Yahweh upholds the humble. He brings the wicked down to the ground.
Parallel translations
- KJV The LORD lifteth up the meek: he casteth the wicked down to the ground.
- BSB The LORD sustains the humble, but casts the wicked 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 will guide the humble in justice. He will teach the humble his way.
- Ps 146:8–9Yahweh opens the eyes of the blind. Yahweh raises up those who are bowed down. Yahweh loves the righteous.
- 1 Pet 5:6Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time;
- Jas 4:10Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt you.
- Zeph 2:3Seek Yahweh, all you humble of the land, who have kept his ordinances. Seek righteousness. Seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden in the day of Yahweh’s anger.
- Ps 145:14Yahweh upholds all who fall, and raises up all those who are bowed down.
- Ps 149:4For Yahweh takes pleasure in his people. He crowns the humble with salvation.
- Ps 73:18–19Surely you set them in slippery places. You throw them down to destruction.
- 1 Sam 2:8He raises up the poor out of the dust. He lifts up the needy from the dunghill, To make them sit with princes, and inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth are Yahweh’s. He has set the world on them.
- Ps 55:23But you, God, will bring them down into the pit of destruction. Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days, but I will trust in you.
- Matt 5:5Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.
- 2 Pet 2:4–9For if God didn’t spare angels when they sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;
- Ps 37:11But the humble shall inherit the land, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.
- 1 Pet 3:4but in the hidden person of the heart, in the incorruptible adornment of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God very precious.
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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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