Psalms 69:33
in Psalms 69For the LORD listens to the needy and does not despise His captive people.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For Jehovah heareth the needy, And despiseth not his prisoners.
KJV
For the Lord heareth the poor, and despiseth not his prisoners.
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This verse in Psalms 69
Commentary
10 notes on this verseFor the Lord heareth the poor. The examples of David and David's Lord, and tens of thousands of the saints, all go to prove this. Monarchs of the nations are deaf to the poor, but the Sovereign of the Universe has a quick ear for the needy. None can be brought lower than was the Nazarene, but see how highly he is exalted: descend into what depths we may, the prayer hearing God can bring us up again. And despiseth not his prisoners.
This site's exposition
The humble will see and rejoice
on Psalms 69:32-33
The rescue of one man becomes news for the humble, who see it and rejoice. Verse 32 tells those who seek God to be revived. Verse 33 gives the reason: the LORD listens to the needy, and Barnes reads His captive people as men bound by affliction.
This site's exposition
does not despise His captive people
Adam Clarke notes that the word for needy means beggars, and he pictures captives begging bread. Charles Spurgeon calls the captive people God's prisoners, and so prisoners of hope. The humble of verse 32 see it and rejoice.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"For the Lord hath hearkened to the poor." He hath hearkened to the poor, and He would not have hearkened to the poor, unless they were poor. Wilt thou be hearkened to? Poor be thou: let sorrow cry out from thee, and not fastidiousness. "And His fettered ones He hath not despised." Being offended at His servants, He hath put them in fetters: but them crying from the fetters He hath not despised. What are these fetters? Mortality, the corruptibleness of the flesh are the fetters wherewith we have been bound. And would ye know the weight of these fetters? Of them is said, "The body which is corrupted weigheth down the soul." Whenever men in the world will to be rich, for these fetters they are seeking rags. But let the rags of the fetters suffice: seek so much as is necessary for keeping off want, but when thou seekest superfluities, thou longest to load thy fetters. In such a prison then let the fetters abide even alone. "Sufficient for the day be the evil thereof."
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
When his sorrows are over, and he enters into the joy that was set before him, when he is heard and discharged from his imprisonment in the grave, the humble shall look upon it and be glad, and those that seek God through Christ shall live and be comforted, concluding that, if they suffer with him, they shall also reign with him.
Now, in this, David was a type of Christ, and divers passages in this psalm are applied to Christ in the new Testament and are said to have their accomplishment in him (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
For the Lord heareth the poor,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
For the Lord heareth the poor. The examples of David and David's Lord, and tens of thousands of the saints, all go to prove this. Monarchs of the nations are deaf to the poor, but the Sovereign of the Universe has a quick ear for the needy. None can be brought lower than was the Nazarene, but see how highly he is exalted: descend into what depths we may, the prayer hearing God can bring us up again. And despiseth not his prisoners. Poor men have their liberty, but these are bound; however, they are God's prisoners, and, therefore, prisoners of hope. The captive in the dungeon is the lowest and least esteemed of men, but the Lord seeth not as man seeth; he visited those who are bound with chains, and proclaims a jail delivery for his afflicted. God despises no man, and no prayer that is honest and sincere. Distinctions of rank are nothing with him; the poor have the gospel preached to them, and the prisoners are loosed by his grace. Let all poor and needy ones hasten to seek his face, and to yield him their love.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
For the Lord heareth the poor - אביונים ebyonim, of the beggars. He perhaps refers here to the case of the captives, many of whom were reduced to the most abject state, so as to be obliged to beg bread from their heathen oppressors. His prisoners - The captives, shut up by his judgments in Chaldea, without any civil liberty, like culprits in a prison.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
For the Lord heareth the poor - The needy; the humble; the unprotected. The reference is to those who are in circumstances of want and distress. The truth stated here is in accordance with all that is said in the Scriptures. Compare the notes at Psa 34:6. See also Job 5:15; Psa 10:14; Psa 12:5; Psa 35:10; Psa 68:10. And despiseth not his prisoners - He does not overlook them; he does not treat them as if they were worthy of no attention or regard. The word “prisoners” here may refer to those who are, as it were, bound by affliction under his own providential dealings; or to those who are oppressed, or are held as captives, or are thrown into prison, on his account. The particular reference here seems to be to David, and to those associated with him, who were straitened or deprived of their freedom in the cause of God.
The words behind it
9 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 |
| שֹׁמֵ֣עַ | shomea' | [is] listening | H8085 → | 1159 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| אֶבְיוֹנִ֣ים | ʾevyonim | needy [people] | H34 → | 61 times |
| יְהוָ֑ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| וְאֶת־ | veet | and <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| אֲ֝סִירָ֗יו | ʾasirav | prisoners his | H615 → | 11 times |
| לֹ֣א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| בָזָֽה׃ | vazah | he despises | H959 → | 44 times |
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
שֹׁמֵ֣עַ[is] listening
shomea'H8085 →1159 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
אֶבְיוֹנִ֣יםneedy [people]
ʾevyonimH34 →61 times
יְהוָ֑הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
וְאֶת־and <obj.>
veetH853 →10935 times
אֲ֝סִירָ֗יוprisoners his
ʾasiravH615 →11 times
לֹ֣אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
בָזָֽה׃he despises
vazahH959 →44 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
Revelation 2:10Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Look, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison to test you, and you will suffer tribulation for ten days. Be faithful…
it leads to
- James 1:12
Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.
- Matthew 10:22
You will be hated by everyone because of My name, but the one who perseveres to the end will be saved.
- Revelation 3:10–11
Because you have kept My command to persevere, I will also keep you from the hour of testing that is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the…
- Luke 21:16–19
You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you will be put to death.
- Mark 13:13
You will be hated by everyone because of My name, but the one who perseveres to the end will be saved.
- James 1:12
Through
Psalms 68:6God settles the lonely in families; He leads the prisoners out to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a sun-scorched land.
it leads to
- Isaiah 61:1
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…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 113:9
He settles the barren woman in her home as a joyful mother to her children. Hallelujah!
- Psalms 107:10
Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and chains,
- Isaiah 61:1
Where this verse is studied
About Psalms
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, ON THE PSALMS, Psalm 69; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 3; John Calvin, Commentary on the Book of Psalms; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.