For they will turn and run when they see your arrows aimed at them.
Parallel translations
- WEB For you will make them turn their back, when you aim drawn bows at their face.
- KJV Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back, when thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of them.
- BSB For You will put them to flight when Your bow is trained upon them.
- NKJV Therefore You will make them turn their back; You will make ready Your arrows on Your string toward their faces.
- NASB For You will make them turn their back; You will take aim at their faces with Your bowstrings.
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 will make the enemies retreat as he aims his drawn bow at their faces. They are driven back in defeat before his power.
Overview
The Lord, pictured as a warrior with bow drawn, forces the enemies to turn and flee. Their hostile advance is reversed by God's direct intervention. The image assures God's people that those who war against his king will be routed, a victory consummated in Christ's defeat of every enemy.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Ps 7:12–13If a man doesn’t relent, he will sharpen his sword; he has bent and strung his bow.
- Ps 18:40You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me, that I might cut off those who hate me.
- Lam 3:12He has bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
- Ps 64:7But God will shoot at them. They will be suddenly struck down with an arrow.
- Ps 56:9Then my enemies shall turn back in the day that I call. I know this, that God is for me.
- 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.
- Ps 9:3When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish in your presence.
- 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 44:10You make us turn back from the adversary. Those who hate us take plunder for themselves.
- Ps 18:14He sent out his arrows, and scattered them; Yes, great lightning bolts, and routed them.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 21:12 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.