Bible Strands
Psalms 33:16
No king is saved by his vast army; no warrior is delivered by his great strength.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses the community, framing this declaration between a statement on God shaping human hearts and a warning about the futility of warhorses. The passage functions as a direct assertion within a corporate hymn.
The words — אֵין ('ein) translates literally as "not," and חָיִל (cha.yil) means "army" or "military force." The text pairs these terms to explicitly negate human military power as a means of rescue.
The thread — This motif appears in Psalms 44:3, which denies that the sword secured the land, Jeremiah 9:23, which prohibits boasting in strength, and Psalms 44:6, which rejects the bow and sword as instruments of salvation.
Why it lands — The verse demands the reader discard reliance on human might and acknowledge that deliverance rests entirely on divine action.
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
There is no king saved by the multitude of an host: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength.
Cross-references
- Psalms 44:3 For it was not by their sword that they took the land; their arm did not bring them victory. It was by Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your face, because You favored them.
- Jeremiah 9:23 This is what the LORD says: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, nor the strong man in his strength, nor the wealthy man in his riches.
- Psalms 44:6 For I do not trust in my bow, nor does my sword save me.
- Judges 7:2 Then the LORD said to Gideon, “You have too many men for Me to deliver Midian into their hands, lest Israel glorify themselves over Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’
- Exodus 14:28 The waters flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had chased the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived.
- 1 Samuel 14:8 “Very well,” said Jonathan, “we will cross over toward these men and show ourselves to them.
- 1 Samuel 17:45 But David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
- 2 Samuel 21:16 Then Ishbi-benob, a descendant of Rapha, whose bronze spear weighed three hundred shekels and who was bearing a new sword, resolved to kill David.
- 2 Chronicles 32:8 With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles.” So the people were strengthened by the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.
- Exodus 14:17 And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. Then I will gain honor by means of Pharaoh and all his army and chariots and horsemen.