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Selected Verse: Psalms 107:39 - Strong Concordance
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Ps 107:39 |
Strong Concordance |
Again, they are minished [04591] and brought low [07817] through oppression [06115], affliction [07451], and sorrow [03015]. |
| |
King James |
Again, they are minished and brought low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
Again, they are minished ... - literally, "And they are made to decrease." That is - all is in the hand of God. He rules and directs all things. If there is prosperity, it comes from him; if there are reverses, they occur under his hand. People are not always prosperous. There are changes, misfortunes, disappointments, sorrows. God so deals with the race as in the bests manner to secure the recognition of himself: not always sending prosperity, lest people should regard it as a thing of course, and forget that it comes from him; and not making the course of life uniformly that of disappointment and sorrow, lest they should feel that there is no God presiding over human affairs. He visits now with prosperity, and now with adversity; now with success, and now with reverses, showing that his agency is constant, and that people are wholly dependent on him. In existing circumstances - since man is what he is - it is better that there should be alternations, reverses, and changes, than that there should be a uniform course.
Through oppression - Anything that "presses" or "straitens."
Affliction - Evil; here, in the sense of calamity.
And sorrow - Anguish, pain: of body or mind. |
| Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
| But is also came to pass that it went ill with them, inasmuch as their flourishing prosperous condition drew down upon them the envy of the powerful and tyrannical; nevertheless God put an end to tyranny, and always brought His people again to honour and strength. Hitzig is of opinion that Psa 107:39 goes back into the time when things were different with those who, according to Psa 107:36-38, had thriven. The modus consecutivus is sometimes used thus retrospectively (vid., Isa 37:5); here, however, the symmetry of the continuation from Psa 107:36-38, and the change which is expressed in Psa 107:39 in comparison with Psa 107:38, require an actual consecution in that which is narrated. They became few and came down, were reduced (שׁחח, cf. Pro 14:19 : to come to ruin, or to be overthrown), a coarctatione malitiae et maeroris. עצר is the restraint of despotic rule, רעה the evil they had to suffer under such restraint, and רגון sorrow, which consumed their life. מעצר has Tarcha and רעה Munach (instead of Mercha and Mugrash, vid., Accentuationssystem, xviii. 2). There is no reason for departing from this interpunction and rendering: "through tyranny, evil, and sorrow." What is stiff and awkward in the progress of the description arises from the fact that Psa 107:40 is borrowed from Job 12:21, Job 12:24, and that the poet is not willing to make any change in these sublime words. The version shows how we think the relation of the clauses is to be apprehended. Whilst He pours out His wrath upon tyrants in the contempt of men that comes upon them, and makes them fugitives who lose themselves in the terrible waste, He raises the needy and those hitherto despised and ill-treated on high out of the depth of their affliction, and makes families like a flock, i.e., makes their families so increase, that they come to have the appearance of a merrily gamboling and numerous flock. Just as this figure points back to Job 21:11, so Psa 107:42 is made up out of Job 22:19; Job 5:16. The sight of this act of recognition on the part of God of those who have been wrongfully oppressed gives joy to the upright, and all roguery (עולה, vid., Ps 92:16) has its mouth closed, i.e., its boastful insolence is once for all put to silence. In Psa 107:43 the poet makes the strains of his Psalm die away after the example of Hosea, Hosea 14:10 [9], in the nota bene expressed after the manner of a question: Who is wise - he will or let him keep this, i.e., bear it well in mind. The transition to the justice together with a change of number is rendered natural by the fact that מי חכם, as in Hos. loc. cit. (cf. Jer 9:11; Est 5:6, and without Waw apod. Jdg 7:3; Pro 9:4, Pro 9:16), is equivalent to quisquis sapeins est. חסדי ה (חסדי) are the manifestations of mercy or loving-kindness in which God's ever-enduring mercy unfolds itself in history. He who is wise has a good memory for and a clear understanding of this. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| They - These men, who when they are exalted by God, grow insolent and secure. Low - By God's just judgment. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
| Again, they are minished - Sometimes by war, or pestilence, or famine. How minished and brought low was the country already spoken of, by the long and destructive war which began in 1775, and was not ended till 1783! And what desolations, minishings, and ruin have been brought on the fertile empires of Europe by the war which commenced in 1792, and did not end till 1814! And how many millions of lives have been sacrificed in it, and souls sent unprepared into the eternal world! When God makes inquisition for blood, on whose heads will he find the blood of these slaughtered millions? Alas! O, alas! |
16 Whoso is simple [06612], let him turn in [05493] hither: and as for him that wanteth [02638] understanding [03820], she saith [0559] to him,
4 Whoso is simple [06612], let him turn in [05493] hither: as for him that wanteth [02638] understanding [03820], she saith [0559] to him,
3 Now therefore go to [04994], proclaim [07121] in the ears [0241] of the people [05971], saying [0559], Whosoever is fearful [03373] and afraid [02730], let him return [07725] and depart early [06852] from mount [02022] Gilead [01568]. And there returned [07725] of the people [05971] twenty [06242] and two [08147] thousand [0505]; and there remained [07604] ten [06235] thousand [0505].
