Psalms 33:19
in Psalms 33to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
To deliver their soul from death, And to keep them alive in famine.
KJV
To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.
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This verse in Psalms 33
Commentary
12 notes on this verseThese are the two prayers of the most faithful Christian: to be rescued from eternal death at the coming judgment and to spend time here with spiritual nourishment. The Lord rescues the souls of the just from death when he raises them from the power …
This site's exposition
the eyes of the LORD are on
on Psalms 33:18-19
Against the horse that cannot save, the psalm sets the eyes of the LORD. Fear and hope stand together in one line, those who fear Him and those who put their hope in His loving devotion. The two dangers named are death and famine.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"To deliver their souls from death, and to keep them alive in famine" [Psalm 33:19]. To give them the nourishment of the Word, and of Everlasting Truth, which they lost while presuming on their own strength, and therefore have not even their own strength, from lack of righteousness.
The Medieval Church2 voices
Those who fear him, those who hope for his mercy, he saves from spiritual death and nourishes in a spiritual way, that they may also say, "Let your mercy be on us, Lord, as we have hoped in you."
Then when he says, "Behold, the eyes of the Lord," the efficacy of divine mercy for saving is shown. And first he sets forth the mercy that saves. Second, the disposition of the saints conceived from this consideration, at "Our soul." Concerning the first he …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
He does not say that he will give them abundance (they have no reason either to desire it or to expect it), but he will keep them alive; they shall not starve; and, when destroying judgments are abroad, it ought to be reckoned a great favour, for it is a very striking one, and lays us under peculiar obligations, to have our lives given us for a prey.
3 Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise. 4 For the word of the L ORD is right; and all his works are done in truth. 5 He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the L ORD .
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:91%@v3-5
5 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
To deliver their soul from death,....
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
To deliver their soul from death. The Lord's hand goes with his eye; he sovereignly preserves those whom he graciously observes. Rescues and restorations hedge about the lives of the saints; death cannot touch them till the King signs his warrant and gives him leave, and even then his touch is not so much mortal as immortal; he doth not so much kill us as kill our mortality. And to keep them alive in famine. Gaunt famine knows its master. God has meal and oil for his Elijahs somewhere.
To deliver their soul from death. The Lord's hand goes with his eye; he sovereignly preserves those whom he graciously observes. Rescues and restorations hedge about the lives of the saints; death cannot touch them till the King signs his warrant and gives him leave, and even then his touch is not so much mortal as immortal; he doth not so much kill us as kill our mortality. And to keep them alive in famine. Gaunt famine knows its master. God has meal and oil for his Elijahs somewhere. "Verily thou shalt be fed" is a divine provision for the man of faith. The Preserver of men will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish. Power in human hands is outmatched by famine, but God is good at a pinch, and proves his bounty under the most straitened circumstances. Believer, wait upon thy God in temporals. His eye is upon thee, and his hand will not long delay.
To deliver their soul from death - To watch over and protect them in all sudden dangers and emergencies, so that they shall not lose their Lives by any accident. And to keep them alive in famine - Not only prevent sudden death by an instantaneous interposition of my power, but keep them from a lingering death, by extraordinary supplies granted them in an extraordinary manner; because I am all in all, and all everywhere.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
To deliver their soul from death - To preserve their “lives,” - for so the word “soul” is to be understood here. The meaning is, to keep them alive. That is, God is their Protector; He guards and defends them when in danger. And to keep them alive in famine - In times of want. Compare Job 5:20. He can provide for them when the harvests fail. Famine was one of the evils to which the inhabitants of Palestine, and of Oriental countries generally, were particularly exposed, and it is often referred to in the Scriptures.
The words behind it
5 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לְהַצִּ֣יל | lehatzil | to deliver | H5337 → | 212 times |
| מִמָּ֣וֶת | mimavet | from death | H4194 → | 156 times |
| נַפְשָׁ֑ם | nafsham | life their | H5315 → | 754 times |
| וּ֝לְחַיּוֹתָ֗ם | ulechaiyotam | and to preserve alive them | H2421 → | 282 times |
| בָּרָעָֽב׃ | baraav | in <the> famine | H7458 → |
לְהַצִּ֣ילto deliver
lehatzilH5337 →212 times
מִמָּ֣וֶתfrom death
mimavetH4194 →156 times
נַפְשָׁ֑םlife their
nafshamH5315 →754 times
וּ֝לְחַיּוֹתָ֗םand to preserve alive them
ulechaiyotamH2421 →282 times
בָּרָעָֽב׃in <the> famine
baraavH7458 →
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
John 10:28I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand.
it leads to
- John 6:39–40
And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that I shall lose none of those He has given Me, but raise them up at the last day.
- John 6:37
Everyone the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will never drive away.
- John 3:15–16
that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.
- Hebrews 7:25
Therefore He is able to save completely those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede for them.
- Romans 8:29
For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers.
- John 6:39–40
Through
Proverbs 10:3The LORD does not let the righteous go hungry, but He denies the craving of the wicked.
it leads to
- Psalms 37:3
Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.
- Matthew 6:30–33
If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
- Psalms 37:25
I once was young and now am old, yet never have I seen the righteous abandoned or their children begging for bread.
- Psalms 37:3
About Psalms
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; 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 33; Cassiodorus, EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 33:19; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 2; John Calvin, Commentary on the Book of Psalms; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Pseudo-Athanasius, EXPOSITION ON PSALM 33 and Thomas Aquinas, Exposition on the Psalms of David.