Psalms 11:2

11:2 For look, the wicked ¹  prepare ²  their bows, ³ 

they put their arrows on the strings,

to shoot in the darkness ⁴  at the morally upright. ⁵ 

Psalms 45:5

45:5 Your arrows are sharp

and penetrate the hearts of the king’s enemies.

Nations fall at your feet. ⁶ 

Psalms 64:3

64:3 They ⁷  sharpen their tongues like a sword;

they aim their arrow, a slanderous charge, ⁸ 

Psalms 64:7

64:7 But God will shoot ⁹  at them;

suddenly they will be ¹⁰  wounded by an arrow. ¹¹ 

Psalms 144:6

144:6 Hurl lightning bolts and scatter them!

Shoot your arrows and rout them! ¹² 

Deuteronomy 32:23

32:23 I will increase their ¹³  disasters,

I will use up my arrows on them.

Deuteronomy 32:42

32:42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood,

and my sword will devour flesh –

the blood of the slaughtered and captured,

the chief ¹⁴  of the enemy’s leaders!’”

Job 6:4

6:4 For the arrows ¹⁵  of the Almighty ¹⁶  are within me;

my spirit ¹⁷  drinks their poison; ¹⁸ 

God’s sudden terrors ¹⁹  are arrayed ²⁰  against me.

Lamentations 3:12-13

3:12 He drew ²¹  his bow and made me ²² 

the target for his arrow.

ה (He)

3:13 He shot ²³  his arrows ²⁴ 

into my heart. ²⁵ 

Habakkuk 3:11

3:11 The sun and moon stand still in their courses; ²⁶ 

the flash of your arrows drives them away, ²⁷ 

the bright light of your lightning-quick spear. ²⁸ 

Habakkuk 3:13

3:13 You march out to deliver your people,

to deliver your special servant. ²⁹ 

You strike the leader of the wicked nation, ³⁰ 

laying him open from the lower body to the neck. ³¹  Selah.

[11:2]  ¹ tn In the psalms the “wicked” (רְשָׁעִים, rÿsha’im) are typically proud, practical atheists (Ps 10:2, 4, 11) who hate God’s commands, commit sinful deeds, speak lies and slander (Ps 50:16-20), and cheat others (Ps 37:21). They oppose God and threaten his people (Ps 3:8).

[11:2]  ² tn The Hebrew imperfect verbal form depicts the enemies’ hostile action as underway.

[11:2]  ³ tn Heb “a bow.”

[11:2]  ⁴ sn In the darkness. The enemies’ attack, the precise form of which is not indicated, is compared here to a night ambush by archers; the psalmist is defenseless against this deadly attack.

[11:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “pure of heart.” The “heart” is here viewed as the seat of one’s moral character and motives. The “pure of heart” are God’s faithful followers who trust in and love the Lord and, as a result, experience his deliverance (see Pss 7:10; 32:11; 36:10; 64:10; 94:15; 97:11).

[45:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “your arrows are sharp – peoples beneath you fall – in the heart of the enemies of the king.” The choppy style reflects the poet’s excitement.

[64:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “who.” A new sentence was started here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[64:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “a bitter word.”

[64:7]  ⁹ tn The prefixed verb with vav (ו) consecutive is normally used in narrative contexts to describe completed past actions. It is possible that the conclusion to the psalm (vv. 7-10) was added to the lament after God’s judgment of the wicked in response to the psalmist’s lament (vv. 1-6). The translation assumes that these verses are anticipatory and express the psalmist’s confidence that God would eventually judge the wicked. The psalmist uses a narrative style as a rhetorical device to emphasize his certitude. See GKC 329-30 §111.w.

[64:7]  ¹⁰ tn The perfect verbal form here expresses the psalmist’s certitude about the coming demise of the wicked.

[64:7]  ¹¹ tn The translation follows the traditional accentuation of the MT. Another option is to translate, “But God will shoot them down with an arrow, suddenly they will be wounded” (cf. NIV, NRSV).

