He makes wars cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow, and shatters the spear. He burns the chariots in the fire.
Parallel Translations
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He makes wars cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow, and shatters the spear. He burns the chariots in the fire.
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He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.
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(46-10) He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; He breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; He burneth the chariots in the fire.
Cross-references (11)
Passages linked to Psalms 46:9 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 2:4 He will judge between the nations, and will decide concerning many peoples. They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
- Micah 4:3-4 and he will judge between many peoples, and will decide concerning strong nations afar off. They will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither will they learn war any more. But they will sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and no one will make them afraid: For the mouth of Yahweh of Armies has spoken.
- Micah 5:10 “It will happen in that day”, says Yahweh, “that I will cut off your horses out from among you, and will destroy your chariots.
- Joshua 11:9 Joshua did to them as Yahweh told him. He hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire.
- Isaiah 60:18 Violence shall no more be heard in your land, nor desolation or destruction within your borders; but you will call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise.
- 1 Samuel 2:4 “The bows of the mighty men are broken. Those who stumbled are armed with strength.
- Psalms 76:3-6 There he broke the flaming arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the weapons of war. Glorious are you, and excellent, more than mountains of game. Valiant men lie plundered, they have slept their last sleep. None of the men of war can lift their hands. At your rebuke, God of Jacob, both chariot and horse are cast into a dead sleep.
- Isaiah 11:9 They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of Yahweh, as the waters cover the sea.
- Joshua 11:6 Yahweh said to Joshua, “Don’t be afraid because of them; for tomorrow at this time, I will deliver them up all slain before Israel. You shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire.”
- Ezekiel 39:3 I will strike your bow out of your left hand, and will cause your arrows to fall out of your right hand.
- Ezekiel 39:9-10 “ ‘ “Those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go out, and will make fires of the weapons and burn them, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the war clubs and the spears, and they will make fires with them for seven years; so that they will take no wood out of the field, and not cut down any out of the forests; for they will make fires with the weapons. They will plunder those who plundered them, and rob those who robbed them,” says the Lord Yahweh.
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Explain this verse (13 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 46:9 He maketh wars to cease unto the…
Psa 46:9 He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.
Ver. 9. He maketh wars to cease] As the Lord putteth the sword in commission, bathing it in heaven; so he can quiet it, and command it up at his pleasure. He did so when Sisera was slain, and when Sennacherib. The Church hath her halcyons.
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He breaketh the bow, &c.] "No weapon formed against thee shall prosper," Isa 54:17. The Spanish Armada was set forth with infinite labour and expense; but soon dispersed and defeated.
He burneth the chariots] In quibus instrumenta bellica vel victualia pro militibus circumgestant, saith Aben Ezra, i.e. their carriages for ammunition and provisions.
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 He hath ended our wars, and settled us in…
He hath ended our wars, and settled us in a firm and well-grounded peace.
The end of the earth, or of this land, to wit, of Israel; from one end of it to the other.
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He speaks of the bows, and spears, and chariots of their enemies; for he preserved those which belonged to his people.
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 He maketh wars to cease unto the ends of…
He maketh wars to cease unto the ends of the earth,.... As at the birth of Christ, the Prince of peace, in the times of Augustus Caesar, when there was a general peace in the world, though it did not last long; and in the times of Constantine, signified by silence in heaven for half an hour, Rev 8:1; when for a while there was a cessation from wars and persecution; and as will be in the latter day, and which is here chiefly designed; when nations shall learn war no more, and Christ's kingdom will take place; of which and its peace there shall be no end, Isa 2:4. The consideration of which may serve to relieve distressed minds under terrible apprehensions of present troubles and public calamities;
he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire; that is, "chariots", or "carts" (y) or "wagons", in which, as Aben Ezra observes, arms and provision were carried for the use of soldiers; the Targum renders it "round shields" (z): and the destroying of all these military weapons and carriages is a token of peace, and of war's being caused to cease, there being no more use for them; with this compare Eze 39:8. It was usual to burn the arms of enemies taken in war (a).
