If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready.
The condition is set for the wicked: unless they turn away from their course of sin, judgment is already prepared against them. The sharpened sword and the bent bow made ready portray that divine judgment held in readiness, as weapons of death aimed at the unrepentant. Anger toward such wickedness does not shift or soften, and when the time of reckoning arrives none are able to stand before it.
Every sin must meet one of two ends, either to be forgiven or to be punished, for sin brought to completion produces death, even death that is eternal. The context surrounding the declaration shows the same law of return, that the mischief devised and the violence intended by the wicked fall back upon themselves. The psalm also belongs to deliverance from the trap of sin and to release from condemnation and from its ruling power under the reign of Christ.
The condition is set for the wicked: unless they turn away from their course of sin, judgment is already prepared against them. The sharpened sword and the bent bow made ready portray that divine judgment held in readiness, as weapons of death aimed at the unrepentant. Anger toward such wickedness does not shift or soften, and when the time of reckoning arrives none are able to stand before it.
Every sin must meet one of two ends, either to be forgiven or to be punished, for sin brought to completion produces death, even death that is eternal. The context surrounding the declaration shows the same law of return, that the mischief devised and the violence intended by the wicked fall back upon themselves. The psalm also belongs to deliverance from the trap of sin and to release from condemnation and from its ruling power under the reign of Christ.