For, lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart.
Parallel translations
- WEB For, behold, the wicked bend their bows. They set their arrows on the strings, that they may shoot in darkness at the upright in heart.
- BSB For behold, the wicked bend their bows. They set their arrow on the string to shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart.
- NKJV For look! The wicked bend their bow, They make ready their arrow on the string, That they may shoot secretly at the upright in heart.
- NASB “For, behold, the wicked bend the bow, They have set their arrow on the string To shoot in darkness at the upright in heart.
- NLT The wicked are stringing their bows and fitting their arrows on the bowstrings. They shoot from the shadows at those whose hearts are right.
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
The wicked ready their bows to shoot the upright from the shadows. Evil schemes in secret against the righteous.
Overview
David describes the threat that prompted the advice to flee: hidden, treacherous attacks on the godly. The imagery of arrows shot 'in darkness' conveys cowardly and deceitful malice. Yet David's response will be confidence in God who reigns above such threats rather than fear of them.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Ps 37:14The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, and to slay such as be of upright conversation.
- Ps 64:3–5Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words:
- Jer 9:3And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the LORD.
- Ps 21:12Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back, when thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of them.
- Ps 64:10The righteous shall be glad in the LORD, and shall trust in him; and all the upright in heart shall glory.
- Matt 26:4And consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him.
- Ps 10:2The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.
- Ps 10:8–9He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret places doth he murder the innocent: his eyes are privily set against the poor.
- Ps 32:11Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.
- Ps 97:11Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.
- Ps 7:10My defence is of God, which saveth the upright in heart.
- Ps 142:3When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path. In the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me.
- Ps 125:4Do good, O LORD, unto those that be good, and to them that are upright in their hearts.
- Ps 94:15But judgment shall return unto righteousness: and all the upright in heart shall follow it.
- Ps 7:12If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready.
- 1 Sam 18:21And Saul said, I will give him her, that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. Wherefore Saul said to David, Thou shalt this day be my son in law in the one of the twain.
- 1 Sam 23:9And David knew that Saul secretly practised mischief against him; and he said to Abiathar the priest, Bring hither the ephod.
- Acts 23:12–15And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul.
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 11:2 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.