Bible Strands
Psalms 18:45
Foreigners lose heart and come trembling from their strongholds.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The speaker, addressing surrounding nations and enemies, declares the collapse of hostile resistance immediately after noting their obedience and cowering. This statement occurs within a sequence praising God’s sovereignty over opposing powers. The words — נֵכָ֥ר (ne.Khar) denotes foreignness or foreigners, while יִבֹּ֑לוּ (yi.Bo.lu) literally means they wither or lose heart, describing the psychological and physical collapse of opposing groups. The thread — This motif of enemies withering and trembling from fortified positions recurs in Micah 7:17, Isaiah 24:4, and James 1:11, where external threats or worldly structures similarly fail under divine or natural judgment. Why it lands — It requires the reader to acknowledge that human strongholds and foreign opposition cannot withstand the authority of the God who delivers, demanding sober recognition of divine supremacy over earthly power.
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
The strangers shall fade away, and be afraid out of their close places.
Cross-references
- Micah 7:17 They will lick the dust like a snake, like reptiles slithering on the ground. They will come trembling from their strongholds in the presence of the LORD our God; they will tremble in fear of You.
- Isaiah 24:4 The earth mourns and withers; the world languishes and fades; the exalted of the earth waste away.
- James 1:11 For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its flower falls and its beauty is lost. So too, the rich man will fade away in the midst of his pursuits.
- Revelation 6:16 And they said to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the One seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.