Yes, you turn back the edge of his sword, and haven’t supported him in battle.
Parallel Translations
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Yes, you turn back the edge of his sword, and haven’t supported him in battle.
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Thou hast also turned the edge of his sword, and hast not made him to stand in the battle.
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(89-44) Yea, Thou turnest back the edge of his sword, and hast not made him to stand in the battle.
Cross-references (8)
Passages linked to Psalms 89:43 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Leviticus 26:36-37 “ ‘As for those of you who are left, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. The sound of a driven leaf will put them to flight; and they shall flee, as one flees from the sword. They will fall when no one pursues. They will stumble over one another, as it were before the sword, when no one pursues. You will have no power to stand before your enemies.
- Numbers 14:42 Don’t go up, for Yahweh isn’t among you; that way you won’t be struck down before your enemies.
- Numbers 14:45 Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites who lived in that mountain, and struck them and beat them down, even to Hormah.
- Joshua 7:4-5 So about three thousand men of the people went up there, and they fled before the men of Ai. The men of Ai struck about thirty-six men of them. They chased them from before the gate even to Shebarim, and struck them at the descent. The hearts of the people melted, and became like water.
- Joshua 7:8-12 Oh, Lord, what shall I say, after Israel has turned their backs before their enemies? For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and will surround us, and cut off our name from the earth. What will you do for your great name?” Yahweh said to Joshua, “Get up! Why have you fallen on your face like that? Israel has sinned. Yes, they have even transgressed my covenant which I commanded them. Yes, they have even taken some of the devoted things, and have also stolen, and also deceived. They have even put it among their own stuff. Therefore the children of Israel can’t stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become devoted for destruction. I will not be with you any more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you.
- 2 Chronicles 25:8 But if you will go, take action, and be strong for the battle. God will overthrow you before the enemy; for God has power to help, and to overthrow.”
- Psalms 44:10 You make us turn back from the adversary. Those who hate us take plunder for themselves.
- Ezekiel 30:21-25 “Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Behold, it has not been bound up, to apply medicines, to put a bandage to bind it, that it become strong to hold the sword. Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break his arms, the strong arm, and that which was broken. I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand. I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries. I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put my sword in his hand; but I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he will groan before the king of Babylon with the groaning of a mortally wounded man. I will hold up the arms of the king of Babylon; and the arms of Pharaoh will fall down. Then they will know that I am Yahweh, when I put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he stretches it out on the land of Egypt.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (10 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 89:43 Thou hast also turned the edge of…
Psa 89:43 Thou hast also turned the edge of his sword, and hast not made him to stand in the battle.
Ver. 43. Thou hast also turned the edge] Disarmed and disabled him.
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And hast not made him, &c.] But turned his courage into cowardice.
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 Turned the edge of his sword; so that he…
Turned the edge of his sword; so that he can neither offend his enemies, nor defend himself.
Not made him to stand, but to flee and fall before his enemies; for more is understood than what is expressed.
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 Thou hast made his glory to cease,.... The glory…
Thou hast made his glory to cease,.... The glory of his deity, though it did not properly cease, yet it seemed to do so, being covered, and out of sight, and seen but by a very few, while he appeared in the likeness of sinful flesh; and the glory of his humanity was made to cease, in which he was fairer than the children of men, and his visage was more marred than any man's, and his form than the sons of men; and the glory of his offices, prophetical, priestly, and kingly, which were reproached and vilified, and disputed and contradicted by the Jews, Mat 26:68, it may be rendered, "his purity" (b), which seemed to cease when he was clothed with our filthy garments; or had all our sins laid upon him, and imputed to him, by his Father; and he was made sin for us, who knew none: the Targum is,
"thou hast made the priests to cease who sprinkle upon the altar, and purify his people:''
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and cast his throne down to the ground; this seems contrary, and is an objection to Psa 89:29, but is not; for not withstanding the usage of Christ by the Jews, who rejected him as the King Messiah; see Gill on Psa 89:39, yet he is now upon the same throne with his Father, and will sit upon a throne of glory when he comes to judge the world, and so in the New Jerusalem church state, and to all eternity.
