Psalms 141:7
in Psalms 141As when one plows and breaks up the soil, so our bones have been scattered at the mouth of Sheol.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
As when one ploweth and cleaveth the earth, Our bones are scattered at the mouth of Sheol.
KJV
Our bones are scattered at the grave’s mouth, as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth.
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This verse in Psalms 141
Commentary
10 notes on this verseAs the thickness of the earth. Everything thick is near to the earth: and the soul that sins clings to the earth. For the Lord from the beginning made all things thin. By his own fault, therefore, each one is made thick, and is drawn down to the earth. Let us give an example. As a wound in the body, swelling, is thick, and is full of pus, when the physician comes he cuts it, and heals it and makes it thin, then it is brought back to its own nature, as it was also created.
This site's exposition
When their rulers are thrown down
on Psalms 141:6-7
When their rulers are thrown down is the turn that wins these words a hearing. Verse 7 puts plowing in the picture, the Hebrew palach for the plow and baqa for breaking the soil open. The scattered bones lie at the mouth of Sheol.
This site's exposition
our bones have been scattered
The plural pronoun makes the scattered bones a company, and Charles Spurgeon saw the godly party broken up by Saul, with no order or head. John Gill thought of the eighty-five priests of Nob whom Saul had killed in 1 Samuel 22. Verse 8 turns from those bones to God.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
What then have all those deaths of the martyrs accomplished? Listen: "As the fatness of the earth is spread over the earth, our bones have been scattered beside the pit" [Psalm 141:7]. "The bones" of the martyrs, that is, the bodies of the witnesses of Christ. The martyrs were slain, and they who slew them seemed to prevail. They prevailed by persecution, that the words of Christ might prevail by preaching. And what was the result of the deaths of the saints? What means, "the fatness of the earth is spread over the earth"? We know that everything that is refuse is the fatness of the earth. The things which are, as it were, contemptible to men, enrich the earth...."Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." As it is contemptible to the world, so is it precious to the husbandman. For he knows the use thereof, and its rich juice; he knows what he desires, what he seeks, whence the fertile crop arises; but this world despises it. Do you not know that "God has chosen the contemptible things of the world, and those which are not, like as those which are, that the things which are may be brought to nought"? [1 Corinthians 1:27-28] From the dunghill was Peter lifted up, and Paul; when they were put to death, they were despised: now, the earth having been enriched by them, and the cross of the Church springing up, behold, all that is noble and chief in the world, even the emperor himself, comes to Rome, and whither does he hasten? To the temple of the emperor, or the memorial of the fisherman?
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth,.... Into which they were not suffered to be put, but lay unburied; or from whence they were dug up, and lay scattered about; which is to be understood of such of David's friends as fell into the hands of Saul and his men, and were slain: perhaps it may refer to the fourscore and five priests, and the inhabitants of Nob, slain by the order of Saul, 1Sa 22:
4 Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity: and let me not eat of their dainties. Mercy to accept what we do well, and grace to keep us from doing ill, are the two things which we are here taught by David's example to pray to God for. David loved prayer, and he begs of God that his prayers might be heard and answered,
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-run:25w-of-74
Our bones - Our case is almost as hopeless as of those who are dead, and whose bones are scattered in several places.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
David's case seemed hopeless: the cause of God in Israel was as a dead thing, even as a skeleton broken, and rotten, and shovelled out of the grave, to return as dust to its dust. Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth. There seemed to be no life, no cohesion, no form, order, or headship among the godly party in Israel: Saul had demolished it, and scattered all its parts, so that it did not exist as an organized whole.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
