Bow

Passages on this topic

From Nave’s Topical Bible (1896), a historical reference index. The groupings are Nave’s; the verses are shown in the text used across this site.

1. a Weapon

• Genesis 21:16 Then she went off and sat down nearby, about a bowshot away, for she said, “I cannot bear to watch the boy die!” And as she sat nearby, she lifted up her voice and wept.
• Genesis 21:20 And God was with the boy, and he grew up and settled in the wilderness and became a great archer.

Made of brass (R. V.)

• 2 Samuel 22:35 He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
• Job 20:24 Though he flees from an iron weapon, a bronze-tipped arrow will pierce him.
• Psalm 18:34 He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

Of wood

• Ezekiel 39:9 Then those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go out, kindle fires, and burn up the weapons— the bucklers and shields, the bows and arrows, the clubs and spears. For seven years they will use them for fuel.

Used in war

• Isaiah 13:18 Their bows will dash young men to pieces; they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb; they will not look with pity on the children.
• Lamentations 2:4 He has bent His bow like an enemy; His right hand is positioned. Like a foe He has killed all who were pleasing to the eye; He has poured out His wrath like fire on the tent of the Daughter of Zion.
• Ezekiel 39:3 Then I will strike the bow from your left hand and dash down the arrows from your right hand.

Used by the Elamites

• Jeremiah 49:35 This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Behold, I will shatter Elam’s bow, the mainstay of their might.

David instructed the Israelites in the use of, by writing a war song to

• 2 Samuel 1:18 and he ordered that the sons of Judah be taught the Song of the Bow. It is written in the Book of Jashar:

Used in hunting

See Archery

See Arrow

Figurative

• Genesis 49:24 Yet he steadied his bow, and his strong arms were tempered by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, in the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,
• Job 16:13 His archers surround me. He pierces my kidneys without mercy and spills my gall on the ground.
• Job 29:20 My glory is ever new within me, and my bow is renewed in my hand.’
• Psalm 78:57 They turned back and were faithless like their fathers, twisted like a faulty bow.
• Lamentations 3:12 He bent His bow and set me as the target for His arrow.
• Hosea 1:5 And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”
• Habakkuk 3:9 You brandished Your bow; You called for many arrows. Selah You split the earth with rivers.
• Revelation 6:2 So I looked and saw a white horse, and its rider held a bow. And he was given a crown, and he rode out to overcome and conquer.

2. a Token in the Clouds

• Genesis 9:8–17 Then God said to Noah and his sons with him, “Behold, I now establish My covenant with you and your descendants after you, and with every living creature that was with you — the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth— every living thing that came out of the ark. And I establish My coven…
• Ezekiel 1:28 The appearance of the brilliant light all around Him was like that of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell facedown and heard a voice speaking.
• Revelation 4:3 The One seated there looked like jasper and carnelian, and a rainbow that gleamed like an emerald encircled the throne.
• Revelation 10:1 Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head. His face was like the sun, and his legs were like pillars of fire.