Psalms 108:10 · Bible study
Psalms 108:10 Commentary: Who Will Lead Me into the Fortified City?
Hebrew · 8 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Why does the psalmist ask 'who will bring me'? The question itself confesses human helplessness and trust in God alone for impossible battles.
Research Summary
- Meaning: The question confesses human inability to overcome an impossible obstacle and looks to God as the only one who can bring victory.
- Key words: “Fortified city” (Edom’s capital Sela/Petra, symbol of pride and inaccessibility); “Edom” represents every power that opposes God’s people.
- Main debate: Does the perfect tense (“who has led me?”) express past victory or present hopelessness? Ancient versions read future; Cambridge argues for a rhetorical use expressing impossibility.
- Theological theme: Divine intervention is necessary where human strength ends; trust in God’s promise precedes visible deliverance.
- Best use: A prayer for times of seemingly insurmountable difficulty, turning despair into dependence on God’s power and faithfulness.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
Who will bring me to the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom?
WEB World English Bible 2000
Who will bring me into the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom?
KJV King James Version 1769
Who will bring me into the strong city? who will lead me into Edom?
ASV American Standard Version 1901
Who will bring me into the fortified city? Who hath led me unto Edom?
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
Who doth bring me in to the fenced city? Who hath led me unto Edom?
Darby Darby Bible 1890
Who will bring me into the strong city? who will lead me unto Edom?
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
Let his children be carried about vagabonds, and beg; and let them be cast out of their dwellings.
Translations in other languages (10 available)
¿ Quién me guiará á la ciudad fortalecida? ¿ quién me guiará hasta Idumea?
Quem me levará a uma cidade fortificada? Quem me guiará até Edom?
Moab est le bassin où je me lave;
Wer will mich führen in eine feste Stadt? Wer wird mich leiten bis nach Edom?
Moab is mijn waspot; op Edom zal ik mijn schoen werpen; over Palestina zal ik juichen.
Chi mi condurrà nella città forte? Chi mi menerà fino in Edom?
Moab jest miednicą do umywania mego, na Edoma porzucę obuwie moje: przeciwko Filistynom trąbić będę.
да скитаются дети его и нищенствуют, и просят хлеба из развалин своих;
誰 能領我 進堅固 城？誰 能引我 到 以東地？
Who will take me into the strong town? who will be my guide into Edom?
Verse in Context
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators agree this verse, drawn from Psalm 60:9, uses a question to express a profound truth about human limitation. The Cambridge Bible notes that the Hebrew perfect tense here conveys difficulty or hopelessness: “Who could lead me right into Edom? The obstacles are apparently insuperable.” The “fortified city” likely refers to Sela (Petra), Edom’s capital carved into rock and famously inaccessible (Obadiah 1:3). Matthew Henry reads the verse as modeling a prayer that “acts faith upon the power and promise of God.” Barnes observes the verse is taken without alteration from Psalm 60, linking it to David’s campaign against Edom. Calvin declines to repeat earlier exposition but the composite nature of Psalm 108 confirms the original military context. There is broad agreement: the question form is not doubt but a confession that no human strength can take the city, only God can. The verse therefore teaches believers to turn apparent impossibility into an occasion for trusting divine intervention.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Medium
Main views:
- Rhetorical question of faith: Ancient versions read the verb as future; God's previous promises (v.7-9) make the outcome certain, so the question is a confident expectation of divine action.
- Expression of helplessness: Cambridge Bible notes the Hebrew perfect tense can express hopelessness; the question itself shows the impossibility without God, aligning with the lament in v.11-12.
What is clear: Both readings agree that only God can bring the psalmist into Edom; the verse confesses human inability and the necessity of divine intervention.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Function of the question | The question acknowledges human inability and the need for God to act. | Some read it as a rhetorical question expressing certainty that God will bring victory (future tense). Others interpret the perfect tense as expressing hopelessness: 'Who could possibly lead me?', a cry of desperation that only God can answer. |
| Historical setting | The verse is taken from Psalm 60:9, originally part of a psalm about David's campaign against Edom. | Whether the compiler of Psalm 108 intended a new historical context (e.g., Maccabean era) or simply reused the old prayer for a later community is debated. Most see it as liturgical reuse without a specific new event. |
| Tone of the psalm | Psalm 108 moves from praise through lament to trust. | Some emphasize the opening note of confident praise (verses 1-5) as the dominant mood, making the question in verse 10 a temporary pause. Others argue the lament (verses 11-12) is the real situation, with the praise borrowed as an act of faith. |
| The fortified city's identity | It refers to the capital of Edom, likely Sela (Petra). | Whether the term is literal (the physical fortress) or symbolic (all that opposes God's people) varies among interpreters. Both dimensions are present in the text. |
Historical & Cultural Context
Edom, Israel’s perennial enemy to the southeast, was known for its almost impregnable capital Sela (later Petra), a city carved into rose-red cliffs and accessible only through narrow canyons. Jeremiah 49:16 and Obadiah 1:3 both mock Edom’s pride in its “clefts of the rock” and its boast: “Who will bring me down to the ground?” That question echoes here, but now the psalmist asks it of God, reversing the arrogance.
Psalm 108 is a composite. The first half (verses 1-5) comes from Psalm 57:7-11; the second half (verses 6-13) from Psalm 60:5-12. As Calvin and others note, this means the psalm was likely compiled for later liturgical use, possibly after a national defeat. The original setting of Psalm 60 is given in its superscription: “when David fought with Aram Naharaim and with Aram Zobah, and Joab returned, and killed twelve thousand of Edom in the Valley of Salt.” That campaign involved initial setbacks (Psalm 60:1-3) followed by God’s promise of victory (verses 6-8). By reusing that material, the compiler of Psalm 108 addresses a community that feels abandoned (verse 11: “Haven’t you rejected us, God?”) yet clings to God’s earlier promises.
In this context, the question “Who will bring me into the fortified city?” is not merely tactical. It is theological. God has just declared in verse 9: “I will toss my sandal on Edom”, an act claiming ownership. But the psalmist must still ask how that promise will be realized. The verse captures the tension between divine assurance and present difficulty. The community knows God has spoken; they do not yet see the victory. The question is a prayer that hands the impossibility back to God.
Textual Notes
The consulted sources note no significant textual variants for this verse. The wording in Psalm 108:10 differs slightly from Psalm 60:9 (“strong city” vs “fortified city”), but the meaning is equivalent. The verb tense in Hebrew (perfect) has been read differently by ancient versions (all future), but this is an interpretive rather than textual issue. The change from “Who will bring me into the strong city?” (Psalm 60:9) to “Who will bring me into the fortified city?” is a stylistic variation without theological weight.
Reception History
This verse has been read throughout church history as a model for praying in impossible situations. Matthew Henry’s devotional commentary used it to teach that believers must “act faith upon the power and promise of God.” Early church writers, drawing on the composite nature of the psalm, saw it as a prayer of the church in times of persecution, the fortified city representing strongholds of evil that only Christ can conquer. In Reformed tradition, Calvin’s note on the verse (though he refers readers back to his exposition of Psalm 60) confirms its place in the liturgy of lament and trust. Christians facing military defeat, political oppression, or personal crisis have found in this question a way to name their helplessness and turn toward the God who alone treads down enemies (Psalm 108:13).
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- The fortified city: Naming the situation that looks impossible from a human perspective.
- The honest question: Confessing helplessness is not a failure of faith but the starting point of dependence.
- The implied answer: Only God can bring His people through, and He has already promised to do so.
Five-point outline
- Born from history, the verse quotes Psalm 60, rooted in David’s war with Edom.
- The geography of impossibility, Edom’s rock fortress symbolizes every obstacle beyond human power.
- The grammar of desperation, the Hebrew perfect tense in the second line expresses hopelessness (Cambridge Bible).
- The promise already given, God has declared Edom His washpot (v.9); the question seeks the fulfillment.
- The faith that asks, asking “who will bring me?” is itself an act of trust, because the answerer is God.
Illustration hooks
- A family facing a medical diagnosis that no specialist can treat. The question “who will bring me?” is the honest acknowledgment that only God can make a way.
- An engineer or leader working on a problem everyone says is impossible. The question mirrors the moment when human resources are exhausted and only divine help remains.
- A congregation that has seen church decline for years and wonders if revival will ever come. The question gives voice to that longing while directing hope toward God.
Questions your congregation is asking
- “Is it wrong to admit to God that I don’t see how He will come through?”