David's case seemed hopeless: the cause of God in Israel was as a dead thing, even as a skeleton broken, and rotten, and shovelled out of the grave, to return as dust to its dust. Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth. There seemed to be no life, no cohesion, no form, order, or headship among the godly party in Israel: Saul had demolished it, and scattered all its parts, so that it did not exist as an organized whole. David himself was like one of these dried bones, and the rest of the godly were in much the same condition. There seemed to be no vitality or union among the holy seed; but their cause lay at death's door. As when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth. They were like wood divided and thrown apart: not as one piece of timber, nor even as a bundle, but all cut to pieces, and thoroughly divided. Leaving out the word "wood", which is supplied by the translators, the figure relates to cleaving upon the earth, which probably means ploughing, but may signify any other form of chopping and splitting, such as felling a forest, tearing up bushes, or otherwise causing confusion and division. How often have good men thought thus of the cause of God! Wherever they have looked, death, division, and destruction have stared them in the face. Cut and cloven, hopelessly sundered! Scattered, yea, scattered at the grave's mouth! Split up and split for the fire! Such the cause of God and truth has seemed to be. "Upon the earth" the prospect was wretched; the field of the church was ploughed, burrowed, and scarified: it had become like a wood chopper's yard, where everything was doomed to be broken up. We have seen churches in such a state, and have been heart broken. What a mercy that there is always a place above the earth to which we can look! There lives One who will give a resurrection to his cause, and a reunion to his divided people.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Our bones are scattered at the grave’s mouth - We are, indeed, now like bones scattered in the places of graves; we seem to be weak, feeble, disorganized. We are in a condition which of itself seems to be hopeless: as hopeless as it would be for dry bones scattered when they were buried to rise up and attack an enemy. The reference is to the condition of David and his followers as pursued by a mighty foe. His hope was not in his own forces, but in the power and interposition of God Psa 141:8. As when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth - Like chips, blocks, splinters, that have no strength; as when these lie scattered around - a fit emblem of our feeble and scattered forces.
The words behind it
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כְּמ֤וֹ | kemo | like | H3644 → | 143 times |
| פֹלֵ֣חַ | foleach | [one who] plows | H6398 → | |
| וּבֹקֵ֣עַ | uvokea' | and [who] breaks up | H1234 → | 51 times |
| בָּאָ֑רֶץ | baaretz | <in> the earth | H776 → | 2504 times |
| נִפְזְר֥וּ | nifzeru | they have been scattered | H6340 → | 10 times |
| עֲ֝צָמֵ֗ינוּ | ʾatzameinu | bones our | H6106 → | 126 times |
| לְפִ֣י | lefi | to [the] mouth of | H6310 → | 498 times |
| שְׁאֽוֹל׃ | sheol | Sheol | H7585 → | 66 times |
כְּמ֤וֹlike
kemoH3644 →143 times
פֹלֵ֣חַ[one who] plows
foleachH6398 →
וּבֹקֵ֣עַand [who] breaks up
uvokea'H1234 →51 times
בָּאָ֑רֶץ<in> the earth
baaretzH776 →2504 times
נִפְזְר֥וּthey have been scattered
nifzeruH6340 →10 times
עֲ֝צָמֵ֗ינוּbones our
ʾatzameinuH6106 →126 times
לְפִ֣יto [the] mouth of
lefiH6310 →498 times
שְׁאֽוֹל׃Sheol
sheolH7585 →66 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
Romans 8:36As it is written: “For Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
it leads to
- Psalms 44:22
Yet for Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
- Isaiah 53:7
He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 Corinthians 4:9
For it seems to me that God has displayed us apostles at the end of the procession, like prisoners appointed for death. We have become a spectacle to the whole world, to angels as…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 Corinthians 15:30
And why do we endanger ourselves every hour?
- Acts 8:32
The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so He did not open His mouth.
- Psalms 44:22
Through
Psalms 44:22Yet for Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
it leads to
- Romans 8:36
As it is written: “For Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
- Romans 8:36
Through
Psalms 53:5There they are, overwhelmed with dread, where there was nothing to fear. For God has scattered the bones of those who besieged you. You put them to shame, for God has despised them.
it leads to
- Proverbs 28:1
The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.
- Leviticus 26:36
As for those of you who survive, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies, so that even the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to…
- Proverbs 28:1
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Psalms
This page draws on 11 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 141; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 7; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; Jerome, Homily 51, on Psalm 140; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.