Oh, do not let the oppressed return ashamed! Let the poor and needy praise Your name.
Parallel translations
- WEB Don’t let the oppressed return ashamed. Let the poor and needy praise your name.
- KJV O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name.
- BSB Do not let the oppressed retreat in shame; may the poor and needy praise Your name.
- NASB May the oppressed person not return dishonored; May the afflicted and the needy praise Your name.
- NLT Don’t let the downtrodden be humiliated again. Instead, let the poor and needy praise your name.
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
Asaph prays that the oppressed not be turned away ashamed but that the poor and needy may praise God's name.
Overview
The psalmist's concern is that God's deliverance would lead to renewed worship. He asks that the downtrodden not be left disgraced but vindicated, so they can again praise the Lord. God delights to lift up the lowly, and this hope for the poor finds its answer in the gospel that exalts the humble.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Ps 12:5“Because of the oppression of the weak and because of the groaning of the needy, I will now arise,” says Yahweh; “I will set him in safety from those who malign him.”
- Ezra 3:11They sang to one another in praising and giving thanks to Yahweh, “For he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever toward Israel.” All the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised Yahweh, because the foundation of Yahweh’s house had been laid.
- Ps 9:18For the needy shall not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the poor perish forever.
- Ps 103:6Yahweh executes righteous acts, and justice for all who are oppressed.
- Ps 35:10All my bones shall say, “Yahweh, who is like you, who delivers the poor from him who is too strong for him; yes, the poor and the needy from him who robs him?”
- Ps 109:22for I am poor and needy. My heart is wounded within me.
- Isa 45:17Israel will be saved by Yahweh with an everlasting salvation. You will not be disappointed nor confounded to ages everlasting.
- Ps 102:19–21For he has looked down from the height of his sanctuary. From heaven, Yahweh saw the earth;
- Jer 33:11the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say, ‘Give thanks to Yahweh of Armies, for Yahweh is good, for his loving kindness endures forever;’ who bring thanksgiving into Yahweh’s house. For I will cause the captivity of the land to return as at the first,” says Yahweh.
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 74:21 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.