. Send out your arrows, and rout them.
Parallel Translations
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Throw out lightning, and scatter them. Send out your arrows, and rout them.
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Cast forth lightning, and scatter them: shoot out thine arrows, and destroy them.
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Cast forth lightning, and scatter them; send out Thine arrows, and discomfit them.
Cross-references (8)
Passages linked to Psalms 144:6 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Deuteronomy 32:23 “I will heap evils on them. I will spend my arrows on them.
- Psalms 18:13-14 Yahweh also thundered in the sky. The Most High uttered his voice: hailstones and coals of fire. He sent out his arrows, and scattered them; Yes, great lightning bolts, and routed them.
- Deuteronomy 32:42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood. My sword shall devour flesh with the blood of the slain and the captives, from the head of the leaders of the enemy.”
- 2 Samuel 22:12-15 He made darkness a shelter around himself: gathering of waters, and thick clouds of the skies. At the brightness before him, coals of fire were kindled. Yahweh thundered from heaven. The Most High uttered his voice. He sent out arrows, and scattered them; lightning, and confused them.
- Psalms 7:12-13 If a man doesn’t repent, he will sharpen his sword; he has bent and strung his bow. He has also prepared for himself the instruments of death. He makes ready his flaming arrows.
- Psalms 21:12 For you will make them turn their back, when you aim drawn bows at their face.
- Psalms 45:5 Your arrows are sharp. The nations fall under you, with arrows in the heart of the king’s enemies.
- Psalms 77:17-18 The clouds poured out water. The skies resounded with thunder. Your arrows also flashed around. The voice of your thunder was in the whirlwind. The lightnings lit up the world. The earth trembled and shook.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (10 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain By these manner of speeches he showeth that all…
By these manner of speeches he showeth that all the lets in the world cannot hinder God’s power, which he apprehended by faith.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 144:6 Cast forth lightning, and scatter them: shoot…
Psa 144:6 Cast forth lightning, and scatter them: shoot out thine arrows, and destroy them.
Ver. 6. Cast forth lightning, and scatter them] All this was done according to David’s desire, Psa 18:13-14. God sometimes answereth his suitors ad cardinem desiderii; and saith unto them, Be it unto you even as ye will. This is a wonderful condescension.
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 Thy thunderbolts, which oft accompany the lightnings and thunder.
Thy thunderbolts, which oft accompany the lightnings and thunder.
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 Cast forth lightning, and scatter them,.... The mountains, the…
Cast forth lightning, and scatter them,.... The mountains, the kings and kingdoms of the earth; the enemies of David, and of Christ, and of his people; particularly the Jews, who have been scattered all over the earth by the judgments of God upon them; cast forth like lightning, which is swift, piercing, penetrating, and destructive;
shoot out thine arrows, and destroy them; or, "trouble them" (k); as the Targum, Septuagint, and Arabic versions, nearer to the Hebrew: these also design the sore judgments of God, the arrows of famine, pestilence, and sword; which fly swiftly, pierce deeply, cut sharply, and, like fiery darts, give great pain and trouble. So Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret them of the decrees which come down from heaven, as Aben Ezra does Psa 144:5, by "lightning" Arama understands the flame of fire which comes out with thunder; and by "arrows" the thunderbolt, which he calls a stone hardened in the air like iron.
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(k) "ac turba eos", Tigurine version; "et conturba eos", Cocceius, Michaelis.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 6. Cast forth lightning] See Clarke on Ps…
Verse 6. Cast forth lightning] See Clarke on Ps 18:13; "Ps 18:14".
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Cast forth lightnings, and scatter them - See the…
Cast forth lightnings, and scatter them - See the notes at Psa 18:14 : “He sent out his arrows, and scattered them.” The allusion there is to lightning. The psalmist prays that; God would do now again what he had then done. The Hebrew here is, “Lighten lightning;” that is, Send forth lightning. The word is used as a verb nowhere else.
Shoot out thine arrows ... - So in Psa 18:14 : “He shot out lightnings.” The words are the same here as in that psalm, only that they are arranged differently. See the notes at that place.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 6. Lighten lightning, and scatter them:
6. Lighten lightning, and scatter them:
Send forth thine arrows, and discomfit them.
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A variation of Psa_18:14, corresponding again more closely to the text of 2Sa_22:15. Them must refer to the enemies who are in the Psalmist’s mind, though he has not expressly mentioned them.
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.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (6) Cast forth lightning.—Literally, lighten lightning, the verb being…
(6) Cast forth lightning.—Literally, lighten lightning, the verb being quite peculiar to this place.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Cast forth lightning, and scatter them: shoot out thins…
Cast forth lightning, and scatter them: shoot out thins arrows, and destroy them. (comp. Psa_18:14)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 6. Cast forth lightning, and scatter them. The…
Ver. 6. Cast forth lightning, and scatter them. The Eternal can hurl his lightnings wheresoever he pleases, and effect his purpose instantaneously. The artillery of heaven soon puts the enemy to flight: a single bolt sets the armies running hither and thither in utter rout.
Shoot out thine arrows, and destroy them. Jehovah never misses the mark; his arrows are fatal to his foes when he goes forth to war. It was no common faith which led the poet king to expect the Lord to use his thunderbolts on behalf of a single member of that race which he had just now described as "like to vanity." A believer in God may without presumption expect the Almighty Lord to use on his behalf all the stores of his wisdom and power: even the terrible forces of tempest shall be marshalled to the fight, for the defence of the Lord's chosen. When we have once mastered the greater difficulty of the Lord's taking any interest in us, it is but a small thing that we should expect him to exert his great power on our behalf. This is far from being the only time in which this believing warrior had thus prayed: Ps 18:1-50 is specially like the present; the good man was not abashed at his former boldness, but here repeats himself without fear.
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Ver. 6. Cast forth lightning. The Hebrew here is, "Lighten lightning"; that is, Send forth lightning. The word is used as a verb nowhere else. Albert Barnes.
Psalms 144:7*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.