Psalms 75:6

New Living Translation

For no one on earth—from east or west, or even from the wilderness— should raise a defiant fist.

Parallel Translations

Legacy Standard Bible
For one's rising up does not come from the east, nor from the west,And not from the desert;

New American Standard Bible (1995)
For not from the east, nor from the west, Nor from the desert comes exaltation;

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Because promotion commeth neither from the east nor from the west: nor yet from the south.

Darby Translation
For not from the east nor from the west, nor yet from the south doth exaltation [come]:

New King James Version
For exaltation comes neither from the east Nor from the west nor from the south.

Literal Translation
For exaltations are not from the east, nor from the west, nor from the desert;

Easy-to-Read Version
There is no power on earth that can make a person important.

World English Bible
For neither from the east, nor from the west, Nor yet from the south, comes exaltation.

King James Version (1611)
For promotion commeth neither from the East, nor from the West, nor from the South.

King James Version
For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Set not vp youre hornes an hye, & speake not with a stiff necke.

Amplified Bible
For not from the east, nor from the west, Nor from the desert comes exaltation.

American Standard Version
For neither from the east, nor from the west, Nor yet from the south, cometh lifting up.

Bible in Basic English
For honour does not come from the east, or from the west, or uplifting from the south;

Update Bible Version
For neither from the east, nor from the west, Nor yet from the south, [comes] lifting up.

Webster's Bible Translation
For promotion [cometh] neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south.

New English Translation
For victory does not come from the east or west, or from the wilderness.

Contemporary English Version
Our Lord and our God, victory doesn't come from the east or the west or from the desert.

Complete Jewish Bible
Don't flaunt your strength so proudly; don't speak arrogantly, with your nose in the air!

Geneva Bible (1587)
For to come to preferment is neither from the East, nor from the West, nor from the South,

George Lamsa Translation
For defence comes neither from the west nor from the east nor from the desert mountains.

Hebrew Names Version
For neither from the east, nor from the west, Nor yet from the south, comes exaltation.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Lift not up your horn on high; speak not insolence with a haughty neck.

New Life Bible
For honor does not come from the east or the west or from the desert.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
For good comes neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the desert mountains.

English Revised Version
For neither from the east, nor from the west, nor yet from the south, cometh lifting up.

Berean Standard Bible
For exaltation comes neither from east nor west, nor out of the desert,

New Revised Standard
For not from the east or from the west and not from the wilderness comes lifting up;

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
For neither from east nor west, Nor from the wilderness of thee mountains cometh exaltation ;

Douay-Rheims Bible
(74-7) For neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the desert hills:

Lexham English Bible
For it is not from the east or the west and not from the south that lifting up comes,

English Standard Version
For not from the east or from the west and not from the wilderness comes lifting up,

New American Standard Bible
For not from the east, nor from the west, Nor from the desert comes exaltation;

New Century Version
No one from the east or the west or the desert can judge you.

Good News Translation
Judgment does not come from the east or from the west, from the north or from the south;

Christian Standard Bible®
Exaltation does not come from the east, the west, or the desert,

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For nether fro the eest, nethir fro the west, nethir fro desert hillis; for God is the iuge.

Young's Literal Translation
For not from the east, or from the west, Nor from the wilderness -- [is] elevation.

Revised Standard Version
For not from the east or from the west and not from the wilderness comes lifting up;

Contextual Overview

⁶ For no one on earth—from east or west, or even from the wilderness— should raise a defiant fist. ⁷ It is God alone who judges; he decides who will rise and who will fall. ⁸ For the Lord holds a cup in his hand that is full of foaming wine mixed with spices. He pours out the wine in judgment, and all the wicked must drink it, draining it to the dregs. ⁹ But as for me, I will always proclaim what God has done; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob. ¹⁰ For God says, "I will break the strength of the wicked, but I will increase the power of the godly."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

south: Heb. desert

Reciprocal: Numbers 22:37 - General 2 Kings 9:3 - I have anointed 2 Kings 9:6 - I have anointed 1 Chronicles 29:12 - riches Esther 2:17 - so that he set Psalms 78:71 - brought Psalms 113:7 - raiseth Isaiah 22:19 - General Ezekiel 17:24 - have brought Ezekiel 31:9 - made Daniel 2:21 - he removeth Daniel 4:17 - giveth

