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God setteth the solitary in families: he bringeth out those which are bound with chains: but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.
Psalms 68:6 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB God sets the lonely in families. He brings out the prisoners with singing, but the rebellious dwell in a sun-scorched land.
  • BSB God settles the lonely in families; He leads the prisoners out to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a sun-scorched land.
  • NKJV God sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity; But the rebellious dwell in a dry land.
  • NASB God makes a home for the lonely; He leads out the prisoners into prosperity, Only the rebellious live in parched lands.
  • NLT God places the lonely in families; he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy. But he makes the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.

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 settles the lonely in families and frees prisoners, while the rebellious dwell in barrenness. It shows God's care for the outcast and His justice toward rebels.

Overview

God places the solitary into families and leads prisoners out into freedom, but the stubbornly rebellious are left in a parched land. His grace gathers the lonely while His justice marks the defiant. This gathering into God's family is fulfilled as Christ brings the estranged into the household of God.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 15

  • Ps 113:9He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the LORD.
  • Ps 69:33For the LORD heareth the poor, and despiseth not his prisoners.
  • Ps 107:10Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron;
  • Isa 61:1The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
  • Ps 107:14He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder.
  • Ps 146:7Which executeth judgment for the oppressed: which giveth food to the hungry. The LORD looseth the prisoners:
  • Ps 107:40–41He poureth contempt upon princes, and causeth them to wander in the wilderness, where there is no way.
  • Gal 4:27For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.
  • 1 Sam 2:5They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry ceased: so that the barren hath born seven; and she that hath many children is waxed feeble.
  • Acts 12:6–25And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison.
  • Acts 16:26And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed.
  • Ps 107:34A fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.
  • Deut 28:23–24And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.
  • Hos 2:3Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst.
  • Mal 1:3And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (1)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Psalms videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Psalms 68:6YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on PsalmsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 68:6 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

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.