Or he will tear my soul like a lion, Dragging me away, while there is no one to rescue me.
Parallel translations
- WEB lest they tear apart my soul like a lion, ripping it in pieces, while there is no one to deliver.
- KJV Lest he tear my soul like a lion, rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver.
- BSB or they will shred my soul like a lion and tear me to pieces with no one to rescue me.
- NKJV Lest they tear me like a lion, Rending me in pieces, while there is none to deliver.
- NLT If you don’t, they will maul me like a lion, tearing me to pieces with no one to rescue me.
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
David fears his enemies will tear him apart like a lion if God does not rescue him. He pictures his peril vividly to press his urgent plea.
Overview
The image of a lion ripping its prey conveys the deadly seriousness of David's danger and the absence of any human deliverer. His only hope is God's intervention. The verse reminds us that the believer's adversary prowls like a roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8), and only the Lord can deliver from his jaws.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Ps 50:22“Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you into pieces, and there be no one to deliver.
- 2 Tim 4:17But the Lord stood by me, and strengthened me, that through me the message might be fully proclaimed, and that all the Gentiles might hear; and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.
- Isa 38:13I waited patiently until morning. He breaks all my bones like a lion. From day even to night you will make an end of me.
- 1 Pet 5:8Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
- Ps 35:15But in my adversity, they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together. The attackers gathered themselves together against me, and I didn’t know it. They tore at me, and didn’t cease.
- Deut 33:20About Gad he said, “He who enlarges Gad is blessed. He dwells as a lioness, and tears the arm, yes, the crown of the head.
- Ps 10:9He lurks in secret as a lion in his ambush. He lies in wait to catch the helpless. He catches the helpless, when he draws him in his net.
- Prov 19:12The king’s wrath is like the roaring of a lion, but his favor is like dew on the grass.
- Ps 17:12He is like a lion that is greedy of his prey, as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.
- 2 Sam 14:6Your servant had two sons, and they both fought together in the field, and there was no one to part them, but the one struck the other, and killed him.
- Job 10:7Although you know that I am not wicked, there is no one who can deliver out of your hand.
- Judg 18:28There was no deliverer, because it was far from Sidon, and they had no dealings with anyone else; and it was in the valley that lies by Beth Rehob. They built the city, and lived in it.
- Hos 13:7–8Therefore I am like a lion to them. Like a leopard, I will lurk by the path.
- Ps 22:13They open their mouths wide against me, lions tearing prey and roaring.
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 7:2 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.