Psalm 58:7
New International Version
Let them vanish like water that flows away; when they draw the bow, let their arrows fall short.

New Living Translation
May they disappear like water into thirsty ground. Make their weapons useless in their hands.

English Standard Version
Let them vanish like water that runs away; when he aims his arrows, let them be blunted.

Berean Standard Bible
May they vanish like water that runs off; when they draw the bow, may their arrows be blunted.

King James Bible
Let them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces.

New King James Version
Let them flow away as waters which run continually; When he bends his bow, Let his arrows be as if cut in pieces.

New American Standard Bible
May they flow away like water that runs off; When he aims his arrows, may they be as headless shafts.

NASB 1995
Let them flow away like water that runs off; When he aims his arrows, let them be as headless shafts.

NASB 1977
Let them flow away like water that runs off; When he aims his arrows, let them be as headless shafts.

Legacy Standard Bible
Let them flow away like water that runs off; When he aims his arrows, let them be as headless shafts.

Amplified Bible
Let them flow away like water that runs off; When he aims his arrows, let them be as headless shafts.

Christian Standard Bible
May they vanish like water that flows by; may they aim their blunted arrows.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
They will vanish like water that flows by; they will aim their useless arrows.

American Standard Version
Let them melt away as water that runneth apace: When he aimeth his arrows, let them be as though they were cut off.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
They will be rejected like waters that are thrown out and he will shoot his arrows until they are finished.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
They shall utterly pass away like water running through: he shall bend his bow till they shall fail.

Contemporary English Version
Make them disappear like leaking water, and make their arrows miss.

Douay-Rheims Bible
They shall come to nothing, like water running down; he hath bent his bow till they be weakened.

English Revised Version
Let them melt away as water that runneth apace: when he aimeth his arrows, let them be as though they were cut off.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Let them disappear like water that drains away. When they aim their bows, let their arrows miss the target.

Good News Translation
May they disappear like water draining away; may they be crushed like weeds on a path.

International Standard Version
May they flow away like rain water that runs off, may they become like someone who shoots broken arrows.

JPS Tanakh 1917
Let them melt away as water that runneth apace; When he aimeth his arrows, let them be as though they were cut off.

Literal Standard Version
They are melted as waters, | They go up and down for themselves, | His arrow proceeds as they cut themselves off.

Majority Standard Bible
May they vanish like water that runs off; when they draw the bow, may their arrows be blunted.

New American Bible
Make them vanish like water flowing away; trodden down, let them wither like grass.

NET Bible
Let them disappear like water that flows away! Let them wither like grass!

New Revised Standard Version
Let them vanish like water that runs away; like grass let them be trodden down and wither.

New Heart English Bible
Let them vanish as water that flows away. When they draw the bow, let their arrows be made blunt.

Webster's Bible Translation
Let them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces.

World English Bible
Let them vanish like water that flows away. When they draw the bow, let their arrows be made blunt.

Young's Literal Translation
They are melted as waters, They go up and down for themselves, His arrow proceedeth as they cut themselves off.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
God Judges the Earth
6O God, shatter their teeth in their mouths; O LORD, tear out the fangs of the lions. 7May they vanish like water that runs off; when they draw the bow, may their arrows be blunted. 8Like a slug that dissolves in its slime, like a woman’s stillborn child, may they never see the sun.…

Cross References
Joshua 2:11
When we heard this, our hearts melted and everyone's courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in the heavens above and on the earth below.

Joshua 7:5
And the men of Ai struck down about thirty-six of them, chasing them from the gate as far as the quarries and striking them down on the slopes. So the hearts of the people melted and became like water.

2 Samuel 14:14
For surely we will die and be like water poured out on the ground, which cannot be recovered. Yet God does not take away a life; but He devises ways that the banished one may not be cast out from Him.

Psalm 64:3
who sharpen their tongues like swords and aim their bitter words like arrows,

Psalm 112:10
The wicked man will see and be grieved; he will gnash his teeth and waste away; the desires of the wicked will perish.

Psalm 144:6
Flash forth Your lightning and scatter them; shoot Your arrows and rout them.

Isaiah 13:7
Therefore all hands will fall limp, and every man's heart will melt.


Treasury of Scripture

Let them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bends his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces.

Psalm 22:14
I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.

Psalm 64:7,8
But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded…

Psalm 112:10
The wicked shall see it, and be grieved; he shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away: the desire of the wicked shall perish.