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. It is not from men, from themselves, or others, or from any quarter under the heavens, but from God; it is he that raises men to high places, and sets them there, which are often slippery ones: by him kings reign; they have their crowns and sceptres, thrones and kingdoms from him; there is no power but what is of God; riches and honour come of him, and he can take them away when he pleases; and therefore men should not be proud, haughty, and arrogant: some take these words to be the words of the fools and wicked, when they speak with a stiff neck, either as triumphing over the Messiah, his ministers, cause, and interest, reading the words thus, "neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south, shall there be a lifting up" s, or an exaltation; that is, of Christ and his people, they are low, and shall never rise more; but in this they are mistaken; though now the Son of God is trampled under foot in his person and offices, there is a day coming when the Lord, and he alone, shall be exalted; though his ministers and witnesses prophesy in sackcloth, and shall be slain and lie unburied, yet they will arise again and ascend to heaven, to the great terror and astonishment of those their enemies; though Jacob is small, and it is said, by whom shall he arise? yet he shall become, great and numerous; the mountain of the Lord's house, the church, shall be established upon the top of the mountains, and exalted above the hills; and this enlargement of Christ's kingdom and interest shall be east, west, north, and south; or else as flattering themselves that no evil shall come to them from any quarter: "neither from the east, nor from the west, nor, from the desert of the mountains" t, cometh evil; meaning to themselves, looking upon themselves as secure, and putting the evil day far from them: but there will be an awful and righteous judgment; there is a Judge ordained, a day appointed, in which the world will be judged in righteousness, and destruction and ruin will come upon the ungodly, and at a time when they are crying Peace, peace; nor shall they escape; and so the Syriac version renders the words, "for there is no escape from the west, nor from the desert of the mountains"; taking the word הרים, not to signify "promotion, elevation", or "a lifting up", as Kimchi and others, whom we follow: but Moatanus and R. Aba observe that the word always signifies "mountains" but in this place: the Targum is,

"for there is none besides me from the east to the west, nor from the north of the wildernesses, and from the south, the place of the mountains;''

no Messiah to be expected from any quarter; see Matthew 24:23, no God besides him, nor any other Saviour, Isaiah 44:6 nor any other Judge, as follows.

s הרים "exaltatio", Tigurine version, Junius Tremellius, Piscator. t "Neque a desertis montibus", V. L. "neque a deserto montium", Cocceius "neque a deserto Australi montium", Michaelis.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For promotion - The word used here in the original, and rendered “promotion” - הרים hariym - is susceptible of two quite different significations. According to one - that which is adopted by our translators - it is the infinitive (Hiphil) of רום rûm, “to raise” - the word used in Psalms 75:5-6, and there rendered “lift up.” Thus it would mean, that to “lift up” is not the work of people, or is not originated by the earth - does not originate from any part of it, east, west, or south, but must come from God alone. According to the other view, this word is the plural of הר har, “mountain,” and would mean that something - (something understood - as “judgment”) - comes not “from the east, nor the west, nor from the desert of mountains,” the mountainous regions of the south, but must come from God. The Septuagint, the Latin Vulgate, and the ancient versions generally, adopt the latter interpretation. De Wette renders it as our translators have done. This interpretation - rendering it promotions - seems to be the true one, for in the two previous verses this was the prominent idea - a caution against attempting to “lift themselves up,” or to exalt themselves, and in this and the following verse a reason is given for this caution, to wit, that the whole question about success or prosperity depends not on anything here below; not on any natural advantages of situation, or on any human skill or power; but on God alone. It was in vain, in regard to such an object, to form human alliances, or to depend on natural advantages; and therefore people should not depend on these things, but only on God.

Neither from the east - literally, from the outgoing; that is, of the sun. The meaning may either be that success would not depend on any natural advantages of country furnished in the East; or that the persons referred to were seeking to form alliances with an Eastern people, and then the statement would be that no such alliances would of themselves secure success.

Nor from the west - The setting; that is, the place where the sun goes down. This also may refer either to the natural advantages of a Western country, or to some alliance which it was intended to form with the people there.

Nor from the south - Margin, as in Hebrew, “desert.” The reference is to the rocky and barren regions south of Palestine, and the allusion here also may be either to some natural advantages of those regions, or to some alliance which it was proposed to form.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 75:6. For promotion cometh neither from the east, c. — As if the Lord had said, speaking to the Babylonians, None of all the surrounding powers shall be able to help you none shall pluck you out of my hand. I am the Judge: I will pull you down, and set my afflicted people up, Psalms 75:7.

Calmet has observed that the Babylonians had Media, Armenia, and Mesopotamia on the EAST; and thence came Darius the Mede: that it had Arabia, Phoenicia, and Egypt on the WEST; thence came Cyrus, who overthrew the empire of the Chaldeans. And by the mountains of the desert, מדבר הרים midbar harim, which we translate SOUTH, Persia, may be meant; which government was established on the ruins of the Babylonish empire. No help came from any of those powers to the sinful Babylonians; they were obliged to drink the cup of the red wine of God's judgment, even to the very dregs. They were to receive no other punishment; this one was to annihilate them as a people for ever.