You brandished Your bow; You called for many arrows. Selah You split the earth with rivers.
Parallel translations
- WEB You uncovered your bow. You called for your sworn arrows. Selah. You split the earth with rivers.
- KJV Thy bow was made quite naked, according to the oaths of the tribes, even thy word. Selah. Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers.
- NKJV Your bow was made quite ready; Oaths were sworn over Your arrows. Selah You divided the earth with rivers.
- NASB You removed Your bow from its holder, The arrows of Your word were sworn. Selah You divided the earth with rivers.
- NLT You brandished your bow and your quiver of arrows. You split open the earth with flowing rivers.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God readies His bow and arrows and splits the earth with rivers, depicted as a warrior armed for battle. It portrays God taking up His weapons to act on behalf of His people.
Overview
The imagery of an uncovered bow and sworn arrows presents God as a mighty warrior prepared for combat. His power even reshapes the land, splitting the earth with rivers. The 'Selah' invites reflection on this display of divine might. Though some details of this poetic verse are difficult to render with certainty, its thrust is clear: God arms Himself to fight for and deliver His own.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 20
- Ps 7:12–13If one does not repent, God will sharpen His sword; He has bent and strung His bow.
- Ps 78:15–16He split the rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink as abundant as the seas.
- Ps 105:41He opened a rock, and water gushed out; it flowed like a river in the desert.
- Luke 1:72–75to show mercy to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant,
- Isa 52:10The LORD has bared His holy arm in the sight of all the nations; all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.
- Lam 2:4He has bent His bow like an enemy; His right hand is positioned. Like a foe He has killed all who were pleasing to the eye; He has poured out His wrath like fire on the tent of the Daughter of Zion.
- Heb 6:13–18When God made His promise to Abraham, since He had no one greater to swear by, He swore by Himself,
- 1 Cor 10:4and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.
- Num 20:11Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff, so that a great amount of water gushed out, and the congregation and their livestock were able to drink.
- Exod 17:6Behold, I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. And when you strike the rock, water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.
- Deut 32:23I will heap disasters upon them; I will spend My arrows against them.
- Isa 51:9–10Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD. Wake up as in days past, as in generations of old. Was it not You who cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced through the dragon?
- Ps 105:8–11He remembers His covenant forever, the word He ordained for a thousand generations—
- Ps 143:6I stretch out my hands to You; my soul thirsts for You like a parched land. Selah
- Ps 35:1–3Of David. Contend with my opponents, O LORD; fight against those who fight against me.
- Gen 17:7–8I will establish My covenant as an everlasting covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
- Gen 28:13–14And there at the top the LORD was standing and saying, “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you now lie.
- Gen 15:18–21On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land—from the river of Egypt to the great River Euphrates—
- Gen 26:3–4Stay in this land as a foreigner, and I will be with you and bless you. For I will give all these lands to you and your offspring, and I will confirm the oath that I swore to your father Abraham.
- Gen 22:16–18saying, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your only son,
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'The righteous shall live by his faith' (2:4) becomes a cornerstone of the gospel in Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews — the faith that lays hold of Christ.
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Original language
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