16 The king is now addressed. One could argue that the Lord is still being addressed, but v. 9 militates against this proposal, for there the Lord is mentioned in the third person and appears to be distinct from the addressee (unless, of course, one takes “Lord” in v. 9 as vocative; see the note on “them” in v. ). Verse 7 begins this transition to a new addressee by referring to both the king and the Lord in the third person (in vv. 1–6 the Lord is addressed and only the king referred to in the third person).
17 Heb “your hand finds.” The idiom pictures the king grabbing hold of his enemies and defeating them (see 1 Sam 23:17). The imperfect verbal forms in vv. 8–12 may be translated with the future tense, as long as the future is understood as generalizing.
18 Heb “your right hand finds those who hate you.”
19 Heb “you make them like a furnace of fire.” Although many modern translations retain the literal Hebrew, the statement is elliptical. The point is not that he makes them like a furnace, but like an object burned in a furnace (cf. , “at your coming you shall plunge them into a fiery furnace”).
20 Heb “at the time of your face.” The “face” of the king here refers to his angry presence. See Lam 4:16.
21 Heb “the Lord, in his anger he swallows them, and fire devours them.” Some take “the Lord” as a vocative, in which case he is addressed in vv. 8–9a. But this makes the use of the third person in v. 9b rather awkward, though the king could be the subject (see vv. 1–7).
22 Heb “fruit.” The next line makes it clear that offspring is in view.
23 Heb “seed.”
24 Heb “sons of man.”
25 Or “for.”
26 Heb “they extend against you harm.” The perfect verbal forms in v. 11 are taken as generalizing, stating factually what the king’s enemies typically do. Another option is to translate with the past tense (“they intended … planned”).
28 Heb “they lack ability.”
29 Heb “you make them a shoulder,” i.e., “you make them turn and run, showing the back of their neck and shoulders.”
30 Heb “with your bowstrings you fix against their faces,” i.e., “you fix your arrows on the bowstrings to shoot at them.”

Cross references

27 See Ps 10:2.

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

Your hand will find out all your enemies;

your right hand will find out those who hate you.

You will make them as a blazing oven

when you appear.

The Lord will swallow them up in his wrath,

and fire will consume them.

You will destroy their descendants from the earth,

and their offspring from among the children of man.

Though they plan evil against you,

though they devise mischief, they will not succeed.

For you will put them to flight;

you will aim at their faces with your bows.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

Your hand will lay hold on all your enemies;

your right hand will seize your foes.

When you appear for battle,

you will burn them up as in a blazing furnace.

The Lord will swallow them up in his wrath,

and his fire will consume them.

You will destroy their descendants from the earth,

their posterity from mankind.

Though they plot evil against you

and devise wicked schemes, they cannot succeed.

You will make them turn their backs

when you aim at them with drawn bow.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

Your hand will capture all your enemies;

your right hand will seize those who hate you.

You will make them burn

like a fiery furnace when you appear;

the Lord will engulf them in his wrath,

and fire will devour them.

You will wipe their progeny from the earth

and their offspring from the human race.

Though they intend to harm you

and devise a wicked plan, they will not prevail.

Instead, you will put them to flight

when you ready your bowstrings to shoot at them.

NLTNew Living Translation

You will capture all your enemies.

Your strong right hand will seize all who hate you.

You will throw them in a flaming furnace

when you appear.

The Lord will consume them in his anger;

fire will devour them.

You will wipe their children from the face of the earth;

they will never have descendants.

Although they plot against you,

their evil schemes will never succeed.

For they will turn and run

when they see your arrows aimed at them.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

Your hand will find all your enemies;

your right hand will find those who hate you.

You will make them like your fiery furnace

at the time of your appearance.

Yahweh will swallow them in his wrath

and fire will consume them.

You will destroy their offspring from the earth,

and their descendants from among the children of humankind.

Though they have plotted evil against you,

though they have planned a scheme, they will not prevail.

For you will turn them to flight;

you will aim arrows on your bowstrings at their faces.

KJV 1900King James Version

Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies:

Thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee.

Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger:

The Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them.

Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth,

And their seed from among the children of men.

For they intended evil against thee:

They imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to perform.

Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back,

When thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of them.

Public Domain