Psalms 76:12
He breaks the spirits of princes; He is feared by the kings of the earth.
BSB
ASV
He will cut off the spirit of princes: He is terrible to the kings of the earth.
KJV
He shall cut off the spirit of princes: he is terrible to the kings of the earth.
To the terrible one. To whom? To God. And to him who takes away the spirit of princes. When we see certain powerful men, for example, emperors, prefects, and men exceedingly powerful in this world, let us too say to God: Who takes away the spirit of princes. By "spirit" we can speak both of the soul, and we can speak also of pride. Let us understand it also in another way. Who takes away the spirit of princes. Let us here understand "princes" as the saints.
Cut off - As men do their grapes in time of vintage; so the Hebrew verb implies.
Not that God needs any present we can bring, or can be benefited by it; but thus we must give him honour and own that we have our all from him. Our prayers and praises, and especially our hearts, are the presents we should bring to the Lord our God. The reasons to enforce this duty: Render to all their due, fear to whom fear is due; and is it not due to God?
He shall cut off the spirit of princes. Their courage, skill, and life are in his hands, and he can remove them as a gardener cuts off a slip from a plant. None are great in his hand. Caesars and Napoleons fall under his power as the boughs of the tree beneath the woodman's axe. He is terrible to the kings of the earth. While they are terrible to others, he is terrible to them.
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
Revelation 6:15Then the kings of the earth, the nobles, the commanders, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and free man hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains.
leads to
Men will flee to caves in the rocks and holes in the ground, away from the terror of the LORD and from the splendor of His majesty, when He rises to shake the earth.
They will flee to caverns in the rocks and crevices in the cliffs, away from the terror of the LORD and from the splendor of His majesty, when He rises to shake the earth.
In that day the LORD will punish the host of heaven above and the kings of the earth below.
Go into the rocks and hide in the dust from the terror of the LORD and the splendor of His majesty.
Therefore be wise, O kings; be admonished, O judges of the earth.
Through
Psalms 68:12“Kings and their armies flee in haste; she who waits at home divides the plunder.
leads to
Now the five kings had fled and hidden in the cave at Makkedah.
Through
Zephaniah 3:6“I have cut off the nations; their corner towers are destroyed. I have made their streets deserted with no one to pass through. Their cities are laid waste, with no man, no inhabitant.
leads to
Woe to the dwellers of the seacoast, O nation of the Cherethites! The word of the LORD is against you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines: “I will destroy you, and no one will…
These things took place as examples to keep us from craving evil things as they did.