Psalms 107:39 · Bible study
Psalms 107:39 Commentary: Diminished Under God's Sovereign Hand
Hebrew · 10 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Does Psalm 107:39 show that oppression is punishment for sin, or is it part of God's mysterious alternations in providence?
Research Summary
- Meaning: After God blesses and multiplies a people, He also permits them to be reduced and humbled through external pressure, calamity, and grief, all under His sovereign control.
- Key words: ma'at (diminished, become few), shachach (bowed down, humbled), otzer (restraint/coercion), ra'ah (calamity/evil), yagon (sorrow/grief).
- Main debate: Is this diminishment direct punishment for sin (Wesley, Gill) or a mysterious providential alternation (Barnes, Keil)?
- Theological theme: God's sovereign control over the rise and fall of peoples and families.
- Best use: Comfort for those in unexplained suffering, and a caution against interpreting diminished circumstances as automatically due to personal sin.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
When they are decreased and humbled by oppression, evil, and sorrow,
WEB World English Bible 2000
Again, they are diminished and bowed down through oppression, trouble, and sorrow.
KJV King James Version 1769
Again, they are minished and brought low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
Again, they are diminished and bowed down Through oppression, trouble, and sorrow.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
And they are diminished, and bow down, By restraint, evil, and sorrow.
Darby Darby Bible 1890
And they are diminished and brought low, through oppression, adversity, and sorrow:
Translations in other languages (9 available)
Y luego son menoscabados y abatidos á causa de tiranía, de males y congojas.
Mas quando eles se diminuem e se abatem, por causa da opressão, mal e aflição;
Sont-ils amoindris et humiliés
Sie waren niedergedrückt und geschwächt von dem Bösen, das sie gezwungen und gedrungen hatte.
Daarna verminderen zij, en komen ten onder, door verdrukking, kwaad en droefenis.
Ma poi sono ridotti a pochi, umiliati per l’oppressione, per l’avversità e gli affanni.
Ale podczas umniejszeni i poniżeni bywają okrucieństwem, nędzą, i utrapieniem;
他們又因暴虐、患難、愁苦，就減少 且卑下。
And when they are made low, and crushed by trouble and sorrow,
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · Psalms 107:39
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators agree that this verse describes a reversal from blessing to affliction under God's sovereign control. The Hebrew verbs ma'at (become few) and shachach (bowed down) are in the qal perfect consecutive, which Keil and Delitzsch argue indicates a real historical sequence following the blessing of verse 38. Barnes notes that “all is in the hand of God”, both prosperity and reverses come from Him. Calvin sees adversities as tokens of God's displeasure summoning sinners to account. Wesley ties the diminishment specifically to human pride: “when they are exalted by God, grow insolent and secure.” But the verse itself does not explicitly mention sin; it passes straight from blessing to oppression, trouble, and sorrow. This leaves open the question of whether the cause is direct punishment or a mysterious providential ordering.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Medium
Main views:
- Punishment for sin / pride after blessing: Wesley connects the diminishment to those who 'when they are exalted by God, grow insolent and secure.' The surrounding context (vv33-34) explicitly mentions 'wickedness of them that dwell therein.'
- Providential alternation without specific sin: Barnes argues that God alternates prosperity and adversity to keep people dependent on Him; the verse does not name a sin, only the instruments (oppression, evil, sorrow).
- Result of human oppression (tyranny): Keil & Delitzsch see 'oppression' as 'restraint of despotic rule' — the flourishing people draw envy and are brought low by tyrants, which God then reverses (vv40-41).
What is clear: God is sovereign over both increase and decrease; the verse belongs to a larger pattern where God's lovingkindness (v43) is the final lens through which all changes are to be understood.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Cause of diminishment | God is sovereign; the diminishment comes under His watchful hand. | Some (Wesley, Gill) see it as judgment for pride or sin; others (Barnes) as part of natural alternations meant to keep people dependent on God; Keil & Delitzsch see it as oppression from tyrannical rulers that God permits. |
| Role of human agency | Oppression, evil, and sorrow are real experiences, not illusions. | Whether the 'oppression' (<em>otzer</em>) refers to an internal constraint (like barrenness) or external tyrannical rule is debated; the lexical range is wide. |
| Connection to covenant curses | The verse echoes patterns of blessing and cursing in Deuteronomy. | Gill explicitly ties it to covenantal punishment; Calvin sees all adversity as tokens of God's displeasure; others resist reading every instance of suffering as divine punishment. |
Historical & Cultural Context
Psalm 107 is a liturgical hymn, likely composed after the Babylonian exile, though some scholars (Lange) argue for a later Maccabean date. The psalm's structure is distinctive: after a call to thanksgiving (vv1-3), four strophes each describe a specific type of distress and deliverance, wandering in the desert, imprisonment, sickness, and storm at sea. Each strophe ends with a repeated refrain (vv6,13,19,28; vv8,15,21,31). Then two strophes without the refrain (vv33-42) take a broader view of God's control over the fortunes of lands and peoples.
