Psalms 78:57

But turned back ,.... From God and his worship, apostatized from the true religion, and turned to idols:

and dealt unfaithfully, like their fathers ; in the wilderness; see Psalm 78:8 ,

they were turned aside like a deceitful bow ; that promises well to carry the arrow right, but drops it at the feet of the archer; or carries it another way, so that it misses the mark, The Targum is,

"as a bow casting arrows;'

to the ground, and not to the mark; see Hosea 7:16 , or being too much stretched is suddenly broken, and kills the archer; or returns to its own nature; so Arama.