Bible Strands
Psalms 11:2
For behold, the wicked bend their bows. They set their arrow on the string to shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — David addresses a counselor who just urged him to flee like a bird to the mountains, responding to that advice by describing the immediate threat of the wicked. He speaks to the person who recommended escape rather than trusting in the LORD's protection.
The words — The Hebrew verb יִדְרְכ֤וּן (yidrekhun) literally means "they bend," describing the physical action of drawing a bowstring, while הִנֵּ֥ה (hinneh) functions as a demonstrative marker meaning "behold" or "look."
The thread — The image of the wicked preparing weapons to strike the vulnerable appears in Psalms 37:14 and Psalms 64:3, though the latter describes sharpening tongues like swords and aiming words like arrows rather than drawing bows.
Why it lands — The text demands a reader acknowledge that danger is actively targeted at the upright before considering flight, grounding the response in the reality of the threat rather than panic.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
For, lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart.
Cross-references
- Psalms 21:12 For You will put them to flight when Your bow is trained upon them.
- Psalms 37:14 The wicked have drawn the sword and bent the bow to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose ways are upright.
- Psalms 64:3 who sharpen their tongues like swords and aim their bitter words like arrows,
- Jeremiah 9:3 “They bend their tongues like bows; lies prevail over truth in the land. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not take Me into account,” declares the LORD.
- 1 Samuel 18:21 “I will give her to David,” Saul thought, “so that she may be a snare to him, and the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” So Saul said to David, “For a second time now you can be my son-in-law.”
- 1 Samuel 23:9 When David learned that Saul was plotting evil against him, he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod.”
- Psalms 7:10 My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart.
- Psalms 7:12 If one does not repent, God will sharpen His sword; He has bent and strung His bow.
- Psalms 10:2 In pride the wicked pursue the needy; let them be caught in the schemes they devise.
- Psalms 10:8 He lies in wait near the villages; in ambush he slays the innocent; his eyes watch in stealth for the helpless.