Psalms 144:6

Psa 144:6 Cast forth lightning, and scatter them: shoot out thine arrows, and destroy them.

Ver. 6. Cast forth lightning, and scatter them] All this was done according to David’s desire, Psa 18:13-14. God sometimes answereth his suitors ad cardinem desiderii; and saith unto them, Be it unto you even as ye will. This is a wonderful condescension.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6. (Psa 144:6) Lighten lightning and scatter them; send out thy arrows and confound them. The first word in Hebrew is a verb occurring nowhere else, and composed of the same radicals with the common word for lightning which immediately follows. For the meaning of the other terms, see above, on Psa 18:14, and compare the parallel passage, 2Sa 22:14, with which the writer of the psalm before us was certainly acquainted, as appears from his occasional use of its peculiar readings.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

By these manner of speeches he showeth that all the lets in the world cannot hinder God’s power, which he apprehended by faith.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 6. Cast forth lightning] See Clarke on Ps 18:13; "Ps 18:14".

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(6) Cast forth lightning.—Literally, lighten lightning, the verb being quite peculiar to this place.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6. Lighten lightning, and scatter them:

Send forth thine arrows, and discomfit them.

A variation of Psa_18:14, corresponding again more closely to the text of 2Sa_22:15. Them must refer to the enemies who are in the Psalmist’s mind, though he has not expressly mentioned them.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Cast forth lightning, and scatter them,.... The mountains, the kings and kingdoms of the earth; the enemies of David, and of Christ, and of his people; particularly the Jews, who have been scattered all over the earth by the judgments of God upon them; cast forth like lightning, which is swift, piercing, penetrating, and destructive;

shoot out thine arrows, and destroy them; or, "trouble them" (k); as the Targum, Septuagint, and Arabic versions, nearer to the Hebrew: these also design the sore judgments of God, the arrows of famine, pestilence, and sword; which fly swiftly, pierce deeply, cut sharply, and, like fiery darts, give great pain and trouble. So Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret them of the decrees which come down from heaven, as Aben Ezra does Psa 144:5, by "lightning" Arama understands the flame of fire which comes out with thunder; and by "arrows" the thunderbolt, which he calls a stone hardened in the air like iron.

(k) "ac turba eos", Tigurine version; "et conturba eos", Cocceius, Michaelis.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Cast forth lightnings, and scatter them - See the notes at Psa 18:14 : “He sent out his arrows, and scattered them.” The allusion there is to lightning. The psalmist prays that; God would do now again what he had then done. The Hebrew here is, “Lighten lightning;” that is, Send forth lightning. The word is used as a verb nowhere else.

Shoot out thine arrows ... - So in Psa 18:14 : “He shot out lightnings.” The words are the same here as in that psalm, only that they are arranged differently. See the notes at that place.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Thy thunderbolts, which oft accompany the lightnings and thunder.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ver. 6. Cast forth lightning, and scatter them. The Eternal can hurl his lightnings wheresoever he pleases, and effect his purpose instantaneously. The artillery of heaven soon puts the enemy to flight: a single bolt sets the armies running hither and thither in utter rout.

Shoot out thine arrows, and destroy them. Jehovah never misses the mark; his arrows are fatal to his foes when he goes forth to war. It was no common faith which led the poet king to expect the Lord to use his thunderbolts on behalf of a single member of that race which he had just now described as "like to vanity." A believer in God may without presumption expect the Almighty Lord to use on his behalf all the stores of his wisdom and power: even the terrible forces of tempest shall be marshalled to the fight, for the defence of the Lord's chosen. When we have once mastered the greater difficulty of the Lord's taking any interest in us, it is but a small thing that we should expect him to exert his great power on our behalf. This is far from being the only time in which this believing warrior had thus prayed: Ps 18:1-50 is specially like the present; the good man was not abashed at his former boldness, but here repeats himself without fear.

Ver. 6. Cast forth lightning. The Hebrew here is, "Lighten lightning"; that is, Send forth lightning. The word is used as a verb nowhere else. Albert Barnes.

Psalms 144:7*

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Cast forth lightning, and scatter them: shoot out thins arrows, and destroy them. (comp. Psa_18:14)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.