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Read the Bible

Contemporary English Version

1 Samuel 2:4

Our Lord , you break the bows of warriors, but you give strength to everyone who stumbles.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Barrenness;   Blessing;   Hannah;   Joy;   Poetry;   Praise;   Pride;   Psalms;   Samuel;   Satire;   Women;   Thompson Chain Reference - Hannah;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Bow, the;   Missionaries, All Christians Should Be as;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Hophni and Phinehas;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Hannah;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Providence of God;   Samuel, First and Second, Theology of;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Prayer;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Mary;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Prayer;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Magnificat;   Poetry;   Samuel, Books of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Hannah;   Joy;   Mary;   Priests and Levites;   Psalms;   Samuel, Books of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Hymn;   Mary, the Virgin;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Hannah ;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Hannah;   Hophni;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Eli;   Hannah;   Samuel first and second books of;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Han'nah;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Samuel the Prophet;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Hannah;   Intercession;   Poetry, Hebrew;   Prayer;   Samuel, Books of;   Woman;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Didascalia;   Hasmoneans;   Macedonia;   Prayer;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
The bows of the warriors are broken,but the feeble are clothed with strength.
Hebrew Names Version
The bows of the mighty men are broken; Those who stumbled are girded with strength.
King James Version
The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength.
Lexham English Bible
The bows of mighty warriors are shattered, but those who stumble gird themselves with strength.
English Standard Version
The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble bind on strength.
New Century Version
"The bows of warriors break, but weak people become strong.
New English Translation
The bows of warriors are shattered, but those who stumble find their strength reinforced.
Amplified Bible
"The bows of the mighty are broken, But those who have stumbled equip themselves with strength.
New American Standard Bible
"The bows of the mighty are broken to pieces, But those who have stumbled strap on strength.
Geneva Bible (1587)
The bow and the mightie men are broken, and the weake haue girded themselues wt strength.
Legacy Standard Bible
The bows of the mighty are shattered,But those who stumble gird on strength.
Complete Jewish Bible
The bows of the mighty are broken, while the feeble are armed with strength.
Darby Translation
The bow of the mighty is broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength.
Easy-to-Read Version
The bows of strong soldiers break, and weak people become strong.
George Lamsa Translation
The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that are weak are girded with strength.
Good News Translation
The bows of strong soldiers are broken, but the weak grow strong.
Literal Translation
Bows of the mighty are broken; and they that stumble gird on strength.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
The bowe of the mightie is broken, and the weake are gyrded aboute with strength.
American Standard Version
The bows of the mighty men are broken; And they that stumbled are girded with strength.
Bible in Basic English
The bows of the men of war are broken, and the feeble are clothed with strength.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
The bowe with the mightie men are broken, and they that were weake haue gyrde them selues with strength.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength.
King James Version (1611)
The vowes of the mightie men are broken, and they that stumbled are girt with strength.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
The bow of the mighty has waxed feeble, and the weak have girded themselves with strength.
English Revised Version
The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength.
Berean Standard Bible
The bows of the warriors are broken, but the feeble are equipped with strength.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
The bouwe of strong men is ouercomun, and sijk men ben gird with strengthe.
Young's Literal Translation
Bows of the mighty are broken, And the stumbling have girded on strength.
Update Bible Version
The bows of the mighty men are broken; And those that stumbled are girded with strength.
Webster's Bible Translation
The bows of the mighty men [are] broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength.
World English Bible
The bows of the mighty men are broken; Those who stumbled are girded with strength.
New King James Version
"The bows of the mighty men are broken, And those who stumbled are girded with strength.
New Living Translation
The bow of the mighty is now broken, and those who stumbled are now strong.
New Life Bible
The bows of the powerful are broken. But the weak are dressed in strength.
New Revised Standard
The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble gird on strength.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
The bow of the mighty, is dismayed, - While, the fainting, are girded with strength;
Douay-Rheims Bible
The bow of the mighty is overcome, and the weak are girt with strength.
Revised Standard Version
The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble gird on strength.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"The bows of the mighty are shattered, But the feeble gird on strength.

