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.
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.
- BSB Arise, O LORD! Save me, O my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked.
- 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 58:6Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O LORD.
- Job 29:17And I brake the jaws of the wicked, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth.
- Job 16:10They have gaped upon me with their mouth; they have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully; they have gathered themselves together against me.
- Ps 59:5Thou therefore, O LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to visit all the heathen: be not merciful to any wicked transgressors. Selah.
- Ps 10:12Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up thine hand: forget not the humble.
- Ps 6:4Return, O LORD, deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies’ sake.
- Ps 44:23Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? arise, cast us not off for ever.
- Ps 76:9When God arose to judgment, to save all the meek of the earth. Selah.
- Ps 74:11Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck it out of thy bosom.
- Ps 12:5For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the LORD; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him.
- Ps 35:23Stir up thyself, and awake to my judgment, even unto my cause, my God and my Lord.
- Lam 3:30He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him: he is filled full with reproach.
- Ps 7:6Arise, O LORD, in thine anger, lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies: and awake for me to the judgment that thou hast commanded.
- Isa 51:9Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon?
- Hab 2:19Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it.
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.