Psalms 21:8
Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies: thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee.
Study Note
Study Note
The royal psalm's declaration 'thine hand shall find out all thine enemies: thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee' addresses the king whose enemies are also God's enemies — the royal-divine solidarity that makes the king's battles God's battles and vice versa. The verb 'find out' (timtza, matzah — to find, encounter, overtake) implies irresistible pursuit: no hiding place is sufficient, a motif developed in Amos 9:1-4 ('though they hide in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence'). Psalm 21 stands as the responsory to Psalm 20 (the battle-prayer before the campaign), making verse 8 a retrospective affirmation of divine-warrior participation in the king's victory. Christian readings have applied the whole psalm to the risen Christ: Psalm 21:4 ('he asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him') becomes his resurrection, and verse 8 his universal sovereignty over enemies.
Other Translations
Thy hand will find out all thine enemies; Thy right hand will find out those that hate thee.
Thy hand cometh to all Thine enemies, Thy right hand doth find Thy haters.
Your hand will make a search for all your haters; your right hand will be hard on all those who are against you.
Cross References
Yet a man is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul: but the soul of my lord shall …
And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him; and he was sore wounded of the archers.
And it came to pass, when the king sat in his house, and the Lord had given him rest round …
Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.
I will love thee, O Lord, my strength.
They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him; and his enemies shall lick the dust.
The enemy shall not exact upon him; nor the son of wickedness afflict him.
And I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him.
The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.