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(y) "plaustra", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Musculus, Gejerus, Michaelis. (z) So the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Ethiopic and Arabic versions. (a) Vid. Lydium de Re Militari, l. 6. c. 4. p. 229, 230.
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 To cease - He hath settled as in a…
To cease - He hath settled as in a firm and well-grounded peace. The land - Of Israel: from one end of it to the other. The bow - The bows and spears, and chariots of their enemies.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 9. He maketh wars to cease] By the…
Verse 9. He maketh wars to cease] By the death of Cambyses, and setting Darius, son of Hystaspes, upon the Persian throne, he has tranquillized the whole empire. That same God who for our unfaithfulness has delivered us into the hands of our enemies, and subjected us to a long and grievous captivity and affliction, has now turned our captivity, and raised us up the most powerful friends and protectors in the very place in which we have been enduring so great a fight of afflictions.
He breaketh the bow] He has rendered useless all the implements of war; and so profound and secure is the general tranquillity, that the bow may be safely broken, the spear snapped asunder, and the chariot burnt in the fire.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain He maketh wars to cease unto the end of…
He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth - Either in all the land, or in all the world. The overthrow of the Assyrian army would probably put an end to all the wars then raging in the world. The Assyrian empire was then the most mighty on the globe; it was engaged in wide schemes of conquest; it had already overrun many of the smaller kingdoms of the world Isa 37:18-20; and it hoped to complete its conquests, and to secure the ascendancy over the entire earth, by the subjugation of India and Egypt. When the vast army of that empire, engaged in such a purpose, was overthrown, the consequence would be that the nations would be at rest, or that there would be universal peace. Compare the notes at Isa 14:6-7.
He breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder - That is, he makes them useless, as a bow that is broken is of no value, or a spear that is cut into parts.
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He burneth the chariot in the fire - The war-chariot, that which was employed in battle. See the notes at Isa 2:7; notes at Psa 20:7. The expression here may refer to a custom of collecting the spoils of war into a heap, and setting them on fire. This was particularly done when the victors were unable to remove them, or so to secure them as to preclude all danger of their being taken again and used against themselves. Tiffs custom is alluded to by Virgil, AEn. viii. 561, 562,
“Qualis cram, cum primam aciem Prseneste sub ipsa
Stravi, scutorumque iucendi victor acervos.”
The idea here is, that God had wholly overthrown the foe, and had prevented all danger of his returning again for purposes of conquest.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain The usual weapons of war (Psa 7:12), as well…
The usual weapons of war (Psa 7:12), as well as those using them, are brought to an end.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 9. Burneth the chariot in the fire—This, according to…
9. Burneth the chariot in the fire—This, according to Eze_39:9-10, would mean that the chariots should serve as common fuel for the inhabitants. Thus what was intended as an engine of destruction, God converts into the humblest use of peaceful life. Thus the sword also shall be beaten into the ploughshare, Isa_2:4. God will rebuke the pride and ambition of man. The allusion to the war chariot could apply only to Sennacherib’s army, not to the Arabians in Jehoshaphat’s reign, (2 Chronicles 20,) and is decisive against dating the psalm at the latter invasion. See the introduction to Psalms 47
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 9. The destruction of the Assyrians is an earnest…
9. The destruction of the Assyrians is an earnest of that final abolition of war which Jehovah will one day bring about, destroying the weapons of war, or burning them in a vast pyre upon the battlefield, as Isaiah predicted (Psa_9:5, R.V.). Cp. Isa_2:4 (= Mic_4:3); Zec_9:10.
the chariot] R.V. the chariots. The word however is nowhere used of war chariots, and must rather mean baggage-wagons (cp. 1Sa_17:20; 1Sa_26:7). Perhaps, as Baethgen proposes, the word should be vocalised ‘agîlôth instead of ‘agâlôth, and rendered as in LXX and Targ., shields.
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 (9) He maketh.—Comp. Virg. Æn., 3:560.
(9) He maketh.—Comp. Virg. Æn., 3:560.
