Psalms 107:39

Again, they are minished and brought low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
minished	וַיִּמְעֲט֥וּ vai.yim.'a.Tu	H4591	properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
low	וַיָּשֹׁ֑חוּ vai.ya.Sho.chu	H7817	to sink or depress (reflexive or causative) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
oppression	מֵעֹ֖צֶר me.'O.tzer	H6115	closure · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
affliction	רָעָ֣ה ra.'Ah	H7451	bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral) · noun, common feminine singular absolute
sorrow	וְיָגֽוֹן ve.ya.Gon	H3015	affliction · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute

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

Exodus 2:23-24 And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cr…
2 Kings 10:32 In those days the LORD began to cut Israel short: and Hazael smote them in all the coasts of Israel;
Judges 6:3-6 And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, even they came up agains…
2 Kings 14:26 For the LORD saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter: for there was not any shut up, nor any left, nor any helper for Israel.
2 Chronicles 15:5-6 And in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of th…
Genesis 45:11 And there will I nourish thee; for yet there are five years of famine; lest thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast, come to poverty…
Exodus 1:13-14 And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour:
Ruth 1:20-21 And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 107:33–end

The psalmist, having given God the glory of the providential reliefs granted to persons in distress, here gives him the glory of the revolutions of providence, and the surprising changes it sometimes makes in the affairs of the children of men. I. He gives some instances of these revolutions. 1. Fruitful countries are made barren and barren countries are made fruitful. Much of the comfort of this life depends upon the soil in which our lot is cast. Now, (1.) The sin of man has often marred the fruitfulness of the soil and made it unserviceable, Psa 107:33, Psa 107:34. Land watered with rivers is sometimes turned into a wilderness, and that which had been full of water-springs now has not so…

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John Gill on Psalms 107:39

Again they are minished,.... Or "lessened", in their families, cattle, and substance; either the same persons as before, or others. The Targum paraphrases it, "but when they sin, they are lessened:'' for sin is the cause of it, as follows: and brought low through oppression, affliction and sorrow; either because of their oppression of the poor, the evil they do to them, and the sorrow they bring upon them; or they are brought into a low estate through the tyranny and oppression of others, and by the afflictions and sorrows they are brought into by them. This may be applied to the Jews, at their destruction by the Romans, when they were greatly lessened and brought low by their oppression…

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John Calvin on Psalms 107:33-41

Psalm 107:33-41 33. He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and springs of water into dryness; 34. A fruitful land into saltness, [287] because of the wickedness of those who dwell in it. 35. He turneth the desert into a pool of water, and the land of barrenness into springs of water. 36. And there he maketh the hungry to dwell, that they may build a city of habitation; 37. And sow fields, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of the increase. 38. And he blesses them, and they multiplied greatly; and he maketh not their cattle to decrease. 39. Afterwards they are lessened and dejected, by reason of anguish, misery, and sorrow. 40. He poureth contempt upon princes, and maketh them to wander in…

The Church Fathers

"And they became few, and were vexed" [Psalm 107:39]. Whence this? From athwart? Nay, from within. For that they should "become few," "They went out from us, but they were not of us." [1 John 2:19] But therefore he speaketh as of these, of whom he spake before, that they may be discerned with understanding; because he speaketh as if of the same, because of the sacraments they have in common. For they belong to the people of God, though not by the virtue, yet surely by the appearance of piety: for concerning them we have heard the Apostle, "In the last times there shall come grievous times, for there shall be men lovers of themselves." [2 Timothy 3:2] The first evil is, "lovers of themselves;" that is, as being pleased with themselves. Would that they were not pleasing to themselves, and were pleasing to God: would that they would cry out in their difficulties, and be freed from their distresses. But while they presumed greatly on themselves, "they were made few." It is manifest, brethren: all who separate themselves from unity become few. For they are many; but in unity, while they are not parted from unity. For when the multitude of unity hath begun no more to belong to them, in heresy and schism, they are few. "And they were vexed, from distress of miseries and grief."
— Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 107

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

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…

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 107:39

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 107:33–end

John Gill on Psalms 107:39

John Calvin on Psalms 107:33-41

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Psalms 107:39

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 107:33–end

John Gill on Psalms 107:39

John Calvin on Psalms 107:33-41

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Psalms 107:39–end

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Psalms 107:39

Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 107:39