The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.
Parallel translations
- WEB The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.
- BSB The archers of Ephraim turned back on 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 from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa.
- Deut 1:41–44Then ye answered and said unto me, We have sinned against the LORD, we will go up and fight, according to all that the LORD our God commanded us. And when ye had girded on every man his weapons of war, ye were ready to go up into the hill.
- Josh 17:16–18And the children of Joseph said, The hill is not enough for us: and all the Canaanites that dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron, both they who are of Bethshean and her towns, and they who are of the valley of Jezreel.
- Ps 78:57But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful bow.
- 1 Sam 4:10And the Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten, and they fled every man into his tent: and there was a very great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen.
- Judg 20:39And when the men of Israel retired in the battle, Benjamin began to smite and kill of the men of Israel about thirty persons: for they said, Surely they are smitten down before us, as in the first battle.
- Judg 9:28And Gaal the son of Ebed said, Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? is not he the son of Jerubbaal? and Zebul his officer? serve the men of Hamor the father of Shechem: for why should we serve him?
- 1 Chr 12:2They were armed with bows, and could use both the right hand and the left in hurling stones and shooting arrows out of a bow, even of Saul’s brethren of Benjamin.
- Luke 22:33And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death.
- Judg 9:38–40Then said Zebul unto him, Where is now thy mouth, wherewith thou saidst, Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him? is not this the people that thou hast despised? go out, I pray now, and fight with them.
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 78:9 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.