Arise, O LORD! Save me, O my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked.
Parallel translations
- WEB Arise, Yahweh! Save me, my God! For you have struck all of my enemies on the cheek bone. You have broken the teeth of the wicked.
- KJV Arise, O LORD; save me, O my God: for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek bone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly.
- NKJV Arise, O Lord; Save me, O my God! For You have struck all my enemies on the cheekbone; You have broken the teeth of the ungodly.
- NASB ¶Arise, Lord; save me, my God! For You have struck all my enemies on the cheek; You have shattered the teeth of the wicked.
- NLT Arise, O Lord! Rescue me, my God! Slap all my enemies in the face! Shatter the teeth of the wicked!
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
David calls on God to arise and save him, recalling how God has defeated his enemies. Salvation comes by God's powerful intervention, not human strength.
Overview
The vivid images of striking the cheek and breaking teeth picture the enemy rendered powerless to harm or accuse. David appeals to God's past deliverances as ground for present confidence. The prayer 'Arise, Yahweh' looks ahead to the God who acts decisively to save His people, supremely in raising Christ to defeat sin and death.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Ps 58:6O God, shatter their teeth in their mouths; O LORD, tear out the fangs of the lions.
- Job 29:17I shattered the fangs of the unjust and snatched the prey from his teeth.
- Job 16:10They open their mouths against me and strike my cheeks with contempt; they join together against me.
- Ps 59:5O LORD God of Hosts, the God of Israel, rouse Yourself to punish all the nations; show no mercy to the wicked traitors. Selah
- Ps 10:12Arise, O LORD! Lift up Your hand, O God! Do not forget the helpless.
- Ps 6:4Turn, O LORD, and deliver my soul; save me because of Your loving devotion.
- Ps 44:23Wake up, O Lord! Why are You sleeping? Arise! Do not reject us forever.
- Ps 76:9when God rose up to judge, to save all the lowly of the earth. Selah
- Ps 74:11Why do You withdraw Your strong right hand? Stretch it out to destroy them!
- Ps 12:5“For the cause of the oppressed and for the groaning of the needy, I will now arise,” says the LORD. “I will bring safety to him who yearns.”
- Ps 35:23Awake and rise to my defense, to my cause, my God and my Lord!
- Lam 3:30Let him offer his cheek to the one who would strike him; let him be filled with reproach.
- Ps 7:6Arise, O LORD, in Your anger; rise up against the fury of my enemies. Awake, my God, and ordain judgment.
- Isa 51:9Awake, 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?
- Hab 2:19Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Awake!’ or to silent stone, ‘Arise!’ Can it give guidance? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, yet there is no breath in it at all.”
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 3:7 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.