(b) "puritatem ejus", Montanus, 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 43. Thou hast also turned the edge of…
Verse 43. Thou hast also turned the edge of his sword.] The arms and military prowess of thy people are no longer of any use to them; THOU art against them, and therefore they are fallen. In what a perilous and hopeless situation must that soldier be who, while defending his life against his mortal foe, has his sword broken, or its edge turned; or, in modern warfare, whose gun misses fire! The Gauls, when invaded by the Romans, had no method of hardening iron; at every blow their swords bended, so that they were obliged, before they could strike again, to put them under their foot or over their knee, to straighten them; and in most cases, before this could be done, their better armed foe had taken away their life! The edge of their sword was turned, so that they could not stand in battle; and hence the Gauls were conquered by the Romans.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Thou hast also turned the edge of his sword…
Thou hast also turned the edge of his sword - That is, Thou hast turned it away, so that when it is raised to strike, it does not descend on the object aimed at by the blow. The meaning is, that he had not been successful in battle, or had been defeated.
And hast not made him to stand in the battle - To stand firm; to hold his ground. He has been driven back; his forces have fled.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 43. Turned the edge of his sword—Contrast Psa_89:23
43. Turned the edge of his sword—Contrast Psa_89:23
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 43. Yea, thou turnest back the edge of his…
43. Yea, thou turnest back the edge of his sword (R.V.): i.e. not as A.V. might seem to mean, bluntest it, but as the parallelism shews, makest it give way in battle. Cp. 2Sa_1:22.
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 (43) Edge of his sword.—The Hebrew is tsûr, i.e.,…
(43) Edge of his sword.—The Hebrew is tsûr, i.e., rock, and a comparison with Jos_5:2 (margin) suggests that we have here a reminiscence of the “stone age.” The word “flint” for the edge of a weapon might easily survive the actual use of the implement itself. So we should still speak of “a foeman’s steel” even if the use of chemical explosives entirely abolished the use of sword and bayonet. This is one of the cases where the condition of modern science helps us in exegesis of the Bible. The ancient versions, who knew nothing of the stone or iron ages, paraphrase, by “strength,” or “help.”
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 Thou hast also turned the edge of his sword;…
Thou hast also turned the edge of his sword; literally, the rock of his sword. It is not quite clear whether a "blunting of the sword," or a "turning to flight of those who drew the sword," is intended. In either ease the phrase implies military disaster. And hast not made him to stand in the battle; i.e. "hast caused him to give way before his enemies." The words imply defeat in the open field.
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. 43. Also turned the edge of his sword.…
Ver. 43. Also turned the edge of his sword. When he goes to war he is as unsuccessful as though his sword refused to cut, and gave way like a sword of lead. His weapons fail him.
And hast not made him to stand in the battle. His heart fails him as well as his swordhe wavers, he falls. This has happened even to naturally brave mena terrible dread has unmanned them. At this present the church has few swords of true Jerusalem metal; her sons are pliable, her ministers yield to pressure. We need men whose edge cannot be turned, firm for truth, keen against error, sharp towards sin, cutting their way into men's hearts. Courage and decision are more needed now than ever, for charity towards heresy is the fashionable vice, and indifference to all truth, under the name of liberal mindedness, is the crowning virtue of the age. The Lord send us men of the school of Elias, or, at least, of Luther and Knox.
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Ver. 43. Thou hast also turned the edge of his sword, etc. The arms and military prowess of thy people are no longer of any use to them; Thou art against them, and therefore they are fallen. In what a perilous and hopeless situation must that soldier be who, defending his life against his mortal foe, has his sword broken, or its edge turned; or, in modern warfare, whose gun misses fire! The Gauls, when invaded by the Romans, had no method of hardening iron; at every blow their swords bent, so that they were obliged, before they could strike again, to put them under their foot or over their knee, to straighten them; and in most cases, before this could be done, their better armed foe had taken away their life! The edge of their sword was turned, so that they could not stand in battle; and hence the Gauls were conquered by the Romans. Adam Clarke.
Ver. 43. Thou hast also turned the edge of his sword, that it cannot do execution as it has done; and what is worse, thou hast "turned the edge" of his spirit, and taken off his courage, and hast not made him to stand, as he used to do, in the day of battle. The spirit of men is what the Father and Former of spirits makes them; nor can we stand with any strength or resolution, farther than God is pleased to uphold us. If men's hearts fail them, it is God that dispirits them; but it is sad with the church when those cannot stand that should stand up for it. Matthew Henry.
Ver. 43. Cases in which the sword of the gospel appears to have its edge turned.
Psalms 89:44*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.