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 He maketh wars to cease unto the end of…
He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth. (comp. Isa_2:4 Isa_11:9 Isa_65:25) Each great deliverance effected by God is followed naturally by a term of peace, (comp. Jud_1:3:11, 30 5:31 8:28; "and the land had rest twenty, forty, eighty years each such term being typical of the final peace, when God shall have put down all enemies under Messiah"s feet. He breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; i.e. he destroys all offensive weapons, so that none may "hurt or destroy in all his holy mountain". (Isa_11:9) He burneth the chariot in the fire. War-chariots were largely employed by the Assyrians, and formed the main strength of the army of Sennacherib. (2Ki_19:23)
War.
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"He maketh wars to cease." If we were asked to give in one short word the most prevailing character, the most striking feature, of human history the history of all nations, civilized or savage, ancient or modern we must reply, "War." If we were asked What has been the severest scourge under which human life and happiness have suffered? we must again say, "War." If we were asked to furnish in one word the proof that human nature is sinful, q.d. that its passions are not bridled by justice or ruled by love, we must again answer, "War." Is this to be the case always? Will the time come when nations "shall learn war no more"?
I GOD ALONE CAN MAKE WARS TO CEASE. Science cannot do it. It can teach men how more skilfully to destroy each other, but not to love one another. Commerce cannot do it. Some of the cruelest and wickedest wars have been waged for the sake of trade and revenue. Education cannot do it. The most highly educated nations of the world are the most military. Progress and civilization cannot; for they do not make men unselfish. The source of war is not in outward circumstances, but in human nature; in the lust of gain, of power, of glory, of vengeance. (Jam_4:1) No powercan subdue these but his who could say to the winds and waves, "Peace, be still!
II GOD CAN DO IT. By miracle, if he sees fit; sink every war-ship, paralyze every soldier"s arm or eye. But that is not God"s way of ruling the world. He will not make wars to cease unless the roots out of which they grow be plucked up. While sin reigns, strife will reign. Only let justice and benevolence become universally recognized and obeyed, and war must die out. For, allowing that war may be just and even (in the long run) benevolent on one side, there never was and never can be a war that was just on both sides. How, then, can God make war to cease? By making all men loving and righteous, wise and unselfish. This does not imply any imaginary impossible perfection. There are tens of thousands who make no pretence to perfection, yet are so governed by justice and inspired by kindness, that if all were like them, war would be impossible. The love of God, the Spirit of God, and the truth of God, can do this, and are doing it daily. What God does in these cases he can do in others. Things impossible with men are possible with God.
III GOD HAS PROMISED TO DO THIS. (Isa_2:4 Jam_3:18) No nobler title belongs to our Saviour than "Prince of Peace". (see Eph_2:14 Col_1:20 Rom_5:1) If we are tempted to ask, "If God can make wars to cease, and has promised, why does war continue to scourge mankind?" the answer must be, "Because men will not have God"s remedy." As long as they are not at peace with God, so long they cannot, shall not, be at peace among themselves. Do not think that God looks down on human suffering with indifference. The whole Bible is in contradiction to such a thought; but, above all, the fact that his beloved Son has taken our suffering flesh on him. God is the "Author of peace, and Lover of concord." But he will have no remedy which does not go to the root. Righteousness must go first; peace follows. (Isa_32:17 Jam_3:18) Meanwhile let us rejoice in the promise and prospect. (Psa_72:7) Every triumph of the gospel, every heart yielded, every life consecrated to Christ, is a step towards the blessed reign of universal peace. (Mat_5:9)
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. 9. He maketh wars to cease unto the…
Ver. 9. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth. His voice quiets the tumult of war, and calls for the silence of peace. However remote and barbarous the tribe, he awes the people into rest. He crushes the great powers till they cannot provoke strife again; he gives his people profound repose. He breaketh the bow, the sender of swift winged death he renders useless. And cutteth the spear in sunder the lance of the mighty man he shivers. He burneth the chariot in the fire the proud war chariot with its death dealing scythes he commits to the flames. All sorts of weapons he piles heaps on heaps, and utterly destroys them. So was it in Judea in the days of yore, so shall it be in all lands in eras yet to come. Blessed deed of the Prince of Peace! when shall it be literally performed? Already the spiritual foes of his people are despoiled of their power to destroy; but when shall the universal victory of peace be celebrated, and instruments of wholesale murder be consigned to ignominious destruction? How glorious will the ultimate victory of Jesus be in the day of his appearing, when every enemy shall lick the dust!
