Bible Strands
Psalms 18:14
He shot His arrows and scattered the foes; He hurled lightning and routed them.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The psalmist describes Yahweh’s active judgment immediately after cosmic disturbances (thunder, hail, fire) and before the earth’s foundations are exposed by His rebuke. The speaker recounts divine military action against enemies in the context of a delivered psalm.
The words — The text uses `וַ/יִּשְלַ֣ח` (va/yish.lach), meaning "and he sent out," to introduce the divine arrows, and `וּ/בְרָקִ֥ים` (u./ve.ra.kim), meaning "and lightning flashes," to describe the accompanying projectile. These terms frame the attack as a direct extension of Yahweh’s will.
The thread — This imagery recurs in Psalms 144:6, which commands God to flash lightning and scatter foes, and Habakkuk 3:11, which notes celestial stillness at the flash of flying arrows. The motif also appears in Numbers 24:8 regarding the piercing of hostile nations.
Why it lands — The verse demands recognition that divine intervention operates through concrete, violent action rather than abstract decree. It requires the reader to account for the physical mechanism of judgment described without softening its literal force.
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
Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them.
Cross-references
- Psalms 144:6 Flash forth Your lightning and scatter them; shoot Your arrows and rout them.
- Habakkuk 3:11 Sun and moon stood still in their places at the flash of Your flying arrows, at the brightness of Your shining spear.
- Numbers 24:8 God brought him out of Egypt with strength like a wild ox, to devour hostile nations and crush their bones, to pierce them with arrows.
- Deuteronomy 32:23 I will heap disasters upon them; I will spend My arrows against them.
- Deuteronomy 32:42 I will make My arrows drunk with blood, while My sword devours flesh—the blood of the slain and captives, the heads of the enemy leaders.”
- Joshua 10:10 And the LORD threw them into confusion before Israel, who defeated them in a great slaughter at Gibeon, pursued them along the ascent to Beth-horon, and struck them down as far as Azekah and Makkedah.
- Job 6:4 For the arrows of the Almighty have pierced me; my spirit drinks in their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.
- Psalms 77:17 The clouds poured down water; the skies resounded with thunder; Your arrows flashed back and forth.
- Isaiah 30:30 And the LORD will cause His majestic voice to be heard and His mighty arm to be revealed, striking in angry wrath with a flame of consuming fire, and with cloudburst, storm, and hailstones.
- Job 38:35 Can you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?