Psalms 106:26
in Psalms 106So He raised His hand and swore to cast them down in the wilderness,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Therefore he sware unto them, That he would overthrow them in the wilderness,
KJV
Therefore he lifted up his hand against them, to overthrow them in the wilderness:
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This verse in Psalms 106
Commentary
9 notes on this verseTherefore he lifted up his hand against them,.... A gesture used in swearing, Gen 14:22. So the Targum understands it here, "and he lifted up his hand with an oath, because of them:'' and so it is interpreted by Aben Ezra, Jarchi, Kimchi, and Ben Melech; and agrees with Num 14:28. The same gesture was used by the Heathens in swearing, as by Latinus (s). Or he lifted up his hand, in a way of judgment, to strike the blow; and which, when it lights on man with the indignation of his anger, falls heavy; see Isa 26:
This site's exposition
They despised the pleasant land
on Psalms 106:24-27
They despised the pleasant land and did not believe His promise. That is the spies' report of Numbers 13 and 14, and the grumbling in their tents that followed it. He swore they would fall in the wilderness and their offspring be scattered among the nations.
This site's exposition
He raised His hand and swore
A raised hand was the gesture of an oath. Exodus 6:8 uses it for the oath that gave the land to the fathers, and here it shuts that generation out. Numbers 14:28 to 30 records the oath, that their bodies would fall in the wilderness.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"Then lift He up His hand against them, to overthrow them in the wilderness" [Psalm 106:26]; "to cast out their seed among the nations: and to scatter them in the lands" [Psalm 106:27].
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Note, Those who despise God's favours, and particularly the pleasant land, forfeit his favours, and will be shut out for ever from the pleasant land. They were guilty of a great sin in the matter of Peor; and this was the sin of the new generation, when they were within a step of Canaan (
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The Nineteenth Century3 voices
Therefore he lifted up his hand against them, to overthrow them in the wilderness. He swore in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest; he commenced his work of judgment upon them, and they began to die. Only let God lift his hand against a man and his day has come; he falls terribly whom Jehovah overthrows. To overthrow their seed also among the nations, and to scatter them in the lands. Foreseeing that their descendants would reproduce their sins, he solemnly declared that he would give them over to captivity and the sword.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
28:32) afterwards made to their posterity, and fulfilled in the great calamities now bewailed, may have also been then added. despised-- (Nu 14:31). believed not his word--by which He promised He would give them the land; but rather the word of the faithless spies (compare Ps 78:22).
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Therefore he lifted up his hand against them, to overthrow them in the wilderness. He swore in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest; he commenced his work of judgment upon them, and they began to die. Only let God lift his hand against a man and his day has come; he falls terribly whom Jehovah overthrows. To overthrow their seed also among the nations, and to scatter them in the lands. Foreseeing that their descendants would reproduce their sins, he solemnly declared that he would give them over to captivity and the sword. Those whose carcases fell in the wilderness were, in a sense, exiles from the land of promise, and, being surrounded by many hostile tribes, they were virtually in a foreign land: to die far off from their father's inheritance was a just and weighty doom, which their rebellions had richly deserved. Our own loss of fellowship with God, and the divisions in our churches, doubtless often come to us as punishments for the sins out of which they grow. If we will not honour the Lord we cannot expect him to honour us. Our captains shall soon become captives, and our princes shall be prisoners if we forget the Lord and despise his mercies. Our singing shall be turned into sighing, and our mirth into misery if we walk contrary to the mind of the Lord.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Therefore he lifted up his hand against them - Num 14:27-33. He resolved to cut them off, so that none of them should reach the promised land. To overthrow them in the wilderness - literally, to cause them to “fall.”
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיִּשָּׂ֣א | vaiyisa' | and he raised | H5375 → | 656 times |
| יָד֣וֹ | yado | hand his | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| לָהֶ֑ם | lahem | to them | ||
| לְהַפִּ֥יל | lehapil | to make fall | H5307 → | 435 times |
| א֝וֹתָ֗ם | ʾotam | <obj.> them | H853 → | 10935 times |
| בַּמִּדְבָּֽר׃ | bamidbar | in the wilderness | H4057 → | 270 times |
וַיִּשָּׂ֣אand he raised
vaiyisa'H5375 →656 times
יָד֣וֹhand his
yadoH3027 →1618 times
לָהֶ֑םto them
lahem
לְהַפִּ֥ילto make fall
lehapilH5307 →435 times
א֝וֹתָ֗ם<obj.> them
ʾotamH853 →10935 times
בַּמִּדְבָּֽר׃in the wilderness
bamidbarH4057 →270 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 95:11So I swore on oath in My anger, “They shall never enter My rest.”
it leads to
- Hebrews 4:3
Now we who have believed enter that rest. As for the others, it is just as God has said: “So I swore on oath in My anger, ‘They shall never enter My rest.’” And…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Hebrews 3:11
So I swore on oath in My anger, ‘They shall never enter My rest.’”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Hebrews 4:5
And again, as He says in the passage above: “They shall never enter My rest.”
- Numbers 14:23
not one will ever see the land that I swore to give their fathers. None of those who have treated Me with contempt will see it.
- Hebrews 3:18
And to whom did He swear that they would never enter His rest? Was it not to those who disobeyed?
- Hebrews 4:3
Through
Hebrews 3:11So I swore on oath in My anger, ‘They shall never enter My rest.’”
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 1:34–35
When the LORD heard your words, He grew angry and swore an oath, saying,
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Deuteronomy 2:14
The time we spent traveling from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the Brook of Zered was thirty-eight years, until that entire generation of fighting men had perished from the camp, as the LORD had…
- Deuteronomy 1:34–35
Through
Ezekiel 20:15Moreover, with an uplifted hand I swore to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them into the land that I had given them—a land flowing with milk and honey, the glory…
it leads to
- Psalms 95:11
So I swore on oath in My anger, “They shall never enter My rest.”
- Psalms 95:11
Where this verse is studied
About Psalms
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Psalms; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 106; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 5; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.