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Psalm 37:15
Their sword shall enter into their own heart. Their bows shall be broken.
13The Lord will laugh at him, for he sees that his day is coming.
14The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, to kill those who are upright on the path.
15Their sword shall enter into their own heart. Their bows shall be broken.
16Better is a little that the righteous has, than the abundance of many wicked.
17For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but the LORD upholds the righteous.
Notice
A sword driven into its owner's heart is a grim reversal: violence aimed at the poor turns back on those who wield it.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What troubles or steadies you about the sword turning against its owner?
Write on thisHow does the Lord upholding the righteous shape your reading of these broken weapons?
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Where else Scripture says this
12 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 7:14–15Behold, he travails with iniquity. Yes, he has conceived mischief, and brought out falsehood.Both describe wrongdoing, though Psalm 7's picture of conceiving mischief concerns evil's formation rather than the breaking of its weapons.
1 Samuel 2:4“The bows of the mighty men are broken. Those who stumbled are armed with strength.Broken bows appear in both passages, marking the collapse of strength held by those who seemed able to overpower others.
Psalm 35:8Let destruction come on him unawares. Let his net that he has hidden catch himself. Let him fall into that destruction.Both depict harm returning to its source: a hidden net catches its maker, and a sword enters its owner's heart.
1 Samuel 31:4Then Saul said to his armor bearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through and abuse me!” But his …Saul dies on his own sword; the psalm describes attackers whose sword enters their own heart.
Jeremiah 51:56For the destroyer has come on her, even on Babylon. Her mighty men are taken. Their bows are broken in pieces, for the LORD is a God of retribution. He will …Both portray broken bows as part of judgment against violent power, with Jeremiah naming the Lord as the God who repays.
Psalm 46:9He makes wars cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow, and shatters the spear. He burns the chariots in the fire.Both depict bows being broken, showing weapons of violence losing their power to threaten.
Hosea 2:18In that day I will make a covenant for them with the animals of the field, and with the birds of the sky, and with the creeping things of the ground. I will …Bows and swords appear in both passages as weapons whose destructive power comes to an end.
2 Samuel 17:23When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey, arose, and went home to his city, set his house in order, and hanged himself; and …Both passages depict death, though Ahithophel's suicide differs from the psalm's picture of attackers pierced by their own sword.
Hosea 1:5It will happen in that day that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.”Both use the breaking of a bow to portray the defeat of armed strength.
Psalm 9:15The nations have sunk down in the pit that they made. In the net which they hid, their own foot is taken.Both portray a reversal in which the means of harming others become the attackers' own downfall.
Esther 7:9–10Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs who were with the king, said, “Behold, the gallows fifty cubits high, which Haman has made for Mordecai, who spoke good for …Haman's gallows and the attackers' sword share the same reversal: what was prepared against another becomes a means of judgment against its owner.
Matthew 27:4–5saying, “I have sinned in that I betrayed innocent blood.” But they said, “What is that to us? You see to it.”Harm against the innocent connects these texts, though Judas's confession does not itself describe the psalm's reversal.
Where this verse fits
Injustice and anger. fear for the future.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
This violent reversal gives no permission to harm someone. The attackers' power has a limit, and the surrounding verses name its ground: the Lord upholds the righteous.
Now put it in your words.
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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).