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Thursday, January 1st, 2026
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Read the Bible

The NET Bible®

Psalms 37:14

Evil men draw their swords and prepare their bows, to bring down the oppressed and needy, and to slaughter those who are godly.

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.
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.
Bible in Basic English
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.
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 Wait patiently for the Lord ! Wait confidently for him! Do not fret over the apparent success of a sinner, a man who carries out wicked schemes! 8 Do not be angry and frustrated! Do not fret! That only leads to trouble! 9 Wicked men will be wiped out, but those who rely on the Lord are the ones who will possess the land. 10 Evil men will soon disappear; you will stare at the spot where they once were, but they will be gone. 11 But the oppressed will possess the land and enjoy great prosperity. 12 Evil men plot against the godly and viciously attack them. 13 The Lord laughs in disgust at them, for he knows that their day is coming. 14 Evil men draw their swords and prepare their bows, to bring down the oppressed and needy, and to slaughter those who are godly. 15 Their swords will pierce their own hearts, and their bows will be broken. 16 The little bit that a godly man owns is better than the wealth of many evil men,

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
So Abram moved his tents and went to live by the oaks of Mamre in Hebron, and he built an altar to the Lord there.
Genesis 23:2
Then she died in Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.
Genesis 29:6
"Is he well?" Jacob asked. They replied, "He is well. Now look, here comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep."
Genesis 35:27
So Jacob came back to his father Isaac in Mamre, to Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had stayed.
Genesis 37:17
The man said, "They left this area, for I heard them say, ‘Let's go to Dothan.'" So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.
Genesis 37:18
Now Joseph's brothers saw him from a distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.
Genesis 41:16
Joseph replied to Pharaoh, "It is not within my power, but God will speak concerning the welfare of Pharaoh."
Numbers 13:22
When they went up through the Negev, they came to Hebron where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, descendants of Anak, were living. (Now Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)
Joshua 14:13
Joshua asked God to empower Caleb son of Jephunneh and assigned him Hebron.
Joshua 14:15
(Hebron used to be called Kiriath Arba. Arba was a famous Anakite.) Then the land was free of 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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