Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee; according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die;
Parallel translations
- WEB Let the sighing of the prisoner come before you. According to the greatness of your power, preserve those who are sentenced to death.
- BSB May the groans of the captives reach You; by the strength of Your arm preserve those condemned to death.
- NKJV Let the groaning of the prisoner come before You; According to the greatness of Your power Preserve those who are appointed to die;
- NASB Let the groaning of the prisoner come before You; According to the greatness of Your power, let those who are doomed to die remain.
- NLT Listen to the moaning of the prisoners. Demonstrate your great power by saving those condemned to die.
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
They ask God to hear the groaning prisoners and preserve those condemned to die. The prayer pleads for the powerless by God's great power.
Overview
The psalmist appeals for 'the sighing of the prisoner' to reach God and for Him to spare those sentenced to death. It rests God's deliverance on 'the greatness of your power.' This compassion for captives reflects God's heart and anticipates Christ, who came to proclaim liberty to captives and release to the oppressed (Luke 4:18).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Ps 102:20To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death;
- Isa 42:7To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.
- Isa 33:2O LORD, be gracious unto us; we have waited for thee: be thou their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble.
- Ps 146:6–7Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth truth for ever:
- Exod 2:23–24And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.
- Ps 12:5For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the LORD; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him.
- Ps 69:33For the LORD heareth the poor, and despiseth not his prisoners.
- Eph 3:20Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
- Matt 6:13And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
- Num 14:17–19And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my LORD be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 79:11 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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