Do not be like a senseless horse or mule that needs a bit and bridle to keep it under control.”
Parallel translations
- WEB Don’t be like the horse, or like the mule, which have no understanding, who are controlled by bit and bridle, or else they will not come near to you.
- KJV Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.
- BSB Do not be like the horse or mule, which have no understanding; they must be controlled with bit and bridle to make them come to you.
- NKJV Do not be like the horse or like the mule, Which have no understanding, Which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, Else they will not come near you.
- NASB Do not be like the horse or like the mule, which have no understanding, Whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check, Otherwise they will not come near to you.
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's people should not be stubborn like a horse or mule that must be forced, but should yield willingly to his guidance.
Overview
In contrast to the gentle guidance just promised, David warns against the senseless resistance of animals that obey only under restraint. The call is for willing, understanding obedience that responds to God's word rather than to harsh compulsion. The gospel produces such glad submission, as the Spirit gives a new heart eager to follow the Lord.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Prov 26:3A whip is for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the back of fools!
- Jer 4:22“For my people are foolish, they don’t know me. They are foolish children, and they have no understanding. They are skillful in doing evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.”
- Job 35:11who teaches us more than the animals of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?’
- Jer 8:6–7I listened and heard, but they didn’t say what is right. No one repents of his wickedness, saying, “What have I done?” Everyone turns to his course, as a horse that rushes headlong in the battle.
- Jas 3:3Indeed, we put bits into the horses’ mouths so that they may obey us, and we guide their whole body.
- Jas 4:7–10Be subject therefore to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
- Jer 31:18“I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus, ‘You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as an untrained calf: turn me, and I shall be turned; for you are Yahweh my God.
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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 32:9 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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