Psalm 144 6

Psalm 144:6 kjv

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

Psalm 144:6 nkjv

Flash forth lightning and scatter them; Shoot out Your arrows and destroy them.

Psalm 144:6 niv

Send forth lightning and scatter the enemy; shoot your arrows and rout them.

Psalm 144:6 esv

Flash forth the lightning and scatter them; send out your arrows and rout them!

Psalm 144:6 nlt

Hurl your lightning bolts and scatter your enemies!
Shoot your arrows and confuse them!

Psalm 144 verses

Psalm 144 6 Meaning

Psalm 144:6 is a fervent plea from the psalmist to God to manifest His mighty power in battle. It implores God to unleash cosmic forces, specifically lightning, to create confusion and dispersion among the enemies. Simultaneously, it calls upon God to shoot His divine arrows, causing utter disarray and destruction, thus ensuring the defeat and elimination of adversaries. It highlights a desperate reliance on God's overwhelming intervention in the face of strong opposition.

Psalm 144 6 Context

Psalm 144 is a Davidic psalm, opening with praise for God who trains David's hands for war and his fingers for battle, portraying Him as a faithful helper and deliverer. The first part of the psalm (verses 1-11) is a prayer for deliverance from powerful adversaries, likely external enemies or "strangers" as mentioned later in the psalm. Verse 6 specifically amplifies the desperate cry for divine military intervention, directly appealing for God to use His immense power, drawing on imagery often associated with Yahweh's majestic presence and judgment, to scatter and ultimately destroy the formidable foes arrayed against the psalmist and his people.

Psalm 144 6 Word analysis

• Send forth (יורה, yorê): The Hebrew root yarah means "to throw" or "to shoot." While it is often used for shooting arrows, it also conveys the sense of causing something to fall or rain down, perfectly fitting the action of "sending forth" lightning from above. It implies deliberate and powerful projection.
• lightning (בָּרָק, bārāq): This word directly means "lightning." In biblical contexts, lightning is often a manifestation of God's majestic presence, His wrath, or His power in judgment (e.g., Ps 18, Ps 97). It symbolizes divine swiftness, terror, destructive force, and unstoppable power. It strikes suddenly and overwhelmingly.
• and scatter them (וּתְהִימֵם, ûṯəhîmêm): Derived from the Hebrew root hûm, meaning "to make a noise," "to discomfit," "to put in commotion," or "to throw into panic." It signifies causing internal confusion and disorder among enemies, leading them to flee in disarray rather than engaging in effective resistance. It describes the psychological warfare aspect of God's intervention.
• shoot out (שְׁלַח, šəlaḥ): This verb means "to send" or "to stretch out." Here, it specifically denotes the purposeful action of propelling something, like arrows, toward a target. It reiterates the intentionality and precision of God's actions.
• Your arrows (חִצֶּיךָ, ḥiṣṣeyḵā): "Arrows" serve as a common metaphor for divine judgment, instruments of God's wrath or specific afflictions. Unlike human arrows, God's arrows are unerring and carry irresistible divine power, symbolic of swift and decisive divine intervention.
• and destroy them (וּתְהֻמֵם, ûṯəhūmêm): This uses the exact same root hûm as "and scatter them," though grammatically configured differently for emphasis. The repetition strongly reinforces the idea of utter confusion and panic leading to complete demoralization and effective elimination of the enemy's threat. It's not just a physical annihilation, but a psychological and strategic dismantling through chaos.

Words-group by words-group analysis:

• "Send forth lightning, and scatter them": This phrase describes God unleashing a cosmic weapon that sows immediate terror and disarray among the enemies. The unexpected and blinding force of lightning creates panic, breaking their formation and driving them apart. This emphasizes God's power over creation and His ability to use natural elements as tools of war.
• "shoot out Your arrows, and destroy them": This second parallel phrase reinforces the military imagery with divine precision and lethal effect. God's arrows are directed and potent, aiming to not just scatter but to definitively nullify the threat of the enemies by creating such discomfiture that their capacity to fight or even exist as a coherent force is destroyed. The combination of lightning (cosmic chaos) and arrows (precise judgment) shows the comprehensiveness of God's divine warfare.

Psalm 144 6 Bonus section

The strong imagery in Psalm 144:6—lightning and arrows—draws on a common theme in the Psalms and other prophetic literature, where natural phenomena are presented not as random occurrences, but as instruments of God's purposeful action, especially in judgment and warfare. This imagery likely resonated deeply with ancient Near Eastern understanding of divine power, while fundamentally asserting Yahweh's singular and sovereign control over such forces, contrasting Him with the impotent or capricious storm deities of surrounding cultures. The use of repetitive action verbs ("send forth," "shoot out") and identical discomfiting results ("scatter," "destroy" - same Hebrew root) heightens the psalmist's urgent plea and absolute confidence in God's ability to fulfill it definitively.

Psalm 144 6 Commentary

Psalm 144:6 articulates a powerful theological truth: God is the supreme warrior, whose intervention surpasses any human military might. The psalmist appeals to God to use His awesome power, represented by both the awe-inspiring force of lightning from the heavens and the precision of divine arrows, to inflict confusion and complete defeat upon the enemies. This verse portrays God as actively engaged in the affairs of His people, ready to defend them by discomfiting their adversaries, emphasizing reliance on His supernatural power for deliverance from seemingly insurmountable threats. This is a call for a swift, decisive, and overwhelming manifestation of divine wrath and protection.