God’s Word Translation
Psalms 21:12
12They turn their backs ⌞and flee⌟ because you aim your bow at their faces.
Psalms 21:12 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back, when thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of them.
- New International Version (NIV)You will make them turn their backs when you aim at them with drawn bow.
- English Standard Version (ESV)For you will put them to flight; you will aim at their faces with your bows.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Therefore You will make them turn their back; You will make ready Your arrows on Your string toward their faces.
Context of Psalms 21:12
10You will destroy their children from the earth and their offspring from among Adam’s descendants. 11Although they scheme and plan evil against you, they will not succeed. They turn their backs ⌞and flee⌟ because you aim your bow at their faces. 13Arise, O Lord, in your strength. We will sing and make music to praise your power.
Read all of Psalms 21Psalms 21:12 word by word
כִּ֭י תְּשִׁיתֵ֣מוֹ שֶׁ֑כֶם בְּ֝מֵֽיתָרֶ֗יךָ תְּכוֹנֵ֥ן עַל־פְּנֵיהֶֽם׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Psalms 21:12
- Psalms 9:3When my enemies retreat, they will stumble and die in your presence.
- Psalms 44:10You make us retreat from the enemy. Those who hate us rob us at will.
- Psalms 56:9Then my enemies will retreat when I call ⌞to you⌟. This I know: God is on my side.
- Job 7:20If I sin, what can I ⌞possibly⌟ do to you since you insist on spying on people? Why do you make me your target? I’ve become a burden even to myself.
- Job 16:12I was at ease, and he shattered me. He grabbed me by the back of the neck and smashed ⌞my skull⌟. He set me up as his target,
- Lamentations 3:12He has drawn his bow and made me the target for his arrows.
- Psalms 7:13He prepares his deadly weapons and turns them into flaming arrows.
- Psalms 18:14He shot his arrows and scattered them. He flashed streaks of lightning and threw them into confusion.
- Psalms 64:7But God will shoot them with an arrow. Suddenly, they will be struck dead.
Commentaries on Psalms 21:12
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 12Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back - God can in a moment strike the most powerful and numerous army, even in the moment of victory, with panic; and then even the lame, the army which they had nearly routed, shall take the prey, and divide the spoil. Against the face of them - Thou shalt cause them to turn their backs and fly, as if a volley of arrows had been discharged in their faces. This seems to be the sense of this difficult verse.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 12Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back - Margin, “Thou shalt set them as a butt.” The word back also is rendered in the margin “shoulder.” The word translated “therefore” means in this placer or, and the rendering “therefore” obscures the sense. The statement in this verse in connection with the previous verse, is, that they would not be able to “perform” or carry out their well-laid schemes, “for” or “because” God would make them turn the back…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 7-13Verses 7-13 The psalmist teaches to look forward with faith, and hope, and prayer upon what God would further do. The success with which God blessed David, was a type of the total overthrow of all Christ's enemies. Those who might have had Christ to rule and save them, but rejected him and fought against him, shall find the remembrance of it a worm that dies not. God makes sinners willing by his grace, receives them to his favour, and delivers them from…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 8-12As long as even a single enemy opposed the king’s authority, God’s kingdom was not fully present. This prayer requests victory over all evil in the world.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1212. turn their back--literally, "place them [as to the] shoulder." against the face of them--The shooting against their faces would cause them to turn their backs in flight.Read the comment
Topics related to Psalms 21:12
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Psalms 21
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- The Treasury of David
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
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