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Monday, July 21st, 2025
the Week of Proper 11 / Ordinary 16
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Bible in Basic English

Psalms 37:14

The evil-doers have taken out their swords, their bows are bent; for crushing the poor, and to put to death those who are upright in their ways.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Poor;   Wicked (People);   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Sword, the;   Uprightness;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Letters;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Humility;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Conversation;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Acrostic;   Conversation;   English Versions;   Estate;   Ethics;   Greek Versions of Ot;   Psalms;   Sin;   Wealth;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Arms;   Bow;   Conversation;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Lamentations of jeremiah;   Psalms the book of;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Bent;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Conversation;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Optimism and Pessimism;  

Devotionals:

- Every Day Light - Devotion for January 20;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
The wicked have drawn the sword and strung the bowto bring down the poor and needyand to slaughter those whose way is upright.
Hebrew Names Version
The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, To cast down the poor and needy, To kill those who are upright in the way.
King James Version
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.
English Standard Version
The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose way is upright;
New Century Version
The wicked draw their swords and bend their bows to kill the poor and helpless, to kill those who are honest.
New English Translation
Evil men draw their swords and prepare their bows, to bring down the oppressed and needy, and to slaughter those who are godly.
Amplified Bible
The wicked have drawn the sword and bent their bow To cast down the afflicted and the needy, To slaughter those who are upright in conduct [those with personal integrity and godly character].
New American Standard Bible
The wicked have drawn the sword and bent their bow To take down the afflicted and the needy, To kill off those who are upright in conduct.
World English Bible
The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, To cast down the poor and needy, To kill those who are upright in the way.
Geneva Bible (1587)
The wicked haue drawen their sworde, and haue bent their bowe, to cast downe the poore and needie, and to slay such as be of vpright conuersation.
Legacy Standard Bible
The wicked have drawn the sword and bent their bowTo cast down the afflicted and the needy,To slay those who are upright in conduct.
Berean Standard Bible
The wicked have drawn the sword and bent the bow to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose ways are upright.
Contemporary English Version
The wicked kill with swords and shoot arrows to murder the poor and the needy and all who do right.
Complete Jewish Bible
The wicked have unsheathed their swords, they have strung their bows to bring down the poor and needy, to slaughter those whose way is upright.
Darby Translation
The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast down the afflicted and needy, to slay those that are upright in [the] way:
Easy-to-Read Version
The wicked draw their swords to kill the poor and the helpless. They aim their arrows to murder all who live right.
George Lamsa Translation
The wicked have drawn out the sword and have bent their bow, to slay the poor and needy, and those who are upright in their way.
Good News Translation
The wicked draw their swords and bend their bows to kill the poor and needy, to slaughter those who do what is right;
Lexham English Bible
The wicked have drawn the sword and have bent their bow to throw down the poor and the needy, to kill those upright in their way.
Literal Translation
The wicked have drawn out the sword and they have trodden their bow, to cause the poor and needy to fall, to kill those who walk uprightly.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
The vngodly drawe out the swerde & bende their bowe, to cast downe ye symple & poore, and to slaye soch as go ye right waye.
American Standard Version
The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, To cast down the poor and needy, To slay such as are upright in the way.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow;
King James Version (1611)
The wicked haue drawen out the sword, and haue bent their bow to cast downe the poore and needy, and to slay such as be of vpright conuersation.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
The vngodly haue drawen out the sworde, and haue bended their bowe: to cast downe the poore and needie, and to slay such as be of right conuersation.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Sinners have drawn their swords, they have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy one, and to slay the upright in heart.
English Revised Version
The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow; to cast down the poor and needy, to slay such as be upright in the way:
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Synners drowen out swerd; thei benten her bouwe. To disseyue a pore man and nedi; to strangle riytful men of herte.
Update Bible Version
The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, To cast down the poor and needy, To slay such as are upright in the way.
Webster's Bible Translation
The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, [and] to slay such as are of upright deportment.
New King James Version
The wicked have drawn the sword And have bent their bow, To cast down the poor and needy, To slay those who are of upright conduct.
New Living Translation
The wicked draw their swords and string their bows to kill the poor and the oppressed, to slaughter those who do right.
New Life Bible
The sinful have taken up their sword and their bow, to bring down the poor and those in need, and to kill those whose ways are right.
New Revised Standard
The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows to bring down the poor and needy, to kill those who walk uprightly;
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
A sword, have the lawless, drawn out, and have trodden their bow, - To bring down the oppressed and the needy, To slaughter the upright in life:
Douay-Rheims Bible
(36-14) The wicked have drawn out the sword: they have bent their bow. To cast down the poor and needy, to kill the upright of heart.
Revised Standard Version
The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows, to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those who walk uprightly;
Young's Literal Translation
A sword have the wicked opened, And they have trodden their bow, To cause to fall the poor and needy, To slaughter the upright of the way.
THE MESSAGE
Bullies brandish their swords, pull back on their bows with a flourish. They're out to beat up on the harmless, or mug that nice man out walking his dog. A banana peel lands them flat on their faces— slapstick figures in a moral circus.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
The wicked have drawn the sword and bent their bow To cast down the afflicted and the needy, To slay those who are upright in conduct.

