Psalms 102:20
to hear a prisoner’s groaning, to release those condemned to death,
BSB
ASV
To hear the sighing of the prisoner; To loose those that are appointed to death;
KJV
To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death;
To hear the groaning - By sin, all the inhabitants of the earth are miserable. They have broken the Divine laws, are under the arrest of judgment, and all cast into prison, They have been tried, found guilty, and appointed to die; they groan under their chains, are alarmed at the prospect of death, and implore mercy.
For he hath looked down from the heights of his sanctuary, or "leaned from the high place of his holiness, " from heaven did the Lord behold the earth, looking out like a watcher from his tower. What was the object of this leaning lrom the battlements of heaven? Why this intent gaze upon the race of men? The answer is full of astounding mercy; the Lord does not look upon mankind to note their grandees, and observe the doings of their nobles, but to hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death.
1834–1892
I SUPPOSE the first sense of this passage would be just this. Israel had been carried away captive and only the poorest of the people had been left in the land. Jerusalem was a heap. Zion had been plowed with the plow of desolation. The whole country was, compared with its former state, like a desert. But in due time, God, who had peculiar favor towards His people, though He had sorely smitten them, would look down upon them. From the height of His sanctuary in Heaven, He would look down upon the ruins of His sanctuary on earth.
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
The walk8
Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.
Through
Exodus 3:7The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the affliction of My people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their oppressors, and I am aware of their sufferings.
leads to
He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him; He hears their cry and saves them.
Nevertheless He heard their cry; He took note of their distress.
After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned and cried out under their burden of slavery, and their cry for deliverance from bondage ascended to God.
This poor man called out, and the LORD heard him; He saved him from all his troubles.
If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to Me in distress, I will surely hear their cry.
Through
Psalms 146:7He executes justice for the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets the prisoners free,
leads to
The LORD executes righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.
God settles the lonely in families; He leads the prisoners out to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a sun-scorched land.
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is on Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty…