The wicked draw their swords and string their bows to kill the poor and the oppressed, to slaughter those who do right.
Parallel translations
- WEB The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, to kill those who are upright on the path.
- KJV The 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.
- BSB The wicked have drawn the sword and bent the bow to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose ways are upright.
- NKJV The wicked have drawn the sword And have bent their bow, To cast down the poor and needy, To slay those who are of upright conduct.
- NASB The wicked have drawn the sword and bent their bow To take down the afflicted and the needy, To kill off those who are upright in conduct.
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 draw sword and bend bow to strike down the poor, needy, and upright. They aim their violence at the defenseless godly.
Overview
David vividly depicts the aggression of the wicked, armed to kill the vulnerable righteous. The targets, 'the poor and needy' and those 'upright on the path,' highlight the injustice. Yet the next verses show this weaponry recoiling on its wielders; God defends the lowly, a care perfected in Christ who came to rescue the helpless and oppressed.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Prov 29:27A dishonest man detests the righteous, and the upright in their ways detest the wicked.
- Ps 11:2For, behold, the wicked bend their bows. They set their arrows on the strings, that they may shoot in darkness at the upright in heart.
- 1 Jn 3:12unlike Cain, who was of the evil one, and killed his brother. Why did he kill him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s righteous.
- Prov 29:10The bloodthirsty hate a man of integrity; and they seek the life of the upright.
- Acts 7:52Which of the prophets didn’t your fathers persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, of whom you have now become betrayers and murderers.
- 1 Sam 24:17He said to David, “You are more righteous than I; for you have done good to me, whereas I have done evil to you.
- Ps 35:10All my bones shall say, “Yahweh, who is like you, who delivers the poor from him who is too strong for him; yes, the poor and the needy from him who robs him?”
- Ps 64:2–6Hide me from the conspiracy of the wicked, from the noisy crowd of the ones doing evil;
- Acts 12:11When Peter had come to himself, he said, “Now I truly know that the Lord has sent out his angel and delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from everything the Jewish people were expecting.”
- 1 Sam 24:11Moreover, my father, behold, yes, see the skirt of your robe in my hand; for in that I cut off the skirt of your robe, and didn’t kill you, know and see that there is neither evil nor disobedience in my hand, and I have not sinned against you, though you hunt for my life to take it.
- Acts 12:23Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he didn’t give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died.
- Hab 1:13You who have purer eyes than to see evil, and who cannot look on perversity, why do you tolerate those who deal treacherously, and keep silent when the wicked swallows up the man who is more righteous than he,
- Matt 23:30–34and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we wouldn’t have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’
- Acts 12:2–3He killed James, the brother of John, with the sword.
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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 37:14 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.