Psalm 7:12

If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(12) If he turn not.—The Hebrew is doubly idiomatic. Translate surely (see Hebrews 3:11, with Note in New Testament Commentary), He will again whet His sword. It is true that the verb to turn in the sense of repetition usually precedes the other verb immediately, without, as here, any other words intervening.

Bent.—Literally, trodden, showing that the foot was used by the Israelites to bend the bow, as by archers now. (Smith’s Bible Dictionary, “Arms.”)

Benson Commentary

Psalm 7:12-13. If he — The wicked man last mentioned; turn not — From his wicked course; he — God; will whet his sword — Will prepare, and hasten, and speedily execute his judgments upon him. He hath bent his bow — Did I say, He will do it? nay, he hath already done it; his sword is drawn, his bow is bent, and the arrows are prepared and ready to be shot. The wrath of God may be slow, but it is always sure, and the sinner who is not converted by the vengeance inflicted on others, will himself, at length, be made an example of vengeance to others. He hath prepared for him — For the wicked; the instruments of death — That is, deadly weapons. He ordaineth — Designs or fits for this very use; his arrows against the persecutors — Of all sinners, persecutors are set up as the fairest marks of divine wrath. They set God at defiance, but cannot set themselves out of the reach of his judgments.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

7:10-17 David is confident that he shall find God his powerful Saviour. The destruction of sinners may be prevented by their conversion; for it is threatened, If he turn not from his evil way, let him expect it will be his ruin. But amidst the threatenings of wrath, we have a gracious offer of mercy. God gives sinners warning of their danger, and space to repent, and prevent it. He is slow to punish, and long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish. The sinner is described, ver. 14-16, as taking more pains to ruin his soul than, if directed aright, would save it. This is true, in a sense, of all sinners. Let us look to the Saviour under all our trials. Blessed Lord, give us grace to look to thee in the path of tribulation, going before thy church and people, and marking the way by thine own spotless example. Under all the persecutions which in our lesser trials mark our way, let the looking to Jesus animate our minds and comfort our hearts.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

If he turn not - If the wicked person does not repent. in the previous verse the psalmist had said that God is angry with the wicked every day; he here states what must be the consequence to the wicked if they persevere in the course which they are pursuing; that is, if they do not repent. God, he says, cannot be indifferent to the course which they pursue, but he is preparing for them the instruments of punishment, and he will certainly bring destruction upon them. It is implied here that if they would repent and turn they would avoid this, and would be saved: a doctrine which is everywhere stated in the Scriptures.

He will whet his sword - He will sharpen his sword preparatory to inflicting punishment. That is, God will do this. Some, however, have supposed that this refers to the wicked person - the enemy of David - meaning that if he did not turn; if he was not arrested; if he was suffered to go on as he intended, he would whet his sword, and bend his bow, etc.; that is, that he would go on to execute his purposes against the righteous. See Rosenmuller in loc. But the most natural construction is to refer it to God, as meaning that if the sinner did not repent, He would inflict on him deserved punishment. The "sword" is an instrument of punishment (compare Romans 13:4); and to "whet" or sharpen it, is merely a phrase denoting that he would prepare to execute punishment. See Deuteronomy 32:41.

He hath bent his bow - The bow, like the sword, was used in battle as a means of destroying an enemy. It is used here of God, who is represented as going forth to destroy or punish his foes. The language is derived from the customs of war. Compare Exodus 15:3; Isaiah 63:1-4. The Hebrew here is," his bow he has trodden," alluding to the ancient mode of bending the large and heavy bows used in war, by treading on them in order to bend them.

And made it ready - Made it ready to shoot the arrow. That is, He is ready to execute punishment on the wicked; or, all the preparations are made for it.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

12, 13. They are here distinctly pointed out, though by changing the person, a very common mode of speech, one is selected as a representative of wicked men generally. The military figures are of obvious meaning.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

If he, i.e. the wicked man last mentioned, either Cush or Saul, turn not from this wicked course of calumnating or persecuting me, he, i.e. God, who is often designed by this pronoun, being easily to be understood from the nature of the thing,

will whet his sword, i.e. will prepare, and hasten, and speedily execute his judgments upon him. Did I say, he will do it? nay,

he hath already done it; his sword is drawn, his bow is bent, and the arrows are prepared and ready to be shot.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

