Psalm 78:9
New International Version
The men of Ephraim, though armed with bows, turned back on the day of battle;

New Living Translation
The warriors of Ephraim, though armed with bows, turned their backs and fled on the day of battle.

English Standard Version
The Ephraimites, armed with the bow, turned back on the day of battle.

Berean Standard Bible
The archers of Ephraim turned back on the day of battle.

King James Bible
The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.

New King James Version
The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, Turned back in the day of battle.

New American Standard Bible
The sons of Ephraim were archers equipped with bows, Yet they turned back on the day of battle.

NASB 1995
The sons of Ephraim were archers equipped with bows, Yet they turned back in the day of battle.

NASB 1977
The sons of Ephraim were archers equipped with bows, Yet they turned back in the day of battle.

Legacy Standard Bible
The sons of Ephraim were archers equipped with bows, Yet they turned back in the day of battle.

Amplified Bible
The sons of Ephraim were armed as archers and carrying bows, Yet they turned back in the day of battle.

Christian Standard Bible
The Ephraimite archers turned back on the day of battle.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
The Ephraimite archers turned back on the day of battle.

American Standard Version
The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, Turned back in the day of battle.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
The children of Ephraim strung and cast away the bow when they were attacked and they turned back in the day of war.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
The children of Ephraim, bending and shooting with the bow, turned back in the day of battle.

Contemporary English Version
The warriors from Ephraim were armed with arrows, but they ran away when the battle began.

Douay-Rheims Bible
The sons of Ephraim who bend and shoot with the bow: they have turned back in the day of battle.

English Revised Version
The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
The men of Ephraim, well-equipped with bows [and arrows], turned [and ran] on the day of battle.

Good News Translation
The Ephraimites, armed with bows and arrows, ran away on the day of battle.

International Standard Version
The descendants of Ephraim were sharp shooters with the bow, but they retreated in the day of battle.

JPS Tanakh 1917
The children of Ephraim were as archers handling the bow, That turned back in the day of battle.

Literal Standard Version
Sons of Ephraim—armed bearers of bow, | Have turned in a day of conflict.

Majority Standard Bible
The archers of Ephraim turned back on the day of battle.

New American Bible
The ranks of Ephraimite archers, retreated on the day of battle.

NET Bible
The Ephraimites were armed with bows, but they retreated in the day of battle.

New Revised Standard Version
The Ephraimites, armed with the bow, turned back on the day of battle.

New Heart English Bible
The people of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.

Webster's Bible Translation
The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.

World English Bible
The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.

Young's Literal Translation
Sons of Ephraim -- armed bearers of bow, Have turned in a day of conflict.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
I Will Open My Mouth in Parables
8Then they will not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose heart was not loyal, whose spirit was not faithful to God. 9The archers of Ephraim turned back on the day of battle. 10They failed to keep God’s covenant and refused to live by His law.…

Cross References
Judges 20:39
the men of Israel would turn in the battle. When the Benjamites had begun to strike them down, killing about thirty men of Israel, they said, "They are defeated before us as in the first battle."

1 Chronicles 12:2
they were archers using both the right and left hands to sling stones and shoot arrows; and they were Saul's kinsmen from Benjamin):

Psalm 78:57
They turned back and were faithless like their fathers, twisted like a faulty bow.


Treasury of Scripture

The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.

the children.

1 Chronicles 7:20-22
And the sons of Ephraim; Shuthelah, and Bered his son, and Tahath his son, and Eladah his son, and Tahath his son, …

Deuteronomy 1:41-44
Then ye answered and said unto me, We have sinned against the LORD, we will go up and fight, according to all that the LORD our God commanded us. And when ye had girded on every man his weapons of war, ye were ready to go up into the hill…

Joshua 17:16-18
And the children of Joseph said, The hill is not enough for us: and all the Canaanites that dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron, both they who are of Bethshean and her towns, and they who are of the valley of Jezreel…

carrying.

Judges 9:28,38-40
And Gaal the son of Ebed said, Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? is not he the son of Jerubbaal? and Zebul his officer? serve the men of Hamor the father of Shechem: for why should we serve him? …

Luke 22:33
And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death.

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Archers Armed Battle Bearers Bow Bowmen Bows Carrying Children Conflict Ephraim E'phraimites Equipped Fight Handling Turned
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Psalm 78
1. An exhortation both to learn and to preach, the law of God
9. The story of God's wrath against the incredulous and disobedient
67. The Israelites being rejected, God chose Judah, Zion, and David.














(9) Armed, and carrying bows.--Following Jeremiah 4:29, and from analogy with Jeremiah 44:9 ("handle and bend the bow") we get as literal rendering of the Hebrew here, drawing and shooting with the bow. LXX. and Vulgate, "bending and shooting with the bow." But a close comparison of this verse with Psalm 78:57 of this psalm, and with Hosea 7:16, has suggested to a recent commentator a much more satisfactory explanation, The sons of Ephraim (are like men) drawing slack bowstrings which turn back in the day of battle. "Both the disappointment on the day of battle and the cause of the disappointment, which are mentioned in the text, will be appreciated by the English reader who remembers that the result of the battle of Crecy was determined at the outset by a shower of rain which relaxed the strings of our enemy's bows" (Burgess, Notes on the Hebrew Psalms.)[15]

[15] This translation assumes that the primitive meaning of the verb r?mah is was slack. Certainly the root idea of the word (comp. the cognate r?phah and the meaning of the derivation in Proverbs 10:4; Proverbs 12:24) seems to have been relaxation. That turned back, both here and in Psalm 78:57, refers to the recoil of a bow, seems indubitable. . . .

Verses 9-72. - The historical portion of the psalm now follows. It commences with some general remarks on the transgressions of Ephraim, i.e. of Israel while under the guidance of Ephraim - from Joshua to Samuel (vers. 9-11). It then proceeds to details, and sketches the Israelite history. from the deliverance out of Egypt to the establishment of David's kingdom (vers, 12-72). Verse 9. - The children of Ephraim (comp. ver. 67). Ephraim was the leading tribe, from the appointment of Joshua to succeed Moses until the establishment of Saul as king. Hence the tabernacle was set up within the territory of Ephraim (Joshua 18:1). The importance of Ephraim appears in Judges 3:27; Judges 7:24; Judges 8:1, 2; Judges 10:9; Judges 12:1-6. Being armed, and carrying bows. There is no "and" in the original. "Carrying bows" is exegetical of "being armed" (comp. 2 Chronicles 17:17). Turned back in the day of battle. The allusion is not to any one particular occasion, but to the ill success of Israel under the leadership of Ephraim during the whole period of the Judges (see Judges 2:14; Judges 3:8, 13, 31; Judges 4:2; Judges 6:1; Judges 10:7, 12, etc.).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
The archers
נוֹשְׁקֵ֥י (nō·wō·šə·qê)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine plural construct
Strong's 5401: To kiss, to equip with weapons

of Ephraim
אֶפְרַ֗יִם (’ep̄·ra·yim)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 669: Ephraim -- a son of Joseph, also his descendants and their territory

turned back
הָ֝פְכ֗וּ (hā·p̄ə·ḵū)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 2015: To turn about, over, to change, overturn, return, pervert

on the day
בְּי֣וֹם (bə·yō·wm)
Preposition-b | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3117: A day

of battle.
קְרָֽב׃ (qə·rāḇ)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 7128: Hostile encounter


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OT Poetry: Psalm 78:9 The children of Ephraim being armed (Psalm Ps Psa.)
Psalm 78:8
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