Psalms 33:16-17

33:16 No king is delivered by his vast army;

a warrior is not saved by his great might.

33:17 A horse disappoints those who trust in it for victory; ¹ 

despite its great strength, it cannot deliver.

Psalms 44:6-7

44:6 For I do not trust in my bow,

and I do not prevail by my sword.

44:7 For you deliver ²  us from our enemies;

you humiliate ³  those who hate us.

Proverbs 21:30-31

21:30 There is no wisdom and there is no understanding,

and there is no counsel against ⁴  the Lord. ⁵ 

21:31 A horse is prepared for the day of battle,

but the victory is from the Lord. ⁶ 

Hosea 1:7

1:7 But I will have pity on the nation ⁷  of Judah. ⁸  I will deliver them by the Lord their God; I will not deliver them by the warrior’s bow, by sword, by military victory, ⁹  by chariot horses, or by chariots.” ¹⁰ 

¹ tn Heb “a lie [is] the horse for victory.”

² tn Or “have delivered,” if past successes are in view. Another option is to take the perfect as rhetorical, emphasizing that victory is certain (note the use of the imperfect in vv. 5-6).

³ tn Or “have humiliated,” if past successes are in view. Another option is to take the perfect as rhetorical, emphasizing that victory is certain (note the use of the imperfect in vv. 5-6).

⁴ tn The form לְנֶגֶד (lÿneged) means “against; over against; in opposition to.” The line indicates they cannot in reality be in opposition, for human wisdom is nothing in comparison to the wisdom of God (J. H. Greenstone, Proverbs, 232).

⁵ sn The verse uses a single sentence to state that all wisdom, understanding, and advice must be in conformity to the will of God to be successful. It states it negatively – these things cannot be in defiance of God (e.g., Job 5:12-13; Isa 40:13-14).

⁶ tn Heb “of the Lord.” The victory being “of the Lord” means that it is accomplished by him. Ultimate success comes from the Lord and not from human efforts. The faithful have acknowledged this down through the ages, even though they have been responsible and have prepared for the wars. Without this belief there would have been no prayer on the eve of battle (e.g., Ps 20:7 and 33:17).

⁷ tn Heb “house”; cf. NCV, TEV, NLT “the people of Judah.”

⁸ tn The word order in this line is rhetorical, emphasizing the divine decision to withhold pity from Israel but to bestow it on Judah. The accusative direct object, which is introduced by a disjunctive vav (to denote contrast), appears before the verb: וְאֶת־בֵּית יְהוּדָה אֲרַחֵם (vé’et-bet yéhudah ’arakhem, “but upon the house of Judah I will show pity”).

⁹ tn Heb “by war” (so NAB, NRSV, TEV); KJV, NASB, NIV “battle.”

¹⁰ sn These military weapons are examples of the metonymy of adjunct (the specific weapons named) for subject (warfare).