6 And the king [04428] said [0559] unto Esther [0635] at the banquet [04960] of wine [03196], What is thy petition [07596]? and it shall be granted [05414] thee: and what is thy request [01246]? even to the half [02677] of the kingdom [04438] it shall be performed [06213].
11 And I will make [05414] Jerusalem [03389] heaps [01530], and a den [04583] of dragons [08577]; and I will make [05414] the cities [05892] of Judah [03063] desolate [08077], without an inhabitant [03427].
43 Whoso is wise [02450], and will observe [08104] these things, even they shall understand [0995] the lovingkindness [02617] of the LORD [03068].
16 So the poor [01800] hath hope [08615], and iniquity [05766] stoppeth [07092] her mouth [06310].
19 The righteous [06662] see [07200] it, and are glad [08055]: and the innocent [05355] laugh them to scorn [03932].
42 The righteous [03477] shall see [07200] it, and rejoice [08055]: and all iniquity [05766] shall stop [07092] her mouth [06310].
11 They send forth [07971] their little ones [05759] like a flock [06629], and their children [03206] dance [07540].
24 He taketh away [05493] the heart [03820] of the chief [07218] of the people [05971] of the earth [0776], and causeth them to wander [08582] in a wilderness [08414] where there is no way [01870].
21 He poureth [08210] contempt [0937] upon princes [05081], and weakeneth [07503] the strength [04206] of the mighty [0650].
40 He poureth [08210] contempt [0937] upon princes [05081], and causeth them to wander [08582] in the wilderness [08414], where there is no way [01870].
19 The evil [07451] bow [07817] before [06440] the good [02896]; and the wicked [07563] at the gates [08179] of the righteous [06662].
38 He blesseth [01288] them also, so that they are multiplied [07235] greatly [03966]; and suffereth [04591] not their cattle [0929] to decrease [04591].
39 Again, they are minished [04591] and brought low [07817] through oppression [06115], affliction [07451], and sorrow [03015].
36 And there he maketh the hungry [07457] to dwell [03427], that they may prepare [03559] a city [05892] for habitation [04186];
37 And sow [02232] the fields [07704], and plant [05193] vineyards [03754], which may yield [06213] fruits [06529] of increase [08393].
38 He blesseth [01288] them also, so that they are multiplied [07235] greatly [03966]; and suffereth [04591] not their cattle [0929] to decrease [04591].
5 So the servants [05650] of king [04428] Hezekiah [02396] came [0935] to Isaiah [03470].
36 And there he maketh the hungry [07457] to dwell [03427], that they may prepare [03559] a city [05892] for habitation [04186];
37 And sow [02232] the fields [07704], and plant [05193] vineyards [03754], which may yield [06213] fruits [06529] of increase [08393].
38 He blesseth [01288] them also, so that they are multiplied [07235] greatly [03966]; and suffereth [04591] not their cattle [0929] to decrease [04591].
39 Again, they are minished [04591] and brought low [07817] through oppression [06115], affliction [07451], and sorrow [03015].