Bible Strands
Psalms 81:14
how soon I would subdue their enemies and turn My hand against their foes!
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God addresses Israel, speaking conditionally on their willingness to listen to Him and follow His ways as established in the preceding verse.
The words — אַכְנִיעַ ('akh.Ni.a') translates literally as "I will subdue," and אָשִׁ֥יב ('a.Shiv) means "I will turn."
The thread — The specific phrase "turn My hand against" appears in Amos 1:8 to describe divine judgment on hostile nations, while the broader pattern of transgression provoking God's anger is documented in Judges 2:20.
Why it lands — The text demands a clear recognition that military deliverance and national security depend entirely on covenant obedience rather than ancestral privilege.
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
I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries.
Cross-references
- Judges 2:20 So the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He said, “Because this nation has transgressed the covenant I laid down for their fathers and has not heeded My voice,
- Amos 1:8 I will cut off the ruler of Ashdod and the one who wields the scepter in Ashkelon. I will turn My hand against Ekron, and the remnant of the Philistines will perish,” says the Lord GOD.
- Joshua 23:13 know for sure that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations before you. Instead, they will become for you a snare and a trap, a scourge in your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land that the LORD your God has given you.
- Numbers 14:9 Only do not rebel against the LORD, and do not be afraid of the people of the land, for they will be like bread for us. Their protection has been removed, and the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them!”
- Numbers 14:45 Then the Amalekites and Canaanites who lived in that part of the hill country came down, attacked them, and routed them all the way to Hormah.
- Psalms 47:3 He subdues nations beneath us, and peoples under our feet.
- Zechariah 13:7 Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, against the man who is My Companion, declares the LORD of Hosts. Strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn My hand against the little ones.