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Psalm 21:12

For you will make them turn their back, when you aim drawn bows at their face.

10You will destroy their descendants from the earth, their posterity from among the children of men.
11For they intended evil against you. They plotted evil against you which cannot succeed.
12For you will make them turn their back, when you aim drawn bows at their face.
13Be exalted, LORD, in your strength, so we will sing and praise your power.
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← Psalm 21:11Psalm 21:13 →
Notice

Drawn bows aimed at faces make this royal victory song unsettling: those plotting evil are forced to turn their backs before God's strength.

Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.

What troubles or steadies you about the drawn bows aimed at the plotters' faces?

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How does the failed plotting in verse 11 shape your reading of this violent retreat?

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Connect

Where else Scripture says this

9 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.

This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Psalm 7:12–13If a man doesn’t repent, he will sharpen his sword; he has bent and strung his bow.Both passages picture a drawn bow as a threat of judgment, with Psalm 7 stressing the need for repentance.
Psalm 45:5Your arrows are sharp. The nations fall under you, with arrows in the heart of the king’s enemies.Both songs use archery to portray enemies being overcome, with Psalm 21 describing retreat and Psalm 45 describing their fall.
Psalm 18:40You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me, that I might cut off those who hate me.Enemies turn their backs in both psalms, and both credit God with bringing about their defeat.
Psalm 11:2For, behold, the wicked bend their bows. They set their arrows on the strings, that they may shoot in darkness at the upright in heart.Drawn bows threaten people in both passages, though Psalm 11 depicts the wicked targeting the upright.
Lamentations 3:12He has bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.God's bow is aimed at people in both texts; in Lamentations, the speaker himself is the target.
Numbers 24:8God brings him out of Egypt. He has as it were the strength of the wild ox. He shall consume the nations his adversaries, shall break their bones in pieces, …Both passages depict the defeat of adversaries through God's strength, using the violence of bows or arrows.
Job 7:20If I have sinned, what do I do to you, you watcher of men? Why have you set me as a mark for you, so that I am a burden to myself?Both texts portray people as God's targets, though Job questions his own suffering while the psalm describes enemies retreating.
Job 16:12–13I was at ease, and he broke me apart. Yes, he has taken me by the neck, and dashed me to pieces. He has also set me up for his target.Being made a target connects these texts, but Job describes his own devastation where the psalm describes the defeat of enemies.
Job 6:4For the arrows of the Almighty are within me. My spirit drinks up their poison. The terrors of God set themselves in array against me.Divine weaponry brings terror in both passages, though Job speaks of arrows within himself rather than enemies driven back.
Where this verse fits

Injustice and anger. sermon or Bible study notes.

What the Bible says about anger →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Read verses 10–13 and note what precedes praise

scriptureoncelight
Encouragement

This song credits God with defeating those who plot evil. Its violent picture gives no command for private revenge; the strength being praised belongs to YHWH.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 21:12. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.

Keep goingPsalm 21 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).