They turned back and were as faithless as their parents. They were as undependable as a crooked bow.
Parallel translations
- WEB but turned back, and dealt treacherously like their fathers. They were turned aside like a deceitful bow.
- KJV But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful bow.
- BSB They turned back and were faithless like their fathers, twisted like a faulty bow.
- NKJV But turned back and acted unfaithfully like their fathers; They were turned aside like a deceitful bow.
- NASB But turned back and acted treacherously like their fathers; They turned aside like a treacherous 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
They turned back treacherously like their fathers, unreliable as a faulty bow. Their faithlessness ran in the family.
Overview
They 'dealt treacherously like their fathers,' compared to a 'deceitful bow' that fails to hit its mark. The image captures the unreliability of those who cannot be trusted to remain faithful. It exposes the inherited bent toward sin that only God's redeeming grace can finally overcome.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Hos 7:16They return, but not to the Most High. They are like a faulty bow. Their princes will fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue. This will be their derision in the land of Egypt.
- Ezek 20:27–28“Therefore, son of man, speak to the house of Israel, and tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “In this moreover your fathers have blasphemed me, in that they have committed a trespass against me.
- Ps 78:8and might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that didn’t make their hearts loyal, whose spirit was not steadfast with God.
- Judg 3:5–7The children of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
- Ps 78:41They turned again and tempted God, and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
- Judg 3:12The children of Israel again did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, and Yahweh strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight.
- Ps 78:10–37They didn’t keep God’s covenant, and refused to walk in his law.
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 78:57 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.