Ver. 9. He that destroyeth all the instruments of war doth surely make peace; and that he maketh war to cease, doth certainly make peace begin. Peace is made two ways; first, by taking up the differences and reconciling the spirits of men; secondly, by breaking the power and taking away all provisions of war from men. The Lord maketh peace by both these ways, or by either of them. Joseph Caryl.
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Ver. 9. He breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire. When the Romans had, in their way of speaking, given peace to a nation, by extirpating the greatest part of the miserable inhabitants, they collected the arms of the vanquished, and setting them on fire, reduced them to ashes. A medal, struck by Vespasian, the Roman emperor, on finishing his wars in Italy, and other parts of the world, represents the goddess of peace holding an olive branch in on hand, and with a lighted torch in the other, setting fire to a heap of armour. The custom is thus alluded to by Virgil:
"O mihi praeteritos referat si Jupiter annos!
Qualis eram, cum primam Praeneste sub ipsa
Stravi, scutorumque incendi victor acervos."
An, lib. 3 v. 1. 560.
"O that Jupiter would restore to me the years that are past! Such as I was, when under Praeneste itself, I routed the foremost rank of the enemy, and victorious set fire to heaps of armour."
The same practice, by the command of Jehovah, prevailed among the Jews; the first instance of it occurs in the book of Jos 11:6. It is also celebrated in the songs of Zion, as the attendant of peace, and the proof of its continuance "He maketh war to cease, "etc. Paxton's Illustrations of Scripture.
Ver. 9. He burneth the chariot in the fire. By degrees, the chariot came to be one of the recognised forces in war, and we find it mentioned throughout the books of Scriptures, not only in its literal sense, but as a metaphor which every one could understand. In the Psalms, for example, are several allusions to the war chariot. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire. Ps 46:9. Again: "At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, both the chariot and horse are cast into a deep sleep, " Ps 76:6. And: "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the Lord our God." Ps 20:7. Now, the force of these passages cannot be properly appreciated unless we realise to ourselves the dread in which the war chariot was held by the foot soldiers. Even calvary were much feared; but the chariots were objects of almost superstitious fear, and the rushing sound of their wheels, the noise of the horses' hoofs, and the shaking of the ground as the "prancing horses and jumping chariots" Na 3:2, thundered along, are repeatedly mentioned. J. G. Wood.
Ver. 9. The Great Peacemaker, or the principle of the gospel our only hope, for the total abolition of war.
Psalms 46:10*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain He maketh wars to cease unto the ends of…
Psa_46:9
He maketh wars to cease unto the ends of the earth; He breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; He burneth the chariot in the fire.
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War
I. As it affects the happiness of mankind. Think of--
1. Its rapid extinction of innumerable lives without concern.
2. Think of the manner of their death. Far from their native home, no tender assiduities of friendship, no well-known voice, no wife, or mother, or sister, is near to soothe their sorrows, relieve their thirst, or close their eyes in death. Unhappy man! and must you be swept into the grave unnoticed and unnumbered, and no friendly tear be shed for your sufferings, or mingled with your dust?
3. But think, also, of the condition of those countries which are the scene of hostilities. How dreadful to hold everything at the mercy of an enemy.