Jump to Previous
Aims Apace Arrow Arrows Bendeth Blunt Bow Continually Cut Draw Flow Flows Grass Liquid Melt Melted Pieces Proceedeth Run Runneth Runs Shoot Themselves Trodden Turned Vanish Water Waters Way Wither
Jump to Next
Aims Apace Arrow Arrows Bendeth Blunt Bow Continually Cut Draw Flow Flows Grass Liquid Melt Melted Pieces Proceedeth Run Runneth Runs Shoot Themselves Trodden Turned Vanish Water Waters Way Wither
Psalm 58
1. David reproves wicked judges
3. describes the nature of the wicked
6. devotes them to God's judgments
10. whereat the righteous shall rejoice














(7, 8) After the types of obstinate and fierce malignity, come four striking images of the fatuity of the wicked man's projects, and his own imminent ruin. The first of these compares him to water, which, spilt on a sandy soil, sinks into it and melts away. (Comp. 2Samuel 14:14.) Perhaps a phenomenon, often described by travellers, was in the poet's mind, the disappearance of a stream which, after accompanying the track for some time, suddenly sinks into the sand. The words which run continually, even if the Hebrew can bear this meaning, only weaken the figure. The verb is in the reflexive conjugation, and has "to" or "for themselves" added, and seems to be exactly equivalent to our, they walk themselves off. This certainly should be joined to the clause following. Here, too, we must suppose that the sign of comparison, khemo, was dropped out by the copyist in consequence of the l?mo just written, and afterwards being inserted in the margin, got misplaced. We must bring it back, and read:

They are utterly gone, as when

One shoots his arrows.

This figure thus becomes also clear and striking. The arrow once shot is irrevocably gone, probably lost, fit emblem of the fate of the wicked. For the ellipse in bend (literally, tread, see Psalm 7:12), comp. Psalm 64:3, where also the action properly belonging to the bow is transferred to the arrow.

The words, "Let them be as cut in pieces," must be carried on to the following verse, which contains two fresh images: So they are cut off (LXX., "are weak ") as shabl-l melts; (as) the abortion of a woman passes away without seeing the sun. The word shabl-l, by its derivation (b?lal = to pour out) may mean any liquid or moist substance. Hence some understand a watercourse, others (LXX. and Vulg.) wax. The first would weaken the passage by introducing a bald repetition of a previous image. The second is quite intelligible. But the Talmud says shabl-l is a slug or shelless snail, and there may be a reference in the passage to the popular notion derived from the slimy track of the creature, that the slug dissolves as it moves, and eventually melts away. Dr. Tristram, however (Nat. Hist. Bib., p. 295), finds scientific support for the image in the myriads of snail shells found in the Holy Land, still adhering, by the calcareous exudation round the orifice, to the surface of the rock, while the animal itself is utterly shrivelled and wasted. The last image presents no difficulty either in language or form, except that the form of the noun woman is unusual.

That they may not.--That this refers to the abortion which passed away without seeing the sun, is certain. The grammatical difficulty of want of concord may be got over by taking abortion as a collective noun. . . .

Verse 7. - Let them melt away as waters which run continually; i.e. "let them waste away, and go to naught, like water, that runs off and accomplishes nothing." When he bendoth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces; i.e. "let the arrows be as though snapped in two, or headless."

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
May they vanish
יִמָּאֲס֣וּ (yim·mā·’ă·sū)
Verb - Nifal - Imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 3988: To spurn, to disappear

like
כְמוֹ־ (ḵə·mōw-)
Preposition
Strong's 3644: Like, as, when

water
מַ֭יִם (ma·yim)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 4325: Water, juice, urine, semen

that runs off;
יִתְהַלְּכוּ־ (yiṯ·hal·lə·ḵū-)
Verb - Hitpael - Imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 1980: To go, come, walk

when they draw the bow,
יִדְרֹ֥ךְ (yiḏ·rōḵ)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 1869: To tread, to walk, to string a, bow

may their arrows
חִ֝צָּ֗יו (ḥiṣ·ṣāw)
Noun - masculine plural construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 2671: A piercer, an arrow, a wound, thunderbolt, the shaft of a, spear

be blunted.
יִתְמֹלָֽלוּ׃ (yiṯ·mō·lā·lū)
Verb - Hitpael - Imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 4135: To cut short, curtail, to blunt, to destroy


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OT Poetry: Psalm 58:7 Let them vanish as water that flows (Psalm Ps Psa.)
Psalm 58:6
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