Psalm 37:14

The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, and to slay such as be of upright conversation.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Psalm 37:14-15. The wicked have drawn out the sword, &c. — They are furnished with all sorts of arms, and are ready to give the deadly blow. To slay such as be of upright conversation — Those against whom they have no quarrel, for any injury they have done them; but only for their integrity and righteousness, or because they are better than themselves, and will not comply with their wicked counsels and courses. Their sword shall enter into their own heart — God will not only defend the upright from their mischievous designs, but will make those designs to fall upon their own heads. “I cannot but think,” says a writer quoted here by Dr. Dodd, “that David understood by these weapons, with which he has furnished the ungodly, their bitter and malicious invectives, their false and foul reproaches, &c. These were the arms, in the use of which, as he frequently complains, they were admirably well skilled.” Thus, (Psalm 57:4,) speaking of wicked men, he says, Whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword. And if so, then Psalm 37:15 “will mean that their intention will be frustrated; they shall not do the mischief they intended; their bows shall be broken — And their invectives and calumnies shall recoil and do themselves hurt; their sharp sword, their false and malicious tongues, shall pierce through their own soul. And that this was the psalmist’s meaning, who can doubt, after reading Psalm 64:3, where the wicked doers are said to have whet their tongue like a sword, and to shoot out their arrows, even bitter words.”

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

37:7-20 Let us be satisfied that God will make all to work for good to us. Let us not discompose ourselves at what we see in this world. A fretful, discontented spirit is open to many temptations. For, in all respects, the little which is allotted to the righteous, is more comfortable and more profitable than the ill-gotten and abused riches of ungodly men. It comes from a hand of special love. God provides plentifully and well, not only for his working servants, but for his waiting servants. They have that which is better than wealth, peace of mind, peace with God, and then peace in God; that peace which the world cannot give, and which the world cannot have. God knows the believer's days. Not one day's work shall go unrewarded. Their time on earth is reckoned by days, which will soon be numbered; but heavenly happiness shall be for ever. This will be a real support to believers in evil times. Those that rest on the Rock of ages, have no reason to envy the wicked the support of their broken reeds.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The wicked have drawn out the sword - That is, they have prepared themselves with a full purpose to destroy the righteous.

And have bent their bow - literally, "have trodden the bow," in allusion to the method by which the bow was bent: to wit, by placing the foot on it, and drawing the string back.

To cast down the poor and needy - To cause them to fall.

And to slay such as be of upright conversation - Margin, as in Hebrew: "the upright of way." That is, those who are upright in their manner of life, or in their conduct.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

14, 15. sword, and … bow—for any instruments of violence.

slay—literally, "slaughter" (1Sa 25:11).

poor and needy—God's people (Ps 10:17; 12:5). The punishment of the wicked as drawn on themselves—often mentioned (compare Ps 7:15, 16; 35:8).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

They are furnished with all sorts of arms, and are ready to give the deadly blow.

Such as be of upright conversation; such against whom they have no quarrel for any injury they have done them, but only for their integrity and righteousness, or because they are better than themselves, and will not comply with their wicked counsels and courses.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

The wicked have drawn out the sword,.... That is, out of the scabbard; they drew upon the righteous, in order to sheath it in them; or they sharpened the sword, as Aben Ezra observes some interpret the word; it may be literally rendered, "opened the sword" (q), which before lay hid in the scabbard:

and have bent their bow; having put the arrow in it, in order to shoot. The former expression may design the more open, and this the more secret way of acting against the righteous; and their view in both is

to cast down the poor and needy, who are so, both in a temporal and spiritual sense; to cause such to fall either into sin, or into some calamity or another:

and to slay such as be of upright conversation; who walk according to the rule of the word of God, and as becomes the Gospel of Christ: nothing less than the blood and life of these men will satisfy the wicked; and it is an aggravation of their wickedness that they should attempt to hurt men of such character who are poor and needy, holy, harmless, inoffensive, and upright; and this points at the reason why they hate them, and seek their ruin, because of the holiness and uprightness of their lives; see John 15:19.

(q) "aperuerunt gladium", Gejerus.

Geneva Study Bible

The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, and to slay such as be of upright conversation.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

14. Sword and bow are not merely figurative expressions for any means of inflicting injury. The Psalm deals with a state of society in which the poor and defenceless were in constant danger of actual violence (Psalm 37:32). Cp. Proverbs 1:10 ff.

the poor and needy] Or, the afflicted and needy. See notes on Psalm 9:12; Psalm 9:18 : and cp. Amos 8:4; Isaiah 32:7; Jeremiah 22:16.

such as be of upright conversation] Lit. the upright of way: those whose life and conduct are upright. Cp. Psalm 119:1. The LXX however reads upright in heart (Psalm 36:10, and often).

conversation, as in Psalm 50:23, has the obsolete sense of manner of life, behaviour.

14, 15. Stanza of Cheth. The machinations of the wicked recoil upon themselves. Cp. Psalm 7:15 ff.; Psalm 9:15 ff.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 14. - The wicked have drawn out the sword, and bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy. David is perhaps thinking especially of his own persecutors, Saul and Absalom, who pursued after him with armed men, and sought his life (1 Samuel 23:8, 14, 26; 1 Samuel 24:2; 1 Samuel 26:2; 2 Samuel 17:24-26; 2 Samuel 18:6-8). But he may also have in his mind the raids that powerful chiefs made upon their weak and peaceful neighbours (Job 24:5-12). And to slay such as be of a right conversation; or, such as are upright in way; i.e. such as lead a righteous Psalm 37:14

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

That which corresponds to the "treading" or stringing of the bow is the drawing from the sheath or unsheathing of the sword: פּתח, Ezekiel 21:28, cf. Psalm 55:22. The combination ישׁרי־דּרך is just like תמימי־דוך, Psalm 119:1. The emphasis in Psalm 37:14 is upon the suffix of בלבּם: they shall perish by their own weapon. קשּׁתותם has (in Baer) a Shebג dirimens, as also in Isaiah 5:28 in correct texts.