For the LORD will vindicate His people and have compassion on His servants when He sees that their strength is gone and no one remains, slave or free.
Parallel translations
- WEB For Yahweh will judge his people, and have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their power is gone; that there is no one remaining, shut up or left at large.
- KJV For the LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left.
- NKJV “Forthe Lord will judge His people And have compassion on His servants, When He sees that their power is gone, And there is no one remaining, bond or free.
- NASB “For the Lord will vindicate His people, And will have compassion on His servants, When He sees that their strength is gone, And there is none remaining, bond or free.
- NLT “Indeed, the Lord will give justice to his people, and he will change his mind about his servants, when he sees their strength is gone and no one is left, slave or free.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The LORD will judge His people yet have compassion on His servants when He sees their strength is gone. It matters because God's judgment is tempered by mercy toward His own.
Overview
The same God who judges also relents in compassion when His people are brought low and helpless. This turn from judgment to mercy reveals God's heart to restore rather than only to punish. Such compassion toward the helpless foreshadows the gospel, where God shows mercy to those who, unable to save themselves, are rescued through Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Ps 135:14For the LORD will vindicate His people and will have compassion on His servants.
- Ps 106:45And He remembered His covenant with them, and relented by the abundance of His loving devotion.
- 2 Kgs 14:26For the LORD saw that the affliction of the Israelites, both slave and free, was very bitter. There was no one to help Israel,
- Judg 2:18Whenever the LORD raised up a judge for the Israelites, He was with that judge and saved them from the hands of their enemies while the judge was still alive; for the LORD was moved to pity by their groaning under those who oppressed them and afflicted them.
- Deut 30:1–3“When all these things come upon you—the blessings and curses I have set before you—and you call them to mind in all the nations to which the LORD your God has banished you,
- 1 Kgs 14:10Because of all this, behold, I am bringing disaster on the house of Jeroboam: I will cut off from Jeroboam every male, both slave and free, in Israel; I will burn up the house of Jeroboam as one burns up dung until it is gone!
- Ps 7:8The LORD judges the peoples; vindicate me, O LORD, according to my righteousness and integrity.
- 1 Kgs 21:21This is what the LORD says: ‘I will bring calamity on you and consume your descendants; I will cut off from Ahab every male in Israel, both slave and free.
- Ps 90:13Return, O LORD! How long will it be? Have compassion on Your servants.
- Ps 50:4He summons the heavens above, and the earth, that He may judge His people:
- Judg 10:15–16“We have sinned,” the Israelites said to the LORD. “Deal with us as You see fit; but please deliver us today!”
- Amos 7:3So the LORD relented from this plan. “It will not happen,” He said.
- Jer 31:20Is not Ephraim a precious son to Me, a delightful child? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore My heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him,” declares the LORD.
- Amos 7:6So the LORD relented from this plan. “It will not happen either,” said the Lord GOD.
- Ps 96:13before the LORD, for He is coming—He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in His faithfulness.
- Joel 2:14Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave a blessing behind Him—grain and drink offerings for the LORD your God.
- 2 Kgs 9:8The whole house of Ahab will perish, and I will cut off from Ahab every male, both slave and free, in Israel.
- Heb 10:30For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge His people.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Moses promised a Prophet like himself to whom Israel must listen (18:15); Jesus is that Prophet, the one who keeps the covenant we broke and becomes the curse for us by hanging on a tree (Gal 3:13).
How Deuteronomy 32:36 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.