Verses 33-38 show God reversing the natural order: turning rivers into desert and fruitful land into barrenness (for the wickedness of its inhabitants), then turning wilderness into water springs where the hungry settle and thrive. Verse 38 records God's blessing: multiplication of people and livestock. Then verse 39 pivots: “Again, they are diminished and bowed down through oppression, trouble, and sorrow.” The word “again” (va) signals a reversal of the just-described blessing, not a new category of people. The phrase “through oppression” (me'otzer) uses a noun meaning restraint or coercion, which can refer to tyrannical rule (Keil & Delitzsch) or to barrenness of womb (cf. Ruth 1:20). The three nouns, otzer (pressure), ra'ah (calamity), yagon (sorrow), accumulate to describe comprehensive suffering.
This pattern mirrors Old Testament cycles: the people cry out, God delivers, they grow complacent, then fall into oppression again (Judges 6:3-6). But here the refrain of crying out is absent, the focus is entirely on God's action, not the people's response.
Textual Notes
The supplied commentaries and lexical sources note no significant textual variants for Psalm 107:39. The Hebrew text is stable across the Masoretic tradition.
Reception History
Psalm 107:39 has been read across church history as a warning against pride after prosperity. John Wesley saw the diminishment as God's just response to insolence after exaltation. John Calvin placed the verse within his doctrine of providence: all adversities are tokens of God's displeasure meant to summon sinners to repentance. Gill applied the verse to the perceived reduction of faithful Christians under antichristian tyranny, especially in his reading of Revelation 13. The broader medieval and Reformation tradition often used this verse to counsel the afflicted that God has not abandoned them, even when their numbers or influence wane. The verse fits the liturgical use of the psalm as a song of thanksgiving that acknowledges both sides of God's governance.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- Blessing and reversal are both from God. The same God who multiplies (v38) also diminishes. No random fortune; every change is under His hand (Barnes).
- Suffering often arrives unnamed. The text lists oppression, evil, and sorrow, but does not specify the cause. Pastors can help people sit with mystery rather than rush to blame.
- The response is not yet given. Unlike earlier strophes, this verse does not record a cry to the Lord. But the psalm as a whole calls the wise to consider God's lovingkindness (v43), suggesting that even unexplained suffering leads to trust.
Five-point outline
- God's providence includes both increase and decrease.
- Human pride can precipitate a fall (Wesley's reading).
- But not all suffering is deserved punishment. The absence of explicit sin language leaves room for innocent suffering.
- Oppression often comes through human agents (“restraint of despotic rule”, Keil & Delitzsch).
- The wise person watches for God's hand in every season (v43).
Illustration hooks
- A farming community that enjoyed years of good harvest, then faced drought and economic collapse, no single sin to point to, but a sense of being diminished.
- A family that experienced growth and blessing (children, stability), then a sudden diagnosis or job loss. The question “Why now?” is real.
- A nation or church that flourished under freedom, then experienced persecution or decline. The psalm does not explain why, but anchors the suffering in God's sovereignty.
Questions your congregation is asking
- “Is my hardship a punishment from God for something I did?”
- “How can I trust God when everything seems to be falling apart?”
- “Does God cause suffering, or does He just allow it?”
Leading a Discussion
Psalm 107:39 appears at a turning point in a psalm that has already celebrated God's deliverance from four specific crises. Now the psalmist pulls back the lens to show that both prosperity and adversity come from the same hand. This raises hard questions about how we interpret our own seasons of diminishment. In your group, work through the following questions, letting the text shape your discussion rather than rushing to answers.
