1 Samuel 2:4

Young's Literal Translation

Bows of the mighty are broken, And the stumbling have girded on strength.

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.

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

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.

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 And Hannah prayeth, and saith: `My heart hath exulted in Jehovah, My horn hath been high in Jehovah, My mouth hath been large over mine enemies, For I have rejoiced in Thy salvation. ² There is none holy like Jehovah, For there is none save Thee, And there is no rock like our God. ³ Ye multiply not -- ye speak haughtily -- The old saying goeth out from your mouth, For a God of knowledge [is] Jehovah, And by Him actions are weighed. ⁴ Bows of the mighty are broken, And the stumbling have girded on strength. ⁵ The satiated for bread hired themselves, And the hungry have ceased. While the barren hath borne seven, And she abounding with sons hath languished. ⁶ Jehovah putteth to death, and keepeth alive, He bringeth down to Sheol, and bringeth up. ⁷ Jehovah dispossesseth, and He maketh rich, He maketh low, yea, He maketh high. ⁸ He raiseth from the dust the poor, From a dunghill He lifteth up the needy, To cause [them] to sit with nobles, Yea, a throne of honour He doth cause them to inherit, For to Jehovah [are] the fixtures of earth, And He setteth on them the habitable world. ⁹ The feet of His saints He keepeth, And the wicked in darkness are silent, For not by power doth man become mighty. ¹⁰ Jehovah -- broken down are His adversaries, Against them in the heavens He thundereth: Jehovah judgeth the ends of earth, And giveth strength to His king, And exalteth the horn of His anointed.'

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 of God's preparing the heavens and the earth --

Genesis 1:4
And God seeth the light that [it is] good, and God separateth between the light and the darkness,

Genesis 1:28
And God blesseth them, and God saith to them, `Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over fish of the sea, and over fowl of the heavens, and over every living thing that is creeping upon the earth.'

Genesis 1:31
And God seeth all that He hath done, and lo, very good; and there is an evening, and there is a morning -- day the sixth.

Genesis 2:1
And the heavens and the earth are completed, and all their host;

Genesis 2:2
and God completeth by the seventh day His work which He hath made, and ceaseth by the seventh day from all His work which He hath made.

Genesis 5:1
This [is] an account of the births of Adam: In the day of God's preparing man, in the likeness of God He hath made him;

Genesis 10:1
And these [are] births of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth; and born to them are sons after the deluge.

Genesis 11:10
These [are] births of Shem: Shem [is] a son of an hundred years, and begetteth Arphaxad two years after the deluge.

Genesis 25:12
And these [are] births of Ishmael, Abraham's son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's handmaid, hath borne to Abraham;

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.