to hear a prisoner’s groaning, to release those condemned to death,
Parallel translations
- WEB to hear the groans of the prisoner; to free those who are condemned to death;
- KJV To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death;
- NKJV To hear the groaning of the prisoner, To release those appointed to death,
- NASB To hear the groaning of the prisoner, To set free those who were doomed to death,
- NLT to hear the groans of the prisoners, to release those condemned to die.
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
He hears the prisoner's groans and frees those condemned to die. God acts to deliver the oppressed and doomed.
Overview
God looks down specifically to hear the groaning of prisoners and to release those appointed to death. His attention moves Him to act in liberation. This foreshadows the work of Christ, who came to proclaim freedom to captives and life to those under sentence of death (Luke 4:18).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Ps 79:11May the groans of the captives reach You; by the strength of Your arm preserve those condemned to death.
- Ps 146:7He executes justice for the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets the prisoners free,
- Exod 3:7The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the affliction of My people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their oppressors, and I am aware of their sufferings.
- Isa 61:1–3The Spirit of the Lord GOD is on Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners,
- 2 Chr 33:11–13So the LORD brought against them the military commanders of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon.
- Isa 14:17who turned the world into a desert and destroyed its cities, who refused to let the captives return to their homes?”
- 2 Kgs 13:22–23And Hazael king of Aram oppressed Israel throughout the reign of Jehoahaz.
- Eph 2:2–3in which you used to walk when you conformed to the ways of this world and of the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit who is now at work in the sons of disobedience.
- Zech 9:9–12Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your King comes to you, righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
- Exod 2:23–25After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned and cried out under their burden of slavery, and their cry for deliverance from bondage ascended to God.
- 2 Kgs 13:4Then Jehoahaz sought the favor of the LORD, and the LORD listened to him because He saw the oppression that the king of Aram had inflicted on Israel.
- Acts 12:6–11On the night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, with sentries standing guard at the entrance to the prison.
- Jer 51:32–35The fords have been seized, the marshes set on fire, and the soldiers are terrified.”
- Job 24:12From the city, men groan, and the souls of the wounded cry out, yet God charges no one with wrongdoing.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 102:20 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
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