The archers of Ephraim turned back on the day of battle.
Parallel translations
- WEB The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.
- KJV The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.
- NKJV The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, Turned back in the day of battle.
- NASB ¶The sons of Ephraim were archers equipped with bows, Yet they turned back on the day of battle.
- NLT The warriors of Ephraim, though armed with bows, turned their backs and fled on the day of battle.
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 armed men of Ephraim turned back on the day of battle, illustrating faithless retreat.
Overview
This pointed example, whether of a specific event or a representative failure, pictures Israel's unfaithfulness despite being equipped for battle. Their cowardly retreat symbolizes a deeper failure to trust and obey God. It introduces the long catalog of Israel's covenant breaking that the psalm will rehearse.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- 1 Sam 31:1Now the Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before them, and many fell slain on Mount Gilboa.
- Deut 1:41–44“We have sinned against the LORD,” you replied. “We will go up and fight, as the LORD our God has commanded us.” Then each of you put on his weapons of war, thinking it easy to go up into the hill country.
- Josh 17:16–18“The hill country is not enough for us,” they replied, “and all the Canaanites who live in the valley have iron chariots, both in Beth-shean with its towns and in the Valley of Jezreel.”
- Ps 78:57They turned back and were faithless like their fathers, twisted like a faulty bow.
- 1 Sam 4:10So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and each man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great—thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel fell.
- Judg 20:39the men of Israel would turn in the battle. When the Benjamites had begun to strike them down, killing about thirty men of Israel, they said, “They are defeated before us as in the first battle.”
- Judg 9:28Then Gaal son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerubbaal, and is not Zebul his officer? You are to serve the men of Hamor, the father of Shechem. Why should we serve Abimelech?
- 1 Chr 12:2they were archers using both the right and left hands to sling stones and shoot arrows; and they were Saul’s kinsmen from Benjamin):
- Luke 22:33“Lord,” said Peter, “I am ready to go with You even to prison and to death.”
- Judg 9:38–40“Where is your gloating now?” Zebul replied. “You said, ‘Who is Abimelech that we should serve him?’ Are these not the people you ridiculed? Go out now and fight them!”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 78:9 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.