Contextual Overview

7 Take your rest in the Lord, waiting quietly for him; do not be angry because of the man who does well in his evil ways, and gives effect to his bad designs. 8 Put an end to your wrath and be no longer bitter; do not give way to angry feeling which is a cause of sin. 9 For the evil-doers will be cut off: but those who have faith in the Lord will have the earth for their heritage. 10 For in a short time the evil-doer will be gone: you will go searching for his place, and it will not be there. 11 But the gentle will have the earth for their heritage; they will take their delight in peace without measure. 12 The sinner has evil designs against the upright, lifting up the voice of wrath against him. 13 He will be laughed at by the Lord, who sees that his day is coming. 14 The evil-doers have taken out their swords, their bows are bent; for crushing the poor, and to put to death those who are upright in their ways. 15 But their swords will be turned into their hearts, and their bows will be broken. 16 The little which the good man has is better than the wealth of evil-doers.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

wicked: Psalms 64:2-6, Acts 12:2, Acts 12:3, Acts 12:11, Acts 12:23

slay: 1 Samuel 24:11, 1 Samuel 24:17, Proverbs 29:10, Proverbs 29:27, Habakkuk 1:13, Matthew 23:30-34, Acts 7:52, 1 John 3:12

such as: etc. Heb. the upright of way

Reciprocal: Genesis 39:17 - General Genesis 49:24 - were made Esther 5:14 - he caused Esther 8:11 - to destroy Esther 8:13 - avenge themselves Psalms 10:9 - when Psalms 11:2 - lo Psalms 141:10 - the wicked Isaiah 8:9 - and ye Mark 6:24 - The head Luke 4:29 - that 1 Peter 2:12 - your conversation 2 Peter 3:11 - in all

Cross-References

Genesis 13:18
And Abram, moving his tent, came and made his living-place by the holy tree of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and made an altar there to the Lord.
Genesis 23:2
And Sarah's death took place in Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron, in the land of Canaan: and Abraham went into his house, weeping and sorrowing for Sarah.
Genesis 29:6
And he said to them, Is he well? And they said, He is well, and here is Rachel his daughter coming with the sheep.
Genesis 35:27
And Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, at Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac had been living.
Genesis 37:17
And the man said, They have gone away from here, for they said in my hearing, Let us go to Dothan. So Joseph went after them and came up with them at Dothan.
Genesis 37:18
But they saw him when he was a long way off, and before he came near them they made a secret design against him to put him to death;
Genesis 41:16
Then Joseph said, Without God there will be no answer of peace for Pharaoh.
Numbers 13:22
They went up into the South and came to Hebron; and Ahiman and Sheshai and Talmai, the children of Anak, were living there. (Now the building of Hebron took place seven years before that of Zoan in Egypt.)
Joshua 14:13
And Joshua gave him his blessing; and he gave Hebron to Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, for his heritage.
Joshua 14:15
In earlier times the name of Hebron had been Kiriath-arba, named after Arba, the greatest of the Anakim. And the land had rest from war.

Gill's Notes on the 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 חרב פתחו "aperuerunt gladium", Gejerus.

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.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 37:14. The wicked have drawn out the sword — There is an irreconcilable enmity in the souls of sinners against the godly; and there is much evidence that the idolatrous Babylonians whetted their tongue like a sword, and shot out their arrows, even bitter words, to malign the poor captives, and to insult them in every possible way.


 
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