If a person does not repent, God will sharpen his sword; he will bend and string 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.
- BSB If one does not repent, God will sharpen His sword; He has bent and strung His bow.
- 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.
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 3:19“Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, so that there may come times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord,
- Matt 3:10“Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down, and cast into the fire.
- Isa 55:6–7Seek Yahweh while he may be found. Call on him while he is near.
- Deut 32:41if I sharpen my glittering sword, my hand grasps it in judgment; I will take vengeance on my adversaries, and will repay those who hate me.
- Ps 85:4Turn us, God of our salvation, and cause your indignation toward us to cease.
- Ezek 18:30“Therefore I will judge you, house of Israel, everyone according to his ways,” says the Lord Yahweh. “Return, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.
- Jer 31:18–19“I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus, ‘You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as an untrained calf: turn me, and I shall be turned; for you are Yahweh my God.
- Ezek 33:11Tell them, As I live, says the Lord Yahweh, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn, turn from your evil ways; for why will you die, house of Israel?
- Isa 27:1In that day, Yahweh with his hard and great and strong sword will punish leviathan, the fleeing serpent, and leviathan the twisted serpent; and he will kill the dragon that is in the sea.
- Ezek 21:23It shall be to them as a false divination in their sight, who have sworn oaths to them; but he brings iniquity to memory, that they may be taken.
- Isa 34:5For my sword has drunk its fill in the sky. Behold, it will come down on Edom, and on the people of my curse, for judgment.
- Ezek 21:9–11“Son of man, prophesy, and say, ‘Yahweh says: “A sword! A sword! It is sharpened, and also polished.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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
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.