Proverbia 34:18

Jerome's Latin Vulgate

Confitebor tibi in ecclesia magna; in populo gravi laudabo te.

Parallel Translations

Clementine Latin Vulgate (1592)
Qui dicit regi : Apostata ; qui vocat duces impios ;

Nova Vulgata (1979)
[34:19] COPH. Iuxta est Dominus iis, qui contrito sunt corde, et confractos spiritu salvabit.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

is nigh: Psalms 75:1, Psalms 85:9, Psalms 119:151, Psalms 145:18, Isaiah 55:6

unto them: etc. Heb. to the broken of heart, Psalms 51:17, Psalms 147:3, Isaiah 61:1, Luke 4:18

such as: etc. Heb. the contrite of spirit, 2 Kings 22:19, Isaiah 57:15, Isaiah 66:2, Ezekiel 36:26, Ezekiel 36:31

Reciprocal: 1 Samuel 26:24 - let him deliver 2 Chronicles 34:27 - thine heart Psalms 109:16 - slay Proverbs 16:19 - to be Jeremiah 44:10 - humbled Joel 2:13 - rend Matthew 5:3 - the poor

Gill's Notes on the Bible

The Lord [is] nigh unto them that are of a broken heart,.... Who are pressed and bore down with afflictions, by the sorrow of heart under which their spirits are broken, Proverbs 15:13; or with a sense of sin, and sorrow for it, for which their hearts smite them, and they are wounded by it, and broken with it: to these the Lord is "nigh"; not in a general way only, as he is to all men, being God omnipresent, but in a special manner; he comes and manifests himself to them in a gracious way, pours in the oil and wine of his love, and binds up their broken hearts; yea, comes and dwells with them: he does not pass by them and neglect them, much less make the breach worse; he does not break the bruised reeds, but he heals their breaches;

and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit; not in a legal, but in an evangelical way; who are humbled under a sense of sin, and melted down in true repentance, under a view of the love and grace of God; and are poor and mean in their own eyes: to these the Lord has respect; the sacrifices of a broken and contrite spirit are not despised by him, but accepted through faith in Christ; and such he saves with an everlasting salvation in him.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart - Margin, as in Hebrew: “to the broken of heart.” The phrase, “the Lord is nigh,” means that he is ready to hear and to help. The language is, of course, figurative. As an Omnipresent Being, God is equally near to all persons at all times; but the language is adapted to our conceptions, as we feel that one who is near us can help us, or that one who is distant from us cannot give us aid. Compare the notes at Psalms 22:11. The phrase, “them that are of a broken heart,” occurs often in the Bible. It refers to a condition when a burden “seems” to be on the heart, and when the heart “seems” to be crushed by sin or sorrow; and it is designed to describe a consciousness of deep guilt, or the heaviest kind of affliction and trouble. Compare Psalms 51:17; Isaiah 57:15; Isaiah 61:1; Isaiah 66:2.

And sayeth such as be of a contrite spirit - Margin, as in Hebrew: “contrite of spirit.” The phrase here means the spirit as “crushed” or “broken down;” that is, as in the other phrase, a spirit that is oppressed by sin or trouble. The world abounds with instances of those who can fully understand this language.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 34:18. A broken heart — נשברי לב nishberey leb, the heart broken to shivers.

A contrite spirit. — דכאי רוח dakkeey ruach, "the beaten-out spirit." In both words the hammer is necessarily implied; in breaking to pieces the ore first, and then plating out the metal when it has been separated from the ore. This will call to the reader's remembrance Jeremiah 23:29: "Is not my word like as a fire, saith the Lord? And like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?" The breaking to shivers, and beating out, are metaphorical expressions: so are the hammer and the rock. What the large hammer struck on a rock by a powerful hand would do, so does the word of the Lord when struck on the sinner's heart by the power of the Holy Spirit. The broken heart, and the contrite spirit, are two essential characteristics of true repentance.