Bible Strands
Psalms 78:64
His priests fell by the sword, but their widows could not lament.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist recounts Israel’s past judgment to a community hearing the history of their ancestors’ rebellion. The verse describes the moment of national collapse when divine wrath results in the death of religious leaders and the silencing of mourning.
The words — The Hebrew כֹּ֭הֲנָי/ו (kōhănāw) means “his priests,” and אַלְמְנֹתָ֗י/ו (’almənōtāw) means “his widows.” The verb תִבְכֶּֽינָה (tibkēnāh) literally denotes “they will weep,” negated by לֹ֣א (lō’) to show suppressed grief.
The thread — This pattern of slaughtered leaders and silenced widows echoes the Philistine slaughter and captured ark in 1 Samuel 4:11 and 1 Samuel 4:17. It also parallels the plague-stricken survivors and unwept widows described in Job 27:15.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that covenant rebellion invites total societal collapse, including the loss of religious authority and the breakdown of communal mourning. It asks the reader to face the concrete reality of divine judgment without softening its finality.
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
Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation.
Cross-references
- 1 Samuel 4:17 The messenger answered, “Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has been a great slaughter among the people. Your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are both dead, and the ark of God has been captured.”
- Job 27:15 His survivors will be buried by the plague, and their widows will not weep for them.
- 1 Samuel 4:11 The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died.
- 1 Samuel 22:18 So the king ordered Doeg, “You turn and strike down the priests!” And Doeg the Edomite turned and struck down the priests himself. On that day he killed eighty-five men who wore the linen ephod.
- Ezekiel 24:23 Your turbans will remain on your heads and your sandals on your feet. You will not mourn or weep, but you will waste away because of your sins, and you will groan among yourselves.
- 1 Samuel 2:33 And every one of you that I do not cut off from My altar, I will cause your eyes to fail and your heart to grieve. All your descendants will die by the sword of men.
- 1 Samuel 4:19 Now Eli’s daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and about to give birth. When she heard the news of the capture of God’s ark and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband, she collapsed and gave birth, for her labor pains overtook her.