Bible Strands
Psalms 7:2
or they will shred my soul like a lion and tear me to pieces with no one to rescue me.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — David addresses the LORD in a Shiggaion concerning Cush the Benjamite, pleading for rescue from pursuers. He voices this at the moment of imminent threat, fearing violent destruction before divine intervention arrives.
The words — The Hebrew פֶּן (pen) introduces a fearful condition meaning "lest," while יִטְרֹף (yitrof) describes the pursuer's action as "tearing to pieces." These terms establish the verse's literal warning of unmitigated violence.
The thread — The phrase "tear to pieces with no one to rescue" appears in Psalms 50:22 as a warning to those who forget God, and echoes Isaiah 38:13 where the speaker compares his bones being broken to a lion's attack. The contrast of divine rescue is noted in 2 Timothy 4:17, where the Lord stands by the speaker.
Why it lands — The text states that pursuers will destroy the speaker's life without human intervention. It requires the reader to acknowledge that deliverance depends solely on the LORD's presence rather than any other source.
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
Lest he tear my soul like a lion, rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver.
Cross-references
- Psalms 50:22 Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you to pieces, with no one to rescue you:
- Isaiah 38:13 I composed myself until the morning. Like a lion He breaks all my bones; from day until night You make an end of me.
- 2 Timothy 4:17 But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message would be fully proclaimed, and all the Gentiles would hear it. So I was delivered from the mouth of the lion.
- 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober-minded and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
- Deuteronomy 33:20 Concerning Gad he said: “Blessed is he who enlarges the domain of Gad! He lies down like a lion and tears off an arm or a head.
- Psalms 35:15 But when I stumbled, they assembled in glee; they gathered together against me. Assailants I did not know slandered me without ceasing.
- Judges 18:28 There was no one to deliver them, because the city was far from Sidon and had no alliance with anyone; it was in a valley near Beth-rehob. And the Danites rebuilt the city and lived there.
- 2 Samuel 14:6 And your maidservant had two sons who were fighting in the field with no one to separate them, and one struck the other and killed him.
- Job 10:7 though You know that I am not guilty, and there is no deliverance from Your hand?
- Psalms 10:9 He lies in wait like a lion in a thicket; he lurks to seize the oppressed; he catches the lowly in his net.