Your arrows pierce the hearts of the king’s foes; the nations fall beneath your feet.
Parallel translations
- WEB Your arrows are sharp. The nations fall under you, with arrows in the heart of the king’s enemies.
- KJV Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies; whereby the people fall under thee.
- NKJV Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the King’s enemies; The peoples fall under You.
- NASB Your arrows are sharp; The peoples fall under You; Your arrows are in the heart of the King’s enemies.
- NLT Your arrows are sharp, piercing your enemies’ hearts. The nations fall beneath your feet.
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 king's sharp arrows strike the heart of his enemies and nations fall before him. It matters because it depicts the King's decisive triumph over all opposition.
Overview
The warrior-king's weapons are deadly effective, subduing the nations. The imagery celebrates total victory. In Christ this points to the conquering power of the gospel and the certainty that every enemy will finally be subdued under the feet of the exalted King.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Ps 21:12For You will put them to flight when Your bow is trained upon them.
- Ps 38:2For Your arrows have pierced me deeply, and Your hand has pressed down on me.
- Num 24:8God brought him out of Egypt with strength like a wild ox, to devour hostile nations and crush their bones, to pierce them with arrows.
- Zech 9:13–14For I will bend Judah as My bow and fit it with Ephraim. I will rouse your sons, O Zion, against the sons of Greece. I will make you like the sword of a mighty man.
- Ps 22:27All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD. All the families of the nations will bow down before Him.
- Ps 66:3–4Say to God, “How awesome are Your deeds! So great is Your power that Your enemies cower before You.
- Rom 15:18–19I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obedience by word and deed,
- Ps 2:1–9Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
- Acts 4:4But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand.
- Acts 6:7So the word of God continued to spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem grew rapidly, and a great number of priests became obedient to the faith.
- Luke 19:42–44and said, “If only you had known on this day what would bring you peace! But now it is hidden from your eyes.
- Acts 2:37When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and asked Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
- Acts 7:54On hearing this, the members of the Sanhedrin were enraged, and they gnashed their teeth at him.
- Acts 5:14Yet more and more believers were brought to the Lord—large numbers of both men and women.
- Acts 5:33When the Council members heard this, they were enraged, and they resolved to put the apostles to death.
- Luke 20:18–19Everyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.”
- Acts 2:41Those who embraced his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to the believers that day.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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 45:5 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.