Bible Strands
Psalms 89:43
You have bent the edge of his sword and have not sustained him in battle.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses God concerning the present humiliation of David’s line, noting that divine withdrawal has emboldened the king’s opponents. This declaration immediately follows the statement that God has exalted the right hand of his foes and made all his enemies rejoice.
The words — The Hebrew תָּשִׁיב (ta.shiv) means "you turn back," and צוּר חַרְבּוֹ (tzur char.B/o) literally renders "the flint of his sword."
The thread — This pattern of divine abandonment in warfare runs through Numbers 14:42, where God declares He is not among the people, and Leviticus 26:36, where survivors face faintness in enemy lands. The same principle appears in 2 Chronicles 25:8, which warns that human bravery fails without God’s sustaining power.
Why it lands — The text states that God actively disables the king’s weapon and refuses to uphold him in combat. It requires the reader to accept that political survival and military success depend entirely on divine permission rather than human readiness.
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
Thou hast also turned the edge of his sword, and hast not made him to stand in the battle.
Cross-references
- 2 Chronicles 25:8 Even if you go and fight bravely in battle, God will overthrow you before the enemy, for God has power to help and power to overthrow.”
- Leviticus 26:36 As for those of you who survive, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies, so that even the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. And they will flee as one flees the sword, and fall when no one pursues them.
- Numbers 14:42 Do not go up, lest you be struck down by your enemies, because the LORD is not among you.
- 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.
- Joshua 7:4 So about three thousand men went up, but they fled before the men of Ai.
- Joshua 7:8 O Lord, what can I say, now that Israel has turned its back and run from its enemies?
- Ezekiel 30:21 “Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt. See, it has not been bound up for healing, or splinted for strength to hold the sword.
- Psalms 44:10 You have made us retreat from the foe, and those who hate us have plundered us.