Contextual Overview

1 Hannah prayed: You make me strong and happy, Lord . You rescued me. Now I can be glad and laugh at my enemies. 2 No other god is like you. We're safer with you than on a high mountain. 3 I can tell those proud people, "Stop your boasting! Nothing is hidden from the Lord , and he judges what we do." 4 Our Lord , you break the bows of warriors, but you give strength to everyone who stumbles. 5 People who once had plenty to eat must now hire themselves out for only a piece of bread. But you give the hungry more than enough to eat. A woman did not have a child, and you gave her seven, but a woman who had many was left with none. 6 You take away life, and you give life. You send people down to the world of the dead and bring them back again. 7 Our Lord , you are the one who makes us rich or poor. You put some in high positions and bring disgrace on others. 8 You lift the poor and homeless out of the garbage dump and give them places of honor in royal palaces. You set the world on foundations, and they belong to you. 9 You protect your loyal people, but everyone who is evil will die in darkness. We cannot win a victory by our own strength. 10 Our Lord , those who attack you will be broken in pieces when you fight back with thunder from heaven. You will judge the whole earth and give power and strength to your chosen king.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

The bows: Psalms 37:15, Psalms 37:17, Psalms 46:9, Psalms 76:3

stumbled: Isaiah 10:4, Jeremiah 37:10, 2 Corinthians 4:9, 2 Corinthians 4:10, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Ephesians 6:14, Philippians 4:13, Hebrews 11:34

Reciprocal: 1 Kings 20:18 - General Psalms 65:6 - girded Jeremiah 51:56 - every Luke 1:51 - he hath scattered Luke 1:52 - put

Cross-References

Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis 1:4
God looked at the light and saw that it was good. He separated light from darkness
Genesis 1:28
God gave them his blessing and said: Have a lot of children! Fill the earth with people and bring it under your control. Rule over the fish in the ocean, the birds in the sky, and every animal on the earth.
Genesis 1:31
God looked at what he had done. All of it was very good! Evening came and then morning—that was the sixth day.
Genesis 2:1
So the heavens and the earth and everything else were created.
Genesis 2:2

The Seventh Day

By the seventh day God had finished his work, and so he rested.
Genesis 5:1
God created men and women to be like himself. He gave them his blessing and called them human beings. This is a list of the descendants of Adam, the first man:
Genesis 10:1
After the flood Shem, Ham, and Japheth had many descendants.
Genesis 11:10
Two years after the flood, when Shem was one hundred, he had a son named Arpachshad. He had more children and died at the age of six hundred. This is a list of his descendants:
Genesis 25:12
Ishmael was the son of Abraham and Hagar, the slave woman of Sarah.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

The bows of the mighty men are broken,.... Hannah, from relating gracious experiences, and celebrating, the divine perfections of holiness, omniscience, and sovereignty, passes on to take notice of the dealings of God with men in providence and grace; bows are here put for all military arms, which men of might and war make use of, and which God can easily break in pieces, and so make war to cease in the earth, and hinder warlike men from doing what they design and attempt; they are enfeebled and weakened by him, and their hands cannot perform their enterprises: so the bows of Satan, and his principalities and powers, are broken, and his fiery darts are quenched, and the people of the Lord enabled to stand against him, and wrestle with him and them, being strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might, as it follows:

and they that stumbled are girt with strength; who, through weakness, are ready to stumble at everything they meet with in the way; yet, being girded with strength by the Lord, are able to do great exploits, as David did, that being his case, Psalms 18:29, so such as are weak in grace, in faith, in knowledge, and ready to stumble at every trial and exercise, let it come from what quarter it will; yet being girded by the Lord with strength, are able to exercise grace, perform duty, go through every service they are called to, whether in a way of doing or suffering, to bear the yoke and cross of Christ, to oppose every enemy, to walk on in the ways of God, and to persevere in faith and holiness to the end.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Samuel 2:4. The bows of the mighty — The Targum considers the first verse as including a prophecy against the Philistines; the second verse, against Sennacherib and his army; the third, against Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans; the fourth, against the Greeks; the fifth, against Haman and his posterity; and the tenth, against Magog, and the enemies of the Messiah.


 
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