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.
- KJV 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.
- 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 on Mount Gilboa.
- Deut 1:41–44Then you answered and said to me, “We have sinned against Yahweh, we will go up and fight, according to all that Yahweh our God commanded us.” Every man of you put on his weapons of war, and presumed to go up into the hill country.
- Josh 17:16–18The children of Joseph said, “The hill country is not enough for us. All the Canaanites who dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron, both those who are in Beth Shean and its towns, and those who are in the valley of Jezreel.”
- Ps 78:57but turned back, and dealt treacherously like their fathers. They were turned aside like a deceitful bow.
- 1 Sam 4:10The Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and each man fled to his tent. There was a very great slaughter; for thirty thousand footmen of Israel fell.
- Judg 20:39The men of Israel turned in the battle, and Benjamin began to strike and kill of the men of Israel about thirty persons; for they said, “Surely they are struck down before us, as in the first battle.”
- Judg 9:28Gaal the son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Isn’t he the son of Jerubbaal? Isn’t Zebul his officer? Serve the men of Hamor the father of Shechem, but why should we serve him?
- 1 Chr 12:2They were armed with bows, and could use both the right hand and the left in slinging stones and in shooting arrows from the bow. They were of Saul’s relatives of the tribe of Benjamin.
- Luke 22:33He said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death!”
- Judg 9:38–40Then Zebul said to him, “Now where is your mouth, that you said, ‘Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him?’ Isn’t this the people that you have despised? Please go out 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.