[144:6]  ¹² sn Arrows and lightning bolts are associated in other texts (see Pss 18:14; 77:17-18; Zech 9:14), as well as in ancient Near Eastern art (see R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” [Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983], 187).

[32:23]  ¹³ tn Heb “upon them.”

[32:42]  ¹⁴ tn Or “head” (the same Hebrew word can mean “head” in the sense of “leader, chieftain” or “head” in the sense of body part).

[6:4]  ¹⁵ sn Job uses an implied comparison here to describe his misfortune – it is as if God had shot poisoned arrows into him (see E. Dhorme, Job, 76-77 for a treatment of poisoned arrows in the ancient world).

[6:4]  ¹⁶ sn Job here clearly states that his problems have come from the Almighty, which is what Eliphaz said. But whereas Eliphaz said Job provoked the trouble by his sin, Job is perplexed because he does not think he did.

[6:4]  ¹⁷ tn Most commentators take “my spirit” as the subject of the participle “drinks” (except the NEB, which follows the older versions to say that the poison “drinks up [or “soaks in”] the spirit.”) The image of the poisoned arrow represents the calamity or misfortune from God, which is taken in by Job’s spirit and enervates him.

[6:4]  ¹⁸ tn The LXX translators knew that a liquid should be used with the verb “drink”; but they took the line to be “whose violence drinks up my blood.” For the rest of the verse they came up with, “whenever I am going to speak they pierce me.”

[6:4]  ¹⁹ tn The word translated “sudden terrors” is found only here and in Ps 88:16 [17]. G. R. Driver notes that the idea of suddenness is present in the root, and so renders this word as “sudden assaults” (“Problems in the Hebrew text of Job,” VTSup 3 [1955]: 73).

[6:4]  ²⁰ tn The verb עָרַךְ (’arakh) means “to set in battle array.” The suffix on the verb is dative (see GKC 369 §117.x). Many suggestions have been made for changing this word. These seem unnecessary since the MT pointing yields a good meaning: but for the references to these suggestions, see D. J. A. Clines, Job (WBC), 158. H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 59), nonetheless, follows the suggestion of Driver that connects it to a root meaning “wear me down.” This change of meaning requires no change in the Hebrew text. The image is of a beleaguering army; the host is made up of all the terrors from God. The reference is to the terrifying and perplexing thoughts that assail Job (A. B. Davidson, Job, 44).

[3:12]  ²¹ tn Heb “bent.”

[3:12]  ²² tn Heb “and set me as the target.”

[3:13]  ²³ tn The Hiphil stem of בוֹא (bo’, lit., “cause to come in”) here means “to shoot” arrows.

[3:13]  ²⁴ tn Heb “sons of his quiver.” This idiom refers to arrows (BDB 121 s.v. בֵּן 6). The term “son” (בֵּן, ben) is often used idiomatically with a following genitive, e.g., “son of flame” = sparks (Job 5:7), “son of a constellation” = stars (Job 38:22), “son of a bow” = arrows (Job 41:2), “son of a quiver” = arrows (Lam 3:13), “son of threshing-floor” = corn (Isa 21:10).

[3:13]  ²⁵ tn Heb “my kidneys.” In Hebrew anthropology, the kidneys are often portrayed as the most sensitive and vital part of man. Poetic texts sometimes portray a person fatally wounded, being shot by the Lord’s arrows in the kidneys (Job 16:13; here in Lam 3:13). The equivalent English idiomatic counterpart is the heart, which is employed in the present translation.

[3:11]  ²⁶ tn Heb “in their lofty dwelling places.”

[3:11]  ²⁷ tn Or “at the light of your arrows they vanish.”

[3:11]  ²⁸ tn Heb “at the brightness of the lightning of your spear.”

[3:13]  ²⁹ tn Heb “anointed one.” In light of the parallelism with “your people” in the preceding line this could refer to Israel, but elsewhere the Lord’s anointed one is always an individual. The Davidic king is the more likely referent here.

[3:13]  ³⁰ tn Heb “you strike the head from the house of wickedness.”

[3:13]  ³¹ tn Heb “laying bare [from] foundation to neck.”