Bible Strands
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.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses the faithful community, contrasting the violent preparations of the wicked with the Lord’s sovereign observation that their judgment is imminent.
The words — רְשָׁעִים (re.sha.'Im) = wicked [people] and עָנִי ('a.Ni) = [the] poor. The text explicitly states these groups are the direct objects of the wicked’s armed aggression.
The thread — The image of the wicked bending bows to attack the upright appears in Psalms 11:2, while the reversal of their weapons against themselves is recorded in Psalms 37:15. Proverbs 29:10 and 29:27 further track this pattern of bloodshed targeting the blameless.
Why it lands — The text states that violent oppression against the vulnerable is actively recorded and will be turned back on the perpetrators. It requires readers to acknowledge divine justice as the factual outcome of human cruelty rather than a sentimental hope.
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 wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, and to slay such as be of upright conversation.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 29:27 An unjust man is detestable to the righteous, and one whose way is upright is detestable to the wicked.
- 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.
- Proverbs 29:10 Men of bloodshed hate a blameless man, but the upright care for his life.
- 1 John 3:12 Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did Cain slay him? Because his own deeds were evil, while those of his brother were righteous.
- 1 Samuel 24:11 See, my father, look at the corner of your robe in my hand. For I cut it off, but I did not kill you. Know and see that there is no evil or rebellion in my hands. I have not sinned against you, even though you are hunting me down to take my life.
- 1 Samuel 24:17 and said to David, “You are more righteous than I, for you have rewarded me with good, though I have rewarded you with evil.
- Psalms 35:10 All my bones will exclaim, “Who is like You, O LORD, who delivers the afflicted from the aggressor, the poor and needy from the robber?”
- Psalms 64:2 Hide me from the scheming of the wicked, from the mob of workers of iniquity,
- Acts 7:52 Which of the prophets did your fathers fail to persecute? They even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One. And now you are His betrayers and murderers—
- Acts 12:11 Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent His angel and rescued me from Herod’s grasp and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating.”