Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies; whereby the people fall under thee.
Parallel translations
- WEB Your arrows are sharp. The nations fall under you, with arrows in the heart of the king’s enemies.
- BSB Your arrows pierce the hearts of the king’s foes; the nations fall beneath your feet.
- 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 21:12Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back, when thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of them.
- Ps 38:2For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore.
- Num 24:8God brought him forth out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn: he shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with his arrows.
- Zech 9:13–14When I have bent Judah for me, filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece, and made thee as the sword of a mighty man.
- Ps 22:27All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.
- Ps 66:3–4Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works! through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee.
- Rom 15:18–19For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed,
- Ps 2:1–9Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
- Acts 4:4Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand.
- Acts 6:7And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.
- Luke 19:42–44Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.
- Acts 2:37Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
- Acts 7:54When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.
- Acts 5:14And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.)
- Acts 5:33When they heard that, they were cut to the heart, and took counsel to slay them.
- Luke 20:18–19Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
- Acts 2:41Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
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.