If he turn not,.... Not God, but the enemy, or the wicked man, spoken of Psalm 7:5; if he turn not from his wicked course of life, to the Lord to live to him, and according to his will; unless he is converted and repents of his sin, and there is a change wrought in him, in his heart and life; the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions read, "if ye turn not", or "are not converted", an apostrophe to the wicked;

he will whet his sword: God is a man of war, and he is sometimes represented as accoutred with military weapons; see Isaiah 59:17; and among the rest with the sword of judgment, which he may be said to whet, when he prepares sharp and sore judgments for his enemies, Isaiah 27:1;

he hath bent his bow, and made it ready; drawn his bow of vengeance, and put it on the full stretch, and made it ready with the arrows of his wrath, levelled against the wicked, with whom he is angry; which is expressive of their speedy and inevitable ruin, in case of impenitence; see Lamentations 2:4; or "trod his bow", as is the usual phrase elsewhere; see Psalm 11:2; which was done by the feet, and was necessary when the bow was a strong one, as Jarchi on Psalm 11:2; observes; and so the Arabs, as Suidas (g) relates, using arrows the length of a man, put their feet on the string of the bow instead of their hands.

(g) In voce

Geneva Study Bible

If {k} he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready.

(k) Unless Saul changes his mind, I will die, for he has both the men and weapons to destroy me. Thus considering his great danger, he magnifies God's grace.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

12. If a man turn not from his evil way and repent, God ‘will whet his sword:’ nay, He has already strung His bow and made it ready to discharge the arrow of punishment. God is described under the figure of a warrior, armed with sword and bow to execute vengeance on the wicked. Cp. Deuteronomy 32:41-42. The tenses of the first clause represent the judgement as in process of preparation from time to time; those of the second clause as ready to be launched against the offender at any moment. The wicked aim their arrows at the upright in heart (Psalm 11:2), but ‘the saviour of the upright in heart’ aims His arrows at them and frustrates their plots.

R.V. marg. Surely he will again whet his sword is a possible but less satisfactory rendering. Psalm 7:12-13 may then be referred either to God, or to the enemy intending to renew his attack.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 12. - If he turn not, he (i.e. God) will whet his sword (comp. Deuteronomy 32:41; Isaiah 27:1; Isaiah 34:5). "Every new transgression," says Bishop Horne, "sets a fresh edge to God's sword" He hath bent his bow, and made it ready; rather, he hath bent his bow, and fixed it; i.e. held it in the position for taking aim. Psalm 7:12

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

(Heb.: 7:12-14) If God will in the end let His wrath break forth, He will not do it without having previously given threatenings thereof every day, viz., to the ungodly, cf. Isaiah 66:14; Malachi 1:4. He makes these feel His זעם beforehand in order to strike a wholesome terror into them. The subject of the conditional clause אם־לא ישׁוּב is any ungodly person whatever; and the subject of the principal clause, as its continuation in Psalm 7:14 shows, is God. If a man (any one) does not repent, then Jahve will whet His sword (cf. Deuteronomy 32:41). This sense of the words accords with the connection; whereas with the rendering: "forsooth He (Elohim) will again whet His sword" (Bttch., Ew., Hupf.) ישׁוּב, which would moreover stand close by ילטושׁ (cf. e.g., Genesis 30:31), is meaningless; and the אם־לא of asseveration is devoid of purpose. Judgment is being gradually prepared, as the fut. implies; but, as the perff. imply, it is also on the other hand like a bow that is already strung against the sinner with the arrow pointed towards him, so that it can be executed at any moment. כּונן of the making ready, and הכין of the aiming, are used alternately. לו, referring to the sinner, stands first by way of emphasis as in Genesis 49:10; 1 Samuel 2:3, and is equivalent to אליו, Ezekiel 4:3. "Burning" arrows are fire-arrows (זקּים, זיקות, malleoli); and God's fire-arrows are the lightnings sent forth by Him, Psalm 18:15; Zechariah 9:14. The fut. יפעל denotes the simultaneous charging of the arrows aimed at the sinner, with the fire of His wrath. The case illustrated by Cush is generalised: by the sword and arrows the manifold energy of the divine anger is symbolised, and it is only the divine forbearance that prevents it from immediately breaking forth. The conception is not coarsely material, but the vividness of the idea of itself suggests the form of its embodiment.