the Week of Proper 22 / Ordinary 27
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King James Version
Psalms 10:10
Bible Study Resources
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- InternationalParallel Translations
He crouches, he bows down,And the unfortunate fall by his mighty ones.
He crouches, he bows down, And the unfortunate fall by his mighty ones.
He croucheth and humbleth him selfe: so that a number of the that be weake, fall by his myght.
He croucheth, he boweth down, that the wretched may fall by his strong ones.
So he crouches, he lies low, That the helpless may fall by his strength.
and the poor being crushed, he bows; yea, the poor have fallen by his strong ones.
Again and again they hurt people who are already weak and suffering.
The helpless are crushed, they collapse, They fall under his strength.
He croucheth, and humbleth himselfe, that the poore may fall by his strong ones.
Then smyteth he, then oppresseth he & casteth downe the poore with his auctorite.
The hapless fool is kicked to the ground, the unlucky victim is brutally axed. He thinks God has dumped him, he's sure that God is indifferent to his plight.
He croucheth, he boweth down, And the helpless fall by his strong ones.
The upright are crushed and made low, and the feeble are overcome by his strong ones.
He crouches, he bows down, And the helpless fall by his strong ones.
He croucheth, [and] humbleth himself, that the poor may fall by his strong ones.
His victims are crushed and beaten down; they are trapped in his sturdy nets.
They crouch down and wait to grab a victim.
Yes, he stoops, crouches down low; and the helpless wretch falls into his clutches.
He croucheth and boweth: therefore heaps of the poore doe fall by his might.
He shall be humbled and overthrown, and in his bones there shall be sickness and pain.
He crushes [his prey] and crouches; And the unfortunate fall by his mighty claws.
The helpless are crushed, they collapse, They fall under his strength.
He croucheth, he boweth down, and the helpless fall into his mighty claws.
Their helpless victims are crushed; they fall beneath the strength of the wicked.
The weak are hurt and they fall. They cannot stand under his strength.
He will bow down and fall when he has mastered the poor.
He croucheth, he boweth down, and the helpless fall by his strong ones.
They are crushed and beaten down; the hapless fall prey to his strength.
They stoop, they crouch, and the helpless fall by their might.
He croucheth, he lieth down, then falleth he with his strong claws upon the unfortunate.
(9-31) In his net he will bring him down, he will crouch and fall, when he shall have power over the poor.
He is crushed; he is bowed down; so the helpless host falls by his might.
The helpless are crushed, sink down, and fall by his might.
Then he crushes the needy one, who cowers; And unfortunate people fall by his mighty power.
The poor are thrown down and crushed; they are defeated because the others are stronger.
The helpless victims lie crushed; brute strength has defeated them.
So he is oppressed and beaten down; the helpless fall because of his strength.
In his snare he schal make meke the pore man; he schal bowe hym silf, and schal falle doun, whanne he hath be lord of pore men.
He is bruised -- he boweth down, Fallen by his mighty ones hath the afflicted.
The hapless is crushed, sinks down, and falls by his might.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
croucheth: Heb. breaketh himself, 1 Samuel 2:36
humbleth: 1 Samuel 18:21-26, 1 Samuel 23:21, 1 Samuel 23:22, 2 Samuel 15:5
by his strong ones: Heb. or, into his strong parts
Reciprocal: Psalms 59:3 - they Psalms 73:8 - speak wickedly Ecclesiastes 4:1 - and considered Jeremiah 5:26 - lay wait Matthew 2:7 - General James 2:6 - Do
Cross-References
And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.
Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations;
Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus?
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
At that time Merodachbaladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah: for he had heard that he had been sick, and was recovered.
Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod: waste and utterly destroy after them, saith the Lord , and do according to all that I have commanded thee.
And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God: which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god.
Pass ye unto Calneh, and see; and from thence go ye to Hamath the great: then go down to Gath of the Philistines: be they better than these kingdoms? or their border greater than your border?
Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail: for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there the Lord shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
He croucheth [and] humbleth himself,.... As the lion before he leaps and seizes on his prey, and as the fowler creepeth upon the ground to draw the bird into his net and catch it; so the antichristian beast has two horns like a lamb; though he has the mouth of a lion, and speaks like a dragon, he would be thought to be like the Lamb of God, meek, and lowly, and humble, and therefore calls himself "servus servorum", "the servant of servants"; but his end is,
that the poor may fall by his strong ones; the word for "poor" is here used, as before observed on Psalms 10:8, in the plural number, and is read by the Masorites as two words, though it is written as one, and is by them and other Jewish writers h interpreted a multitude, company, or army of poor ones, whose strength is worn out; these weak and feeble ones antichrist causes to fall by his strong ones; either by his strong decrees, cruel edicts, and severe punishments, as by sword, by flame, by captivity and by spoils, Daniel 11:33; or by the kings of the earth and their armies, their mighty men of war, their soldiers, whom he instigates and influences to persecute their subjects, who will not receive his mark in their right hands or foreheads, Revelation 13:15. It is very observable, that those persecuted by antichrist are so often in this prophetic psalm called "poor"; and it is also remarkable, that there were a set of men in the darkest times of Popery, and who were persecuted by the Papists, called the "poor" men of Lyons: the whole verse may be rendered and paraphrased thus, "he tears in pieces", that is, the poor, whom he catches in his net; "he boweth himself", as the lion does, as before observed; "that he may fall", or rush upon; with his strong ones, his mighty armies, "upon the multitude of the poor".
h Jarchi, Kimchi, & Ben Melech in loc.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
He croucheth - Margin, “breaketh himself.” Coverdale, “Then smiteth he, then oppresseth he.” Prof. Alexander, “And bruised he will sink.” Horsley, “And the overpowered man submits.” Luther, “He slays, and thrusts down, and presses to the earth the poor with power.” This variety of interpretation arises from some ambiguity in regard to the meaning of the original. The word rendered “croucheth” - ודכה, in the Kethib (the text) - is in the Qeri’ (margin), ידכה, “and crushed, he sinks down.” There is some uncertainty about the form in which the word is used, but it is certain that it does not mean, as in our translation, “he croucheth.” The word דכה dâkâh, properly means to be broken in pieces, to be crushed; and this idea runs through all the forms in which the word occurs. The true idea, it seems to me, is that this does not refer to the wicked man, but to his victim or victims, represented here by a word in the collective singular; and the meaning is that such a victim, crushed and broken down, sinks under the power of the persecutor and oppressor. “And the crushed one sinks down.”
And humbleth himself - The word used here - ישׁח yāśoch - from שׁוּח śûch - means to sink down; to settle down. Here it means to sink down as one does who is overcome or oppressed, or who is smitten to the earth. The idea is, that he is crushed or smitten by the wicked, and sinks to the ground.
That the poor may fall - Rather, as in the original, “and the poor fall;” that is, they do fall. The idea is, that they do in fact fall by the arm of the persecutor and oppressor who treads them down.
By his strong ones - Margin, “Or, into his strong parts.” The text here best expresses the sense. The reference is to the strong ones - the followers and abettors of the “wicked” here referred to - his train of followers. The allusion seems to be to this wicked man represented as the head or leader of a band of robbers or outlaws - strong, athletic men engaged under him in committing robbery on the unprotected. See Psalms 10:8-9. Under these strong men the poor and the unprotected fall, and are crushed to the earth. The meaning of the whole verse, therefore, may be thus expressed: “And the crushed one sinks down, and the poor fall under his mighty ones.” The word rendered “poor” is in the plural, while the verb “fall” is in the singular; but this construction is not uncommon when the verb precedes. Nordheimer, Hebrew Grammar, Section 759, i., a. The word rendered “poor” means the wretched or the afflicted, and refers here to those who were unprotected - the victims of oppression and robbery.
The following account of the condition of Palestine at the present time will illustrate the passage here, and show how true the statements of the psalmist are to nature. It occurs in “The land and the Book,” by W. M. Thomson, D. D., Missionary in Syria. He is speaking of the sandy beach, or the sand hills, in the neighborhood of Mount Carmel, and says, respecting these “sandy downs, with feathery reeds, running far inland, the chosen retreat of wild boars and wild Arabs,” “The Arab robber larks like a wolf among these sand heaps, and often springs out suddenly upon the solitary traveler, robs him in a trice, and then plunges again into the wilderness of sand hills and reedy downs, where pursuit is fruitless. Our friends are careful not to allow us to straggle about or lag behind, and yet it seems absurd to fear a surprise here - Khaifa before, and Acre in the rear, and travelers in sight on both sides. Robberies, however, do often occur, just where we now are. Strange country! and it has always been so.” And then quoting the passage before us Psalms 10:8-10, he adds, “A thousand rascals, the living originals of this picture, are this day crouching and lying in wait all over the country to catch poor helpless travelers. You observe that all these people we meet or pass are armed; nor would they venture to go from Acre to Khaifa without their musket, although the cannon of the castles seem to command every foot of the way.” Vol. i., pp. 487, 488.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Psalms 10:10. He croucheth — Of the scoffing, mocking, insulting, and insidious conduct of Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem, the fourth and sixth chapters of Nehemiah give abundant proof; and possibly the allusion is to them. The lion squats down and gathers himself together, that he may make the greater spring.
