New Living Translation
Psalms 7:2
2If you don’t, they will maul me like a lion, tearing me to pieces with no one to rescue me.
Psalms 7:2 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Lest he tear my soul like a lion, rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver.
- New International Version (NIV)or they will tear me apart like a lion and rip me to pieces with no one to rescue me.
- English Standard Version (ESV)lest like a lion they tear my soul apart, rending it in pieces, with none to deliver.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Lest they tear me like a lion, Rending me in pieces, while there is none to deliver.
Context of Psalms 7:2
1I come to you for protection, O Lord my God. Save me from my persecutors—rescue me! If you don’t, they will maul me like a lion, tearing me to pieces with no one to rescue me. 3O Lord my God, if I have done wrong or am guilty of injustice, 4if I have betrayed a friend or plundered my enemy without cause,
Read all of Psalms 7Psalms 7:2 word by word
פֶּן־יִטְרֹ֣ף כְּאַרְיֵ֣ה נַפְשִׁ֑י פֹּ֝רֵ֗ק וְאֵ֣ין מַצִּֽיל׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Psalms 7:2
- Psalms 35:15But they are glad now that I am in trouble; they gleefully join together against me. I am attacked by people I don’t even know; they slander me constantly.
- Isaiah 38:13I waited patiently all night, but I was torn apart as though by lions. Suddenly, my life was over.
- Psalms 10:9Like lions crouched in hiding, they wait to pounce on the helpless. Like hunters they capture the helpless and drag them away in nets.
- Psalms 17:12They are like hungry lions, eager to tear me apart— like young lions hiding in ambush.
- Psalms 22:13Like lions they open their jaws against me, roaring and tearing into their prey.
- Deuteronomy 33:20Moses said this about the tribe of Gad: “Blessed is the one who enlarges Gad’s territory! Gad is poised there like a lion to tear off an arm or a head.
- Proverbs 19:12The king’s anger is like a lion’s roar, but his favor is like dew on the grass.
- 2 Timothy 4:17But the Lord stood with me and gave me strength so that I might preach the Good News in its entirety for all the Gentiles to hear. And he rescued me from certain death.
- 1 Peter 5:8Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.
- Psalms 50:22Repent, all of you who forget me, or I will tear you apart, and no one will help you.
- Hosea 13:7So now I will attack you like a lion, like a leopard that lurks along the road.
- Judges 18:28There was no one to rescue the people, for they lived a great distance from Sidon and had no allies nearby. This happened in the valley near Beth-rehob. Then the people of the tribe of Dan rebuilt the town and lived there.
- 2 Samuel 14:6My two sons had a fight out in the field. And since no one was there to stop it, one of them was killed.
- Job 10:7Although you know I am not guilty, no one can rescue me from your hands.
Commentaries on Psalms 7:2
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 2Lest he tear my soul like a lion - These words seem to answer well to Saul. As the lion is king in the forest; so was Saul king over the land. As the lion, in his fierceness, seizes at once, and tears his prey in pieces; so David expected to be seized and suddenly destroyed by Saul. He had already, in his rage, thrown his javelin at him, intending to have pierced him to the wall with it. As from the power of the lion no beast in the forest could deliver…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 2Lest he - Lest “Cush” should do this. See the title, and the introduction to the psalm, Section 2. Tear my soul like a lion - Tear or rend my “life” - that is, “me” - like a lion. The word rendered “soul” here - נפשׁ nephesh - refers, as it properly does elsewhere, to the “life,” and not to the soul, as we use the term, denoting the thinking, immortal part. The simple idea is, that David was apprehensive of his “life,” and, in order to indicate his great…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 2Like a lion, a wicked enemy relentlessly and violently pursues its prey (Psalms 10:9; 17:12; 22:13, 21; 35:17; 57:4), but God promises victory (91:13).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1-171-2. Though many enemies set upon him, one is singled out as prominent, and compared to a wild beast tearing his prey to pieces (compare 1Sa 20:1; 23:23; 26:19).Read the comment
Topics related to Psalms 7:2
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Psalms 7
- 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
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
New Living Translation — © 1996, 2004, 2015 Tyndale House Foundation
Commentaries