The LORD sustains the humble, but casts the wicked to the ground.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh upholds the humble. He brings the wicked down to the ground.
- KJV The LORD lifteth up the meek: he casteth the wicked down to the ground.
- NKJV The Lord lifts up the humble; He casts the wicked down to the ground.
- NASB The Lord supports the afflicted; He brings the wicked down to the ground.
- NLT The Lord supports the humble, but he brings the wicked down into the dust.
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 lifts up the humble and brings the wicked down to the ground. He reverses human fortunes according to His justice.
Overview
God's power serves His justice: He raises the lowly and casts down the wicked. This reversal is a recurring biblical theme of grace to the meek and resistance to the proud. Mary celebrated this same pattern in her song over the coming of Christ (Luke 1:52).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Ps 25:9He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them His way.
- Ps 146:8–9the LORD opens the eyes of the blind, the LORD lifts those who are weighed down, the LORD loves the righteous.
- 1 Pet 5:6Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, so that in due time He may exalt you.
- Jas 4:10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.
- Zeph 2:3Seek the LORD, all you humble of the earth who carry out His justice. Seek righteousness; seek humility. Perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the LORD’s anger.
- Ps 145:14The LORD upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.
- Ps 149:4For the LORD takes pleasure in His people; He adorns the afflicted with salvation.
- Ps 73:18–19Surely You set them on slick ground; You cast them down into ruin.
- 1 Sam 2:8He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap. He seats them among princes and bestows on them a throne of honor. For the foundations of the earth are the LORD’s, and upon them He has set the world.
- Ps 55:23But You, O God, will bring them down to the Pit of destruction; men of bloodshed and deceit will not live out half their days. But I will trust in You.
- Matt 5:5Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
- 2 Pet 2:4–9For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them deep into hell, placing them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment;
- Ps 37:11But the meek will inherit the land and delight in abundant prosperity.
- 1 Pet 3:4but from the inner disposition of your heart, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in God’s sight.
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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 147:6 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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