Psalms 18:27
in Psalms 18For You save an afflicted people, but You humble those with haughty eyes.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For thou wilt save the afflicted people; But the haughty eyes thou wilt bring down.
KJV
For thou wilt save the afflicted people; but wilt bring down high looks.
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This verse in Psalms 18
Commentary
9 notes on this verseFor thou wilt save the afflicted people,.... As the people of God commonly are; they are afflicted with sin, and the corruption of their own hearts, and with Satan and his temptations, and with the world, its reproaches, and persecutions; but God in his own time saves them out of them, if not here, yet hereafter.
This site's exposition
To the faithful You show Yourself faithful
on Psalms 18:25-27
God meets a man in the terms the man brings. He shows Himself faithful to the faithful, blameless to the blameless, pure to the pure, and shrewd to the crooked. The same God saves an afflicted people and humbles those with haughty eyes.
This site's exposition
You humble those with haughty eyes
Albert Barnes read both clauses of verse 27 as general inferences. Others in affliction may hope as the psalmist did, and God will deal with the proud as He dealt with his haughty foes. Adam Clarke took the afflicted to be the humble, whom God has always befriended.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"For You will make whole the humble people" [Psalm 18:27]. Now this seems froward to the froward, that You will make whole those who confess their sins. "And You will humble the eyes of the proud." But them that are "ignorant of God's righteousness, and seek to establish their own," [Romans 10:3] You will humble.
The Medieval Church1 voice
Next the reason for retribution is set forth; therefore there follows, "With the holy one." Regarding this he does two things. First he sets forth the reason for retribution. Second, he expounds it, at "for you will save the humble people." The first two verses …
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
"For thou wilt save the afflicted people." This is a comforting assurance for the poor in spirit whose spiritual griefs admit of no sufficient solace from any other than a divine hand. They cannot save themselves nor can others do it, but God will save them. "But will bring down high looks." Those who look down on others with scorn shall be looked down upon with contempt ere long. The Lord abhors a proud look. What a reason for repentance and humiliation! How much better to be humble than to provoke God to humble us in his wrath!
"For thou wilt save the afflicted people." This is a comforting assurance for the poor in spirit whose spiritual griefs admit of no sufficient solace from any other than a divine hand. They cannot save themselves nor can others do it, but God will save them. "But will bring down high looks." Those who look down on others with scorn shall be looked down upon with contempt ere long. The Lord abhors a proud look. What a reason for repentance and humiliation! How much better to be humble than to provoke God to humble us in his wrath! A considerable number of clauses occur in this passage in the future tense; how forcibly are we thus brought to remember that our present joy or sorrow is not to have so much weight with us as the great and eternal future!
For thou wilt save the afflicted - The afflicted are the humble; and those thou hast ever befriended.
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
For thou wilt save the afflicted people - From the particular tokens of divine favor toward himself in affliction and trouble, the psalmist now draws the general inference that this was the character of God, and that others in affliction might hope for his interposition as he had done. But wilt bring down high looks - Another general inference probably derived from the dealings of God with the proud and haughty foes of the psalmist. As God had humbled them, so he infers that he would deal with others in the same way. “High looks” are indicative of pride and haughtiness. Compare Psa 101:5; Pro 6:17; Pro 21:4; Isa 2:11 (notes); Isa 10:12; Dan 7:20.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אַ֭תָּה | ʾatah | you | H859 → | 1094 times |
| עַם־ | ʾam- | a people | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| עָנִ֣י | ʾani | afflicted | H6041 → | 73 times |
| תוֹשִׁ֑יעַ | toshia' | you save | H3467 → | 206 times |
| וְעֵינַ֖יִם | veeinayim | and eyes | H5869 → | 887 times |
| רָמ֣וֹת | ramot | uplifted | H7311 → | 190 times |
| תַּשְׁפִּֽיל׃ | tashpil | you bring low | H8213 → | 31 times |
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
אַ֭תָּהyou
ʾatahH859 →1094 times
עַם־a people
ʾam-H5971 →1873 times
עָנִ֣יafflicted
ʾaniH6041 →73 times
תוֹשִׁ֑יעַyou save
toshia'H3467 →206 times
וְעֵינַ֖יִםand eyes
veeinayimH5869 →887 times
רָמ֣וֹתuplifted
ramotH7311 →190 times
תַּשְׁפִּֽיל׃you bring low
tashpilH8213 →31 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
Isaiah 57:15For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in a high and holy place, and with the oppressed and humble in spirit,…
it leads to
- Psalms 34:18
The LORD is near to the brokenhearted; He saves the contrite in spirit.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 66:1–2
This is what the LORD says: “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. What kind of house will you build for Me? Or where will My place of repose be?
- Psalms 138:6
Though the LORD is on high, He attends to the lowly; but the proud He knows from afar.
- Psalms 34:18
Through
Isaiah 66:2Has not My hand made all these things? And so they came into being,” declares the LORD. “This is the one I will esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, who trembles…
it leads to
- Isaiah 57:15
For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in a high and holy place, and with the oppressed and humble in spirit,…
- Psalms 51:17
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.
- Matthew 5:3–4
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
- 2 Chronicles 34:27–28
because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and against its people, and because you have humbled yourself before Me and you have…
- Isaiah 57:15
Through
James 2:5Listen, my beloved brothers: Has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him?
it leads to
- Matthew 5:3
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
- Matthew 5:3
Where this verse is studied
About Psalms
This page draws on 9 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; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 18; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 1; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Thomas Aquinas, Exposition on the Psalms of David.