Psalms 107:16

For he hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder.

King James Version · Read in your translation · Open the Explore console

Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
broken	שִׁ֭בַּר Shi.bar	H7665	to burst (literally or figuratively) · verb, piel perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
gates	דַּלְת֣וֹת dal.Tot	H1817	something swinging · noun, common feminine plural construct
brass	נְחֹ֑שֶׁת ne.Cho.shet	H5178	copper · noun, common feminine singular absolute
cut	גִּדֵּֽעַ gi.De.a'	H1438	to fell a tree · verb, piel perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
bars	וּבְרִיחֵ֖י u.ve.ri.Chei	H1280	a bolt · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural construct
iron	בַרְזֶ֣ל var.Zel	H1270	iron (as cutting) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
sunder	גָּדַע gâdaʻ	H1438	to fell a tree

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Isaiah 45:1-2 Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of k…
Judges 16:3 And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them,…
Micah 2:13 The breaker is come up before them: they have broken up, and have passed through the gate, and are gone out by it: and their king shall pass…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 107:10-16

We are to take notice of the goodness of God towards prisoners and captives. Observe, 1. A description of this affliction. Prisoners are said to sit in darkness (Psa 107:10), in dark dungeons, close prisons, which intimates that they are desolate and disconsolate; they sit in the shadow of death, which intimates not only great distress and trouble, but great danger. Prisoners are many times appointed to die; they sit despairing to get out, but resolving to make the best of it. They are bound in affliction, and many times in iron, as Joseph. Thus sore a calamity is imprisonment, which should make us prize liberty, and be thankful for it. 2. The cause of this affliction, Psa 107:11. It is beca…

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John Gill on Psalms 107:16

For he hath broken the gates of brass,.... The prison doors made of brass, as sometimes of iron, for the security of the prisoners; see Acts 12:10. And cut the bars of iron in sunder; with which they were barred and secured. Hyperbolical phrases these, as Kimchi, expressing how exceeding strong the prison doors were, and the impossibility of an escape out of them, unless the Lord had delivered them; but when he works, none can let; all obstructions are easily removed by him; which is the sense of the words, see Isaiah 45:2. Vitringa, on Revelation 12:2, interprets this of the subjection of the Roman emperors to the faith and obedience of Christ.

John Calvin on Psalms 107:10-16

Psalm 107:10-16 10. They who dwell in darkness, and in the shadow of death, being bound in trouble and iron; 11. Because they rebelled against the words of God, and spurned the counsel of the Most High: 12. When he humbled their heart with affliction; they were brought low, and there was none to help them. 13. In their affliction they cried to Jehovah, and he delivered them from their tribulations. 14. He rescued them from darkness and from the shadow of death, and broke off their chains. 15. Let them praise the mercy of Jehovah in his presence, and his marvelous works in the presence of the sons of men. 16. Because he hath broken the brazen gates, and dashed in pieces the iron bars. [277]…

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The Church Fathers

Let the word weakness teach us that Jesus was not nailed to the tree as the Almighty, the uncircumscribed, the immutable and invariable, but that the nature enlivened by the power of God, according to the apostle's teaching, died and was buried—both death and burial being proper to the nature of a servant. "He broke the gates of brass and cut the bars of iron in sunder" and destroyed the power of death and in three days raised his own temple. These are proofs of the divine nature in accordance with the Lord's words "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up." Thus through the sufferings of the one Christ we contemplate the manhood and through the miracles we apprehend the godhead.
— Theodoret of Cyrus, LETTER 151

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Bar — Used to denote the means by which a door is bolted (Neh. 3:3); a rock in the sea (Jonah 2:6); the shore of the sea (Job 38:10); strong fortifications and powerful impediments, etc. (Isa. 45:2; Amos…
Brass — Which is an alloy of copper and zinc, was not known till the thirteenth century. What is designated by this word in Scripture is properly copper (Deut. 8:9). It was used for fetters (Judg. 16:21; 2…
Gate — (1.) Of cities, as of Jerusalem (Jer. 37:13; Neh. 1:3; 2:3; 3:3), of Sodom (Gen. 19:1), of Gaza (Judg. 16:3). (2.) Of royal palaces (Neh. 2:8). (3.) Of the temple of Solomon (1 Kings 6:34, 35; 2…
Poetry — Has been well defined as “the measured language of emotion.” Hebrew poetry deals almost exclusively with the great question of man’s relation to God. “Guilt, condemnation, punishment, pardon,…
Psalms, Book Of — The present Hebrew name of the book is Tehill’im, “Praises;” but in the actual superscriptions of the psalms the word Tehillah is applied only to one, (Psalms 145:1) ... which is indeed emphatically…
Brass · .Gates — .Gates
Brass, Or Copper · Made into: Gates — Made into: Gates
Gates · Ma — Ma
Iron · Fetters — Fetters

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Psalms 107:16

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 107:10-16

John Gill on Psalms 107:16

John Calvin on Psalms 107:10-16

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Psalms 107:16

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 107:10-16

John Gill on Psalms 107:16

John Calvin on Psalms 107:10-16

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Psalms 107:10-16

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Psalms 107:12

Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 107:16