Psalms 18:38

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

I will strike them through, so that they will not be able to rise. They shall fall under my feet.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Download a study sheet

One document with this verse’s original text, its word-by-word gloss line, the meaning frame, cross-references with their text, attributed commentary, and full source and license credits — printable, and it pastes into notes with its structure intact.

This verse Autodidact and up

Study sheet (.html) Plain text (.txt)

A passage Seminary Student

Up to 50 verses in one chapter. A passage sheet keeps up to 6 commentary sources and 12 cross-references per verse, in the order this page ranks them, and says so on the sheet whenever that leaves anything out. Ask for a single verse and you get the Autodidact verse sheet above.

Everything on this page stays free to read, with no account — the sheet is a download of what is already on screen, not access to it.

Want to remove ads? Support Godless Engineer

Word by word

More ways to search: Search by grammar → Find every occurrence → Compare this word →

Practice this passage: Drill this verse → Learn its vocabulary →

אֶ֭מְחָצֵם

mâchats

H4272

“to shatter · them”

Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural

Appears 14× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Numbers 24:8

Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root

TWOT: 1183

to smite through, shatter, wound severely - (Qal) - to shatter - shattering (participle)

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

7: words
7: distinct lemmas
Wisdom: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is אֶ֭מְחָצֵם to shatter H4272 — appearing just 14 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

אֶ֭מְחָצֵם to shatter H4272 occurs in 14 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

4 verbs
1 noun
1 preposition
1 particle

Verb forms

אֶ֭מְחָצֵם Qal · Imperfect
יֻ֣כְלוּ Qal · Imperfect
ק֑וּם Qal · Infinitive Construct
יִ֝פְּל֗וּ Qal · Imperfect

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 20 words from the Hebrew and 20 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — the same length.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 7 Hebrew tokens and 13 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Psalms 18:38 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

1 Samuel 17:49–51 David put his hand in his bag, and took there a stone, and slang it, and struck the Philistine in his forehead; and the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth.
1 Samuel 23:5 David and his men went to Keilah, and fought with the Philistines, and brought away their cattle, and killed them with a great slaughter. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.
2 Samuel 5:1–25 Then came all the tribes of Israel to David to Hebron, and spoke, saying, Behold, we are your bone and your flesh.
2 Samuel 8:1–18 After this it happened that David struck the Philistines, and subdued them: and David took the bridle of the mother city out of the hand of the Philistines.
2 Samuel 10:1–19 It happened after this, that the king of the children of Ammon died, and Hanun his son reigned in his place.
2 Samuel 18:7–8 The people of Israel were struck there before the servants of David, and there was a great slaughter there that day of twenty thousand men.
2 Samuel 21:15–22 The Philistines had war again with Israel; and David went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines. David grew faint;
2 Samuel 22:39 I have consumed them, and struck them through, so that they can't arise: Yes, they are fallen under my feet.

Psalms 36:12 There the workers of iniquity are fallen. They are thrust down, and shall not be able to rise.
Psalms 47:3 He subdues nations under us, And peoples under our feet.
1 Samuel 30:17 David struck them from the twilight even to the evening of the next day: and there not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men, who rode on camels and fled.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

You’re reading Greek Psalm 17 (Hebrew Psalm 18). The Septuagint counts the superscription, so verse numbers can differ from the Hebrew — chapter-level alignment, not verse-by-verse. Numbering follows Rahlfs.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Psalms 18:38 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

אֶ֭מְחָצֵם וְלֹא יֻ֣כְלוּ ק֑וּם יִ֝פְּל֗וּ תַּ֣חַת רַגְלָֽי

I will strike them through, so that they will not be able to rise. They shall fall under my feet.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Greek Psalm 17:38 Septuagint · lemma form

καταδιώκω ὁ ἐχθρός ἐγώ καί καταλαμβάνω αὐτός καί οὐ ἀποστρέφω ἕως ἄν ἐκλείπω

I will dash them to pieces and they shall not be able to stand: they shall fall under my feet.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Commentary

Notes on Psalms 18:38 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Psa 18:38 I have wounded them that they were not able to rise: they are fallen under my feet.

Ver. 38. I have wounded them that they were not able to rise] Much less to resist. And herein he was a type of Christ; all whose foes shall be his footstool, Psa 110:1.

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.

Joseph Benson's Commentary

Psa 18:38-39. They are fallen under my feet — Cast down to the ground, so that I may tread upon their necks, after the manner of conquerors, Deu 33:29; Jos 10:24. Thou hast girded me, &c. — Thus again, as in Psa 18:32, he gives God the whole praise of his great achievements and victories. It was he that inspired his forces with resolution and vigour, and thereby subdued under him those that rose up against him — Namely, his enemies who joined in battle to oppose and oppress him.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

J. A. Alexander on Psalms

Joseph Addison Alexander

39. (Psa 18:38). I shall smite them and they cannot rise, they shall fall beneath my feet. This simply carries out the idea of successful pursuit in the preceding verse.

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

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

38. I have wounded them] Rather, I have smitten them through (Deu_33:11; Job_26:12). 2 Sam. has “Yea I consumed them, and smote them through,” the first verb being probably a gloss.

The R.V. renders the verbs in Psa_18:37-38 as futures (I will pursue, &c.), but it is best to regard these verses, like those which precede and those which follow, as a retrospect. See Appendix, Note IV.

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.

John Gill's Exposition

For thou hast girded me with strength unto battle,.... See Psa 18:32; that natural strength, courage and valour, which David had, were from the Lord; and so is the Spirit of power, love, and of a sound mind, which believers have; and likewise that strength which Christ, as man, had and used in his combat with the powers of darkness; see Psa 80:17;

thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me; as the psalmist ascribes his strength, so he attributes his success to the Lord; who likewise subdues the sins of his people, and all other enemies of theirs, and who also makes the enemies of his Son his footstool, Psa 110:1.

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

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible

I have wounded them ... - I have so weakened them - so entirely prostrated them - that they were not able to rally again. This does not refer so much to wounds inflicted on individuals in the hostile ranks as to the entire host or army. It was so weakened that it could not again be put in battle array. The idea is that of successful pursuit and conquest.

They are fallen under my feet - I have completely trodden them down - a common mode of denoting entire victory, Psa 119:118; Isa 25:10; Lam 1:15; Dan 8:13; Luk 21:24.

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

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

i.e. Cast down to the ground, so as I may tread upon their necks, after the manner of conquerors, Deu 33:29; Jos 10:24.

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

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

38. Under… my feet—Emblematic of complete subjugation. See on Psa_110:1

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

I have wounded them that they were not able to rise: they are fallen under my feet. It is remarkable that the nations which David subdued scarcely ever, while he lived, rose up again in revolt.

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

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Psalms, in the Wisdom, opens this verse with 7 words (7 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is mâchats (“to shatter”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word mâchats carries the sense “to shatter.” How does it shape the verse?
Numbers 24:8 shares the word «to shatter» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
The verb «אֶ֭מְחָצֵם» is Qal Imperfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Joseph Benson's Commentary read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 7 Hebrew ↔ 13 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 10 words in this verse.
7 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 7 words in this verse.