He has bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
Parallel translations
- KJV He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
- BSB He bent His bow and set me as the target for His arrow.
- NKJV He has bent His bow And set me up as a target for the arrow.
- NASB He bent His bow And took aim at me as a target for the arrow.
- NLT He has drawn his bow and made me the target for his arrows.
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
He feels God has aimed at him as a target for his arrows. It pictures himself as the object of divine assault.
Overview
The sufferer imagines God bending the bow and setting him 'as a mark for the arrow,' singled out for judgment. The image conveys feeling deliberately targeted by God's chastening. Yet the believer knows that in Christ the arrows of divine wrath were absorbed by the Savior, so that no condemning judgment remains for those in him (Romans 8:1).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Ps 38:2For your arrows have pierced me, your hand presses hard on me.
- Job 7:20If I have sinned, what do I do to you, you watcher of men? Why have you set me as a mark for you, so that I am a burden to myself?
- Ps 7:12–13If a man doesn’t relent, he will sharpen his sword; he has bent and strung his bow.
- Job 6:4For the arrows of the Almighty are within me. My spirit drinks up their poison. The terrors of God set themselves in array against me.
- Lam 2:4He has bent his bow like an enemy, he has stood with his right hand as an adversary, Has killed all that were pleasant to the eye: In the tent of the daughter of Zion he has poured out his wrath like fire.
- Job 16:12–13I was at ease, and he broke me apart. Yes, he has taken me by the neck, and dashed me to pieces. He has also set me up for his target.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The weeping over a ruined city and the steadfast mercies that are new every morning point to the man of sorrows who wept over Jerusalem and whose mercy rises new from the grave.
How Lamentations 3:12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.