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Psalm 20 · a question people ask

Is the psalm saying it's wrong to have chariots and horses?

In the text

Psalm 20 doesn't say who has chariots and horses, or whether they should. It sets two sides next to each other: "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God" (20:7). Other verses speak of horses too, each in its own way. The law for a king says, "Only he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he may multiply horses" (Deuteronomy 17:16) (tap horses). Isaiah has, "Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, and rely on horses, and trust in chariots because they are many" (Isaiah 31:1). A proverb says, "The horse is prepared for the day of battle; but victory is with the LORD" (Proverbs 21:31), and a psalm, "A horse is a vain thing for safety" (Psalm 33:17). And David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin; but I come to you in the name of the LORD of Armies" (1 Samuel 17:45). These verses stand side by side, and these notes don't make a rule from them.

The verses

“Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.”
Psalm 20:7 · World English Bible
“When you have come to the land which the LORD your God gives you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say, “I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,” you shall surely set him whom the LORD your God chooses as king over yourselves. You shall set as king over you one from among your brothers. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. Only he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he may multiply horses; because the LORD has said to you, “You shall not go back that way again.””
Deuteronomy 17:14-16 · World English Bible
“Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, and rely on horses, and trust in chariots because they are many, and in horsemen because they are very strong, but they don’t look to the Holy One of Israel, and they don’t seek the LORD!”
Isaiah 31:1 · World English Bible
“The horse is prepared for the day of battle; but victory is with the LORD.”
Proverbs 21:31 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Psalm 20

Psalm 20: Some trust in chariots

The WEB's trust in "we trust in the name of the LORD our God" (20:7) is, in Hebrew, zakhar, the verb of "remember all your offerings" (20:3). And answer carries the psalm from "May the LORD answer you" (20:1) through "He will answer him" (20:6) to "Let the King answer us when we call!" (20:9).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions