Do not put your trust in princes, Nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help.
Parallel translations
- WEB Don’t put your trust in princes, each a son of man in whom there is no help.
- KJV Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.
- BSB Put not your trust in princes, in mortal man, who cannot save.
- NASB Do not trust in noblemen, In mortal man, in whom there is no salvation.
- NLT Don’t put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there.
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
Do not trust in princes or any mortal, for they cannot ultimately save. Human power is no secure foundation for hope.
Overview
The psalm warns against placing ultimate confidence in human rulers, however mighty, since they are merely mortal men 'in whom there is no help' to save. This redirects trust away from earthly powers toward God alone. Only Christ, both Son of Man and Lord, is the helper who truly saves.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Ps 118:8–9It is better to take refuge in Yahweh, than to put confidence in man.
- Jer 17:5–6Yahweh says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from Yahweh.
- Isa 2:22Stop trusting in man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for of what account is he?
- Ps 108:12Give us help against the enemy, for the help of man is vain.
- Isa 31:3Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When Yahweh stretches out his hand, both he who helps shall stumble, and he who is helped shall fall, and they all shall be consumed together.
- Ps 62:9Surely men of low degree are just a breath, and men of high degree are a lie. In the balances they will go up. They are together lighter than a breath.
- Isa 37:6Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master, ‘Yahweh says, “Don’t be afraid of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
- Ps 60:11Give us help against the adversary, for the help of man is vain.
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
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 146:3 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.