He humbled their hearts with hard labor; they stumbled, and there was no one to help.
Parallel translations
- WEB Therefore he brought down their heart with labor. They fell down, and there was no one to help.
- KJV Therefore he brought down their heart with labour; they fell down, and there was none to help.
- NKJV Therefore He brought down their heart with labor; They fell down, and there was none to help.
- NASB Therefore He humbled their heart with labor; They stumbled and there was no one to help.
- NLT That is why he broke them with hard labor; they fell, and no one was there to help them.
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
God humbled their hearts with hard labor until they fell with no one to help.
Overview
As discipline, the LORD bowed down their proud hearts through toil until they collapsed helpless and friendless. The breaking of human pride and the exhaustion of all other helpers often precede true turning to God. This humbling that drives the helpless to cry to God anticipates the gospel truth that the end of self-reliance is the beginning of grace.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Ps 22:11Be not far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.
- Exod 5:18–19Now get to work. You will be given no straw, yet you must deliver the full quota of bricks.”
- Exod 2:23After 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.
- Luke 15:14–17After he had spent all he had, a severe famine swept through that country, and he began to be in need.
- Isa 51:23I will place it in the hands of your tormentors, who told you: ‘Lie down, so we can walk over you,’ so that you made your back like the ground, like a street to be traversed.”
- 2 Kgs 6:26–27As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, “Help me, my lord the king!”
- 2 Kgs 6:33While Elisha was still speaking with them, the messenger came down to him. And the king said, “This calamity is from the LORD. Why should I wait for the LORD any longer?”
- Lam 5:5–6We are closely pursued; we are weary and find no rest.
- Isa 51:19–20These pairs have befallen you: devastation and destruction, famine and sword. Who will grieve for you? Who can comfort you?
- Job 9:13God does not restrain His anger; the helpers of Rahab cower beneath Him.
- Judg 16:30Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” Then he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people in it. So in his death he killed more than he had killed in his life.
- Neh 9:37Its abundant harvest goes to the kings You have set over us because of our sins. And they rule over our bodies and our livestock as they please. We are in great distress.
- Isa 52:5And now what have I here? declares the LORD. For My people have been taken without cause; those who rule them taunt, declares the LORD, and My name is blasphemed continually all day long.
- Isa 63:5I looked, but there was no one to help; I was appalled that no one assisted. So My arm brought Me salvation, and My own wrath upheld Me.
- Judg 10:16–18So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the LORD, and He could no longer bear the misery of Israel.
- Judg 16:21Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, where he was bound with bronze shackles and forced to grind grain in the prison.
- Ps 18:40–41You have made my enemies retreat before me; I put an end to those who hated me.
- Ps 142:4Look to my right and see; no one attends to me. There is no refuge for me; no one cares for my soul.
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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 107:12 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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