To hear the groaning of the prisoner, To set free those who were doomed 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;
- BSB to hear a prisoner’s groaning, to release those condemned to death,
- NKJV To hear the groaning of the prisoner, To release those appointed 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 79:11Let the sighing of the prisoner come before you. According to the greatness of your power, preserve those who are sentenced to death.
- Ps 146:7who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. Yahweh frees the prisoners.
- Exod 3:7Yahweh said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.
- Isa 61:1–3The Lord Yahweh’s Spirit is on me; because Yahweh has anointed me to preach good news to the humble. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to those who are bound;
- 2 Chr 33:11–13Therefore Yahweh brought on them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh in chains, bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.
- Isa 14:17who made the world like a wilderness, and overthrew its cities; who didn’t release his prisoners to their home?”
- 2 Kgs 13:22–23Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz.
- Eph 2:2–3in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the children of disobedience;
- Zech 9:9–12Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King comes to you! He is righteous, and having salvation; lowly, and riding on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
- Exod 2:23–25In the course of those many days, the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up to God because of the bondage.
- 2 Kgs 13:4Jehoahaz begged Yahweh, and Yahweh listened to him; for he saw the oppression of Israel, how the king of Syria oppressed them.
- Acts 12:6–11The same night when Herod was about to bring him out, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains. Guards in front of the door kept the prison.
- Jer 51:32–35So the passages are seized. They have burned the reeds with fire. The men of war are frightened.”
- Job 24:12From out of the populous city, men groan. The soul of the wounded cries out, yet God doesn’t regard the folly.
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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
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.