If one does not repent, God will sharpen His sword; He has bent and strung His bow.
Parallel translations
- WEB If a man doesn’t relent, he will sharpen his sword; he has bent and strung his bow.
- KJV If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready.
- NKJV If he does not turn back, He will sharpen His sword; He bends His bow and makes it ready.
- NASB ¶If one does not repent, He will sharpen His sword; He has bent His bow and taken aim.
- NLT If a person does not repent, God will sharpen his sword; he will bend and string his bow.
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
If the wicked will not repent, God readies His judgment like a sharpened sword and a strung bow. Persistent rebellion invites certain judgment.
Overview
David warns that for the one who refuses to turn from sin, God prepares the instruments of judgment. The vivid weapons picture God's readiness to act against unrepentant evil. The mention of 'if a man doesn't relent' holds out space for repentance, showing that judgment falls on the hardened, while mercy awaits those who turn to God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Acts 3:19Repent, then, and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped away,
- Matt 3:10The axe lies ready at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
- Isa 55:6–7Seek the LORD while He may be found; call on Him while He is near.
- Deut 32:41when I sharpen My flashing sword, and My hand grasps it in judgment, I will take vengeance on My adversaries and repay those who hate Me.
- Ps 85:4Restore us, O God of our salvation, and put away Your displeasure toward us.
- Ezek 18:30Therefore, O house of Israel, I will judge you, each according to his ways, declares the Lord GOD. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, so that your iniquity will not become your downfall.
- Jer 31:18–19I have surely heard Ephraim’s moaning: ‘You disciplined me severely, like an untrained calf. Restore me, that I may return, for You are the LORD my God.
- Ezek 33:11Say to them: ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked should turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’
- Isa 27:1In that day the LORD will take His sharp, great, and mighty sword, and bring judgment on Leviathan the fleeing serpent—Leviathan the coiling serpent—and He will slay the dragon of the sea.
- Ezek 21:23It will seem like a false omen to the eyes of those who have sworn allegiance to him, but it will draw attention to their guilt and take them captive.
- Isa 34:5When My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens, then it will come down upon Edom, upon the people I have devoted to destruction.
- Ezek 21:9–11“Son of man, prophesy and tell them that this is what the Lord says: ‘A sword, a sword, sharpened and polished—
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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 7:12 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
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