Discussion questions
- Observation: What do the Hebrew words ma'at (diminished) and shachach (bowed down) suggest about the experience described in this verse?
- Observation: Compare verse 38 (“He blesses them… they are multiplied”) with verse 39. What changes, and what stays the same? Who is acting in both verses?
- Interpretation: The earlier strophes of the psalm often link suffering to specific sins (e.g., rebellion, foolishness). Verse 39 does not. Why do you think the psalmist leaves the cause unstated here?
- Interpretation: Some commentators (Wesley, Gill) see this verse as a consequence of pride after blessing. Others (Barnes, Keil & Delitzsch) see it as a natural ebb under God's providence. Which reading fits the context best? Why?
- Interpretation: The cross-references include Exodus 1, 2 (the oppression of Israel) and Judges 6 (Midianite oppression). In those stories, the people eventually cry out. Does the absence of crying out in verse 39 change how we read it?
- Application: When you or your community experiences a season of being “diminished and bowed down,” what does it feel like? How does the truth that God is sovereign over both increase and decrease affect your response?
- Application: Verse 43 says the wise “will consider the lovingkindnesses of Yahweh.” How can a group or church hold on to God's love even when they cannot see the reason for their suffering?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Genesis 45:11 | There I will provide for you; for there are yet five years of famine; lest you come to poverty, you, and your household, and all that you have.”’ |
| Exodus 1:13 | The Egyptians ruthlessly made the children of Israel serve, |
| Exodus 1:14 | and they made their lives bitter with hard service in mortar and in brick, and in all kinds of service in the field, all their service, in which they ruthlessly made them serve. |
| Exodus 2:23 | In the course of those many days, the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. |
| Exodus 2:24 | God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. |
| Judges 6:3 | So it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the children of the east came up against them. |
| Judges 6:6 | Israel was brought very low because of Midian; and the children of Israel cried to Yahweh. |
| Ruth 1:20 | She said to them, “Don’t call me Naomi. Call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
10 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Adam Clarke's Commentary Methodist/Wesleyan 1826
Clarke uses the word "minished" to describe lives lost in devastating wars, especially the American Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. His distinctive concern is not just the physical carnage but the millions of souls sent into eternity unprepared, and he raises a solemn question about whose hands bear the guilt of that blood.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible Protestant 1832
Barnes stresses that God deliberately alternates prosperity and adversity in human affairs. A steady run of success would make people forget God, while constant sorrow would make them feel no God governs at all. The alternating pattern keeps people aware of their dependence on him.
Calvin's Commentaries Reformed 1564
Calvin insists that nothing in life happens by random chance or fortune. Every adversity is God's summons to account for sin, and every prosperity is a display of His grace. Those who fail to see God's hand in such events are guilty of ignoring clear evidence of His providence.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
The commentary draws attention to a shift in the psalm's style, where specific examples of deliverance give way to broader proofs of God's providential rule over nations and peoples. The wise person, it argues, will recognize in these patterns how the Lord deals with humanity.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The note observes that oppression, evil, and sorrow are the forces that diminish people and bring them low. These hardships actively reduce human strength and standing, rather than being neutral circumstances.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill interprets the diminishing and lowering described in this verse as the reduction of true Christians under antichristian tyranny, not under heathen persecution. He sees this as a ongoing process where the number of faithful believers steadily decreases and will continue to shrink further.
Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary Protestant 1876
Keil-Delitzsch insists this passage describes a real chronological sequence, not a flashback. The people first thrived, then fell under tyrannical oppression, and God directly intervened to humble tyrants and raise the needy. The wise reader will recognize such reversals as acts of God's enduring mercy
Lange's Commentary Reformed 1857
Lange argues against reading Psalm 107 as a specific historical account of the Babylonian exile. He insists the four examples are actual, recurring situations of human distress and deliverance, taken from everyday life as general calls to thanksgiving rather than figurative descriptions of a single event.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Henry draws attention to the surprising reversals God brings about through his providence. Fertile land becomes barren because of human sin, yet God also turns deserts into springs where the hungry settle. These changes are not random; they show that every shift in fortune comes from the Lord's hand.
Wesley's Explanatory Notes Methodist/Wesleyan 1754
Wesley observes that people whom God exalts often respond with insolence and a false sense of security. Their subsequent humbling is not arbitrary but God's just judgment on that pride.