If he turn not,.... Not God, but the enemy, or the wicked man, spoken of Psa 7:5; if he turn not from his wicked course of life, to the Lord to live to him, and according to his will; unless he is converted and repents of his sin, and there is a change wrought in him, in his heart and life; the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions read, "if ye turn not", or "are not converted", an apostrophe to the wicked; he will whet his sword: God is a man of war, and he is sometimes represented as accoutred with military weapons; see Isa 59:17; and among the rest with the sword of judgment, which he may be said to whet, when he prepares sharp and sore judgments for his enemies, Isa 27:1; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready; drawn his bow of vengeance, and put it on the full stretch, and made it ready with the arrows of his wrath, levelled against the wicked, with whom he is angry; which is expressive of their speedy and inevitable ruin, in case of impenitence; see Lam 2:4; or "trod his bow", as is the usual phrase elsewhere; see Psa 11:2; which was done by the feet, and was necessary when the bow was a strong one, as Jarchi on Psa 11:2; observes; and so the Arabs, as Suidas (g) relates, using arrows the length of a man, put their feet on the string of the bow instead of their hands. (g) In voce