Psalm 37/Notes/Phrasal.v. 14.53237
From Psalms: Layer by Layer
The clause translated "they have strung their bows" (cf. NLT) is literally "they have stepped on their bows." The reference is not to pulling the string back to fire an arrow but to "the method of bending the unstrung bow enough [using one's foot] to slip the bowstring in place on the end of the bow" (Pritz 2009, 107). See J. A. Emerton, “Treading the Bow,” Vetus Testamentum 53, no. 4 (2003): 465–486.