II. The influence of war upon the morals of mankind. It is both the offspring and the parent of injustice. The injury which the morals of a people sustain from an invading army is prodigious. The agitation and suspense universally prevalent are incompatible with everything which requires calm thought or serious reflection. In such a situation is it any wonder the duties of piety fall into neglect, the sanctuary of God is forsaken, and the gates of Zion mourn and are desolate? Familiarized to the sight of rapine and slaughter, the people must acquire a hard and unfeeling character. Let us now turn to the pleasing part of our subject, which invites us to contemplate the reasons for gratitude and joy suggested by the restoration of peace. Permit me to express my hope, that along with peace the spirit of peace will return. How can we better imitate our Heavenly Father, than, when tie is pleased to compose the animosities of nations, to open our hearts to every milder influence? Let us hope, more mutual forbearance, a more candid construction of each others views and sentiments will prevail. No end can now be answered by the revival of party disputes. Our public and private affections are no longer at variance. That benevolence which embraces the world is now in perfect harmony with the tenderness that endears our country. Burying in oblivion, therefore, all national antipathies, together with those cruel jealousies and suspicions which have too much marred the pleasures of mutual intercourse, let our hearts correspond to the blessings we celebrate, and keep pace, as far as possible, with the movements of Divine beneficence. (Robert Hall, M. A.)
Methods for abolishing war
There are three methods at least adapted to crush this monster of war, and to banish it from the habitations of men. One is political, another is educational, and the other is Christian. The one pertains to the science of government, the other to the science of teaching, and the other to the science of remedial mercy. The first is good, the second is better, the third is best of all--it is infallible.
I. Thy, political method. There is, I think, a form of human government adapted not only to arrest the progress of this demon, but to bind him in indissoluble chains. What is it? A cosmopolitan administration, a great federal government for the world, a government which shall bear, with some modification, the same relation to all the present kingdoms of the earth, as the Government of America to all the States with which it is united, or as the various counties and boroughs of England to the British rule. But how would such a world-wide government cause wars to cease from the ends of the earth?
1. It would promote free mercantile intercourse. Mutual temporal interests, if not strong enough to bind hearts in harmony, are strong enough to yoke limbs and brains together in a common work.
2. It would lead to the destruction of nationalities. Nationality is a middle wall of partition that keeps men asunder, and makes those on each side feel jealous and suspicious of the other. It is a false glass through which we look at other nations. A glass which magnifies their vices and minifies their virtues. Nationality is an insolent, swaggering, greedy, heartless monster on the earth.
3. It would lead to the abolition of the despotic power. Who are the men that create wars? Not the people--not the farmer, the manufacturer, not the mechanic, and the labourer; but the arrogant and ruthless despots who by villainy or fortune have gained their way to power. Such men would have but little power in a thoroughly cosmopolitan government.
II. The educational method. What is this method? The indoctrinating of men with a true knowledge of their duty, their rights, and their interest. Whence is the knowledge of duty to be obtained? We have the revelation of an infallible ethical Teacher--One who was sent into the world by God to teach man his duty both to himself and his fellow-man.
1. Work into the people of the earth the conviction that all men are equal in the sight of God, that one man has rights as well as another, that each holds his being and his powers in trust from the Almighty, and must render to Him an account at last. And what then? Why then every man would respect his own individuality, employ his own individual talents, and work out his own individual beliefs, and despots would have to fight their own battles; men would no longer consent to be engines worked by tyrants.
2. Were men permeated with this true idea of their obligation to their fellow-men, could war exist a day? No. Men would feel that war was not only a curse to the community, destroying the Jives of men and the means of human support, creating misery in all directions, and entailing poverty on posterity, but also a huge crime before Almighty God.
3. War is a tremendous mistake, not only in morals, but in policy. In what does the interest of a nation consist? In the means of support, comfort, and education. On what do these depend? On the amount of a nations skilled industry. Anything that checks productive industry is a national curse. War is the greatest adversary to the prosperity of a community; war is destruction, both of the produce and of the producing power.
III. The Christian method. What is this method? The conquering of evil by good. This is something higher than ethics, Diviner than all mere human teaching. This is the essence of Christianity. Christianity is essentially pacific. This may be argued from the teachings of the New Testament, from the biography of Christ, which is Christianity, and from the fact that its universal triumph will issue in universal peace. (Homilist.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.