Psalms 36:14
The wicked have drawn out the sword: they have bent their bow. To cast down the poor and needy, to kill the upright of heart.
Open Psalms 36:14 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Gladium evaginaverunt peccatores ; intenderunt arcum suum : ut dejiciant pauperem et inopem, ut trucident rectos corde.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- ῥομφαίαν ἐσπάσαντο οἱ ἁμαρτωλοί, ἐνέτειναν τόξον αὐτῶν, τοῦ καταβαλεῖν πτωχὸν καὶ πένητα, τοῦ σφάξαι τοὺς εὐθεῖς τῇ καρδίᾳ·
- Hebrew (WLC) shown from Psalms 37:14
- חֶ֤רֶב פָּֽתְח֣וּ רְשָׁעִים֮ וְדָרְכ֪וּ קַ֫שְׁתָּ֥ם לְ֭הַפִּיל עָנִ֣י וְאֶבְי֑וֹן לִ֝טְב֗וֹחַ יִשְׁרֵי דָֽרֶךְ
Haydock's commentary
Heart. Hebrew, "of way." Protestants, "such as be of upright conversation." Only those whose heart is pure, will observe the right path. (Haydock)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Augustine Expositions on the Book of Psalms, Part 2
2. “The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, and to slay such as be of upright heart” ( ver. 14 ). “Their weapon shall enter into their own heart” ( ver. 15 ). It is an easy thing for his weapon, that is, his sword, to reach thy body, even as the sword of the persecutors reached the body of the Martyrs, but when the body had been smitten, “the heart” remained unhurt; but his heart who “drew out the sword against” the body of the just did not clearly remain unhurt. This is attested by this very Psalm. It saith, Their weapon, that is, “Their sword shall,” not go into their body, but, “their weapon shall go into their own heart.” They would fain have slain him in the body. Let them die the death of the soul. …
Eusebius The Church History of Eusebius, Panegyric on the Splendor of Affairs
30. ‘The wicked have drawn out the sword, they have bent their bow, to slay the righteous in heart; let their sword enter into their own heart and their bows be broken.’ And again: ‘Their memorial is perished with a sound’ and ‘their name hast thou blotted out forever and ever’; for when they also were in trouble they ‘cried out and there was none to save: unto the Lord, and he heard them not.’ But ‘their feet were bound together, and they fell, but we have arisen and stand upright.’ And that which was announced beforehand in these words, ‘O Lord, in thy city thou shalt set at naught their image,’, has been shown to be true to the eyes of all.