Your arrows are sharp; The peoples fall under You; Your arrows are in the heart of the King’s enemies.
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.
- 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.
- 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 make them turn their back, when you aim drawn bows at their face.
- Ps 38:2For your arrows have pierced me, your hand presses hard on me.
- Num 24:8God brings him out of Egypt. He has as it were the strength of the wild ox. He shall eat up the nations his adversaries, shall break their bones in pieces, and pierce them with his arrows.
- Zech 9:13–14For indeed I bend Judah as a bow for me. I have filled the bow with Ephraim; and I will stir up your sons, Zion, against your sons, Greece, and will make you like the sword of a mighty man.
- Ps 22:27All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to Yahweh. All the relatives of the nations shall worship before you.
- Ps 66:3–4Tell God, “How awesome are your deeds! Through the greatness of your power, your enemies submit themselves to you.
- Rom 15:18–19For I will not dare to speak of any things except those which Christ worked through me, for the obedience of the Gentiles, by word and deed,
- Ps 2:1–9Why do the nations rage, and the peoples plot a vain thing?
- Acts 4:4But many of those who heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.
- Acts 6:7The word of God increased and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem exceedingly. A great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.
- Luke 19:42–44saying, “If you, even you, had known today the things which belong to your peace! But now, they are hidden from your eyes.
- Acts 2:37Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
- Acts 7:54Now when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth.
- Acts 5:14More believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women.
- Acts 5:33But they, when they heard this, were cut to the heart, and were determined to kill them.
- Luke 20:18–19Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but it will crush whomever it falls on to dust.”
- Acts 2:41Then those who gladly received his word were baptized. There were added that day about three thousand souls.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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.