- “Why does God promise victory but then seem silent when the obstacles are huge?”
- “How can I hold onto faith when my situation feels as secure as a fortress built into rock?”
Leading a Discussion
This verse comes from a psalm that pieces together older songs of praise and lament. The community using it knew God’s promises but felt the weight of present hardship. The question in verse 10 gives us permission to name our impossible situations honestly, and then to look beyond human ability for the answer.
Discussion questions
- What does the psalmist ask in verse 10? Why does he phrase it as a question rather than a direct request?
- The Cambridge Bible notes that the Hebrew perfect tense can express hopelessness. How does that change how you hear the second line of the verse?
- Read Psalm 108:7-9. What has God already said about Edom? Why would the psalmist still ask “who will bring me”?
- How does the original context of Psalm 60 (David’s battles and initial defeat) help you understand the tension in this verse?
- Think of a “fortified city” in your own life, a situation that seems impossible to change. What does this verse teach you about how to bring that situation to God?
- The verse appears in a psalm that moves from lament to confident hope (verse 13). How does asking the hard question honestly prepare the heart for trust?
- In what ways can a community of faith support each other when everyone faces their own “Edom”?
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Psalms 20:6 | Now I know that Yahweh saves his anointed. He will answer him from his holy heaven, with the saving strength of his right hand. |
| Psalms 20:8 | They are bowed down and fallen, but we rise up, and stand upright. |
| Psalms 60:1 | For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “The Lily of the Covenant.” A teaching poem by David, when he fought with Aram Naharaim and with Aram Zobah, and Joab returned, and killed twelve thousand of Edom in the Valley of Salt. God, you have rejected us. You have broken us down. You have been angry. Restore us, again. |
| Isaiah 63:1 | Who is this who comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? Who is this who is glorious in his clothing, marching in the greatness of his strength? “It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” |
| Isaiah 63:6 | I trod down the peoples in my anger and made them drunk in my wrath. I poured their lifeblood out on the earth.” |
| Jeremiah 49:7 | Of Edom, Yahweh of Armies says: “Is wisdom no more in Teman? Has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom vanished? |
| Jeremiah 49:16 | As for your terror, the pride of your heart has deceived you, O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, who hold the height of the hill, though you should make your nest as high as the eagle, I will bring you down from there,” says Yahweh. |
| Obadiah 1:3 | The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high, who says in his heart, ‘Who will bring me down to the ground?’ |
Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
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What the Commentators Say
8 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Adam Clarke's Commentary Methodist/Wesleyan 1826
Clarke observes that capturing a fortified capital city was the decisive proof that the surrounding region had been conquered. For him, taking the stronghold demonstrated complete control, as the metropolis represented the nation's strength and resistance.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible Protestant 1832
Barnes notes that the writer here does not compose a fresh phrase but quotes an earlier psalm without any change. The words are taken verbatim from Psalm 60, showing how Scripture reuses its own language exactly as it originally appeared.
Calvin's Commentaries Reformed 1564
Calvin observes that this psalm is entirely assembled from selections of two earlier psalms, noting that both borrowed sections are marked with Selah. For him this structure illustrates one of the functions of that musical pause, reinforcing that the psalm's power comes from its composition of already inspired material.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
The commentator notes that the Hebrew verb for "lead me into Edom" is in the perfect tense, which in questions can express difficulty or hopelessness rather than a past action. So the psalmist is asking who could possibly bring him into Edom, highlighting that the obstacles seem insuperable without God's help.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
Who will leade mee into the strong citie? who will bring me vnto Edom?
Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary Protestant 1876
Keil-Delitzsch compare Psalm 60 with its parallel in Psalm 108, noting specific textual differences. They argue for the reading וענני over ועננו and observe that Psalm 108 is "less soaring" in its phrasing, weakening or omitting key elements such as אתּה. Their attention to these variants aims to establish the original text.
Lange's Commentary Reformed 1857
Lange sees Psalm 108 as a later editor's combination of two fragments from Psalms 57 and 60, stitched together with no real connection. He argues David himself would not have made such a patchwork, and the small word changes only show a decline in style, not a clear historical occasion.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Henry notes that we should count ourselves answered when God delivers His church, even if our personal requests are delayed. He also stresses active faith that rejoices in God's spoken promise before it is fulfilled, because with God saying and doing are never separate.