Psalms 147:6
in Psalms 147The LORD sustains the humble, but casts the wicked to the ground.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Jehovah upholdeth the meek: He bringeth the wicked down to the ground.
KJV
The Lord lifteth up the meek: he casteth the wicked down to the ground.
⋯
This verse in Psalms 147
Commentary
12 notes on this verseThe Lord lifteth up the meek: he casteth the wicked down to the ground. He reverses the evil order of things. The meek are down, and he lifts them up; the wicked are exalted, anti he hurls them down to the dust. The Lord loves those who are reverent to himself, humble in their own eyes, and gentle to their fellow men: these he lifts up to hope, to peace, to power, to eternal honour. When God lifts a man, it is a lift indeed.
This site's exposition
His understanding has no limit
on Psalms 147:5-6
The LORD's understanding has no limit. The next line turns power toward men: the humble are held up, and the wicked are put on the ground. Matthew Henry reads the humble as those who abase themselves before God and whom men trample on.
This site's exposition
The LORD sustains the humble
Spurgeon saw the LORD reversing the order of things, lifting the meek and throwing down the wicked. Albert Barnes linked both halves to the psalm before, where the LORD lifts those who are weighed down and frustrates the wicked. Jerome read the lifted humble as the stars of verse 4.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
"The Lord takes up the gentle" [Psalm 147:6]. For example; you understand not, you fail to understand, canst not attain: honour God's Scripture, honour God's Word, though it be not plain: in reverence wait for understanding. Be not wanton to accuse either the obscurity or seeming contradiction of Scripture. There is nothing in it contradictory: somewhat there is which is obscure, not in order that it may be denied you, but that it may exercise him that shall afterward receive it. When then it is obscure, that is the Physician's doing, that you may knock. He willed that you should be exercised in knocking; He willed it, that He might open to you when you knock. By knocking you shall be exercised; exercised, you shall be enlarged; enlarged, you shall contain what is given. Be not then indignant for that it is shut; be mild, be gentle. Kick not against what is dark, nor say, It were better said, if it were said thus. For how can you thus say, or judge how it is expedient it be said? It is said as it is expedient it be said. Let not the sick man seek to amend his remedies: the Physician knows how to temper them: believe Him who cares for you. Therefore what comes next?..."The Lord takes up the gentle, but humbles the sinners even to the ground," he intended a certain sort of sinners to be understood, from the gentleness mentioned first. By sinners then in this place, we understand the fierce, and those who are not gentle. Wherefore does He "humble them even to the earth"? They carp at objects of understanding, they shall perceive only things earthly.
The Lord who lifts up the meek. What are those stars? The Lord who lifts up the meek. The meek are turned into stars. But the just shall shine like the stars of heaven: Daniel says it. But bringing down sinners even to the ground. See the difference of things. Angels fall down to the earth: men go to heaven. The Lord who lifts up the meek. Meekness calls up to heaven: pride drags down to the earth. But bringing down sinners even to the ground.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
) may well enough be applied to the first building and fortifying of Jerusalem in his time, and the gathering in of those that had been out-casts in Saul's time. The Septuagint divides it into two; and we may divide it into the first and second part, but both of the same import. We are called upon to praise God,
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
The Lord lifteth up the meek,....
God proves himself to be God by looking on the proud and abasing them, Job xl. The provision he makes for the inferior creatures. Though he is so great as to command the stars, he is so good as not to forget even the fowls,
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
We are furnished with matter for praise, for God is to be glorified, 1. As the God of nature, and so he is very great,
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
The Lord lifteth up the meek: he casteth the wicked down to the ground. He reverses the evil order of things. The meek are down, and he lifts them up; the wicked are exalted, anti he hurls them down to the dust. The Lord loves those who are reverent to himself, humble in their own eyes, and gentle to their fellow men: these he lifts up to hope, to peace, to power, to eternal honour. When God lifts a man, it is a lift indeed. Proud men are in their own esteem, high enough already; only those who are low will care to be lifted up, and only such will Jehovah upraise. As for the wicked, they must come down from their scats of vain glory. God is accustomed to overthrow such; it is his way and habit. None of the wicked shall in the end escape. To the earth they must go; for from the earth they came, and for the earth they live. It is one of the glories of our God for which his saints praise him, that he hath put down the mighty from their seats, and hath exalted them of low degree. Well may the righteous be lifted up in spirit and the wicked be downcast as they think of the judgments of the Lord God. In this verse we see the practical outcome of that character of Jehovah which leads him to count and call the stars as if they were little things, while he deals tenderly with sorrowful men, as if they were precious in his esteem. He is so great that nothing is great to him, and he is so condescending that nothing is little to him: his infinite majesty thus naturally brings low the lofty and exalts the lowly.
The Lord lifteth up the meek - The humbled, the afflicted.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The Lord lifteth up the meek - The humble; the poor; the bowed down; the oppressed. See the notes at Psa 146:8: “The Lord raiseth them that are bowed down.” He casteth the wicked down to the ground - See the notes at Psa 146:9: “The way of the wicked he turneth upside down.”
The words behind it
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מְעוֹדֵ֣ד | meoded | [is] relieving | H5749 → | 44 times |
| עֲנָוִ֣ים | ʾanavim | humble [people] | H6035 → | 22 times |
| יְהוָ֑ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| מַשְׁפִּ֖יל | mashpil | [is] bringing low | H8213 → | 31 times |
| רְשָׁעִ֣ים | reshaim | wicked [people] | H7563 → | 263 times |
| עֲדֵי־ | ʾadei- | to | H5704 → | 1261 times |
| אָֽרֶץ׃ | ʾaretz | [the] ground | H776 → | 2504 times |
מְעוֹדֵ֣ד[is] relieving
meodedH5749 →44 times
עֲנָוִ֣יםhumble [people]
ʾanavimH6035 →22 times
יְהוָ֑הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
מַשְׁפִּ֖יל[is] bringing low
mashpilH8213 →31 times
רְשָׁעִ֣יםwicked [people]
reshaimH7563 →263 times
עֲדֵי־to
ʾadei-H5704 →1261 times
אָֽרֶץ׃[the] ground
ʾaretzH776 →2504 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
1 Peter 5:6Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, so that in due time He may exalt you.
it leads to
- Luke 14:11
For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- James 4:10
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.
- Proverbs 29:23
A man’s pride will bring him low, but a humble spirit will obtain honor.
- Luke 18:14
I tell you, this man, rather than the Pharisee, went home justified. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
- Luke 14:11
Through
James 4:10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.
it leads to
- Matthew 23:12
For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 Peter 5:6
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, so that in due time He may exalt you.
- James 4:6–7
But He gives us more grace. This is why it says: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
- Matthew 23:12
Through
Psalms 145:14The LORD upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.
it leads to
- Psalms 146:8
the LORD opens the eyes of the blind, the LORD lifts those who are weighed down, the LORD loves the righteous.
- Psalms 146:8
Where this verse is studied
About Psalms
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 147; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 7; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; Jerome, Homily 56, on Psalm 146; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.