Bible Strands
Psalms 7:13
He has prepared His deadly weapons; He ordains His arrows with fire.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses the community regarding God’s response to unrepentant wickedness, positioned between a warning of a sharpened sword in verse 12 and a description of the wicked conceiving evil in verse 14. The words — כְּלֵי מָוֶת (ke.lei-Ma.vet) translates literally as weapons of death, while דֹלְקִים (do.le.Kim) means burning [things], describing the lethal nature of the prepared arrows. The thread — This imagery of divine weaponry recurs in Psalms 18:14 where God shoots arrows and hurls lightning, Habakkuk 3:13 where He crushes the head of the wicked, and 2 Thessalonians 1:6 which grounds the action in God’s right to repay affliction. Why it lands — The text declares God actively readies lethal force against the unrepentant, requiring the reader to acknowledge the certainty of divine judgment and the necessity of repentance before verse 14 details the wicked’s own destructive path.
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
He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death; he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors.
Cross-references
- 2 Thessalonians 1:6 After all, it is only right for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you,
- Habakkuk 3:13 You went forth for the salvation of Your people, to save Your anointed. You crushed the head of the house of the wicked and stripped him from head to toe. Selah
- Psalms 18:14 He shot His arrows and scattered the foes; He hurled lightning and routed them.
- Psalms 45:5 Your arrows pierce the hearts of the king’s foes; the nations fall beneath your feet.
- Psalms 64:7 But God will shoot them with arrows; suddenly they will be wounded.
- 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.
- Revelation 6:10 And they cried out in a loud voice, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge those who dwell upon the earth and avenge our blood?”
- Revelation 16:6 For they have spilled the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink, as they deserve.”
- 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.”