The Meaning of Psalms 147:6 Explained

Psalms 147:6

KJV: The LORD lifteth up the meek: he casteth the wicked down to the ground.

YLT: Jehovah is causing the meek to stand, Making low the wicked unto the earth.

Darby: Jehovah lifteth up the meek; he abaseth the wicked to the earth.

ASV: Jehovah upholdeth the meek: He bringeth the wicked down to the ground.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

The LORD  lifteth up  the meek:  he casteth  the wicked  down  to the ground. 

What does Psalms 147:6 Mean?

Context Summary

Psalm 147:1-11 - Why We Praise The Lord
It has been supposed that this psalm was prepared for use when the new walls of the city were completed in the days of Nehemiah. It contains a further enumeration of God's present tenses. The psalmist never tires of celebrating the immediateness of God. He will not tolerate the intervention of second causes, which are the artifice of scientific explanation. Laws are, after all, only the convenient statement of the regularity of God's methods. The couplets of this psalm are amazingly suggestive. By contrast they complete each other. God builds up the great city of Jerusalem, but His heart goes out to the individual prodigal. He is equally at home in the hospital where broken hearts congregate, and among the stars, which He names and counts as a shepherd His flock. He upholds the meek and overthrows the proud. Spring, with its clouds and rain and sprouting grass, is His work; but so also the wild life of the forest, with its beasts and birds. He has no such delight in athletic strength or speed as He has in the reverent worship of His people. There is a perfect balance and rhythm in God's nature. [source]

Chapter Summary: Psalm 147

1  The prophet exhorts to praise God for his care of the church
4  His power and wisdom
6  His mercy
7  His providence
12  To praise him for his blessings upon the kingdom
15  For his power over the elements
19  And for his ordinances in the church

What do the individual words in Psalms 147:6 mean?

Lifts up the humble Yahweh He casts down the wicked to the ground
מְעוֹדֵ֣ד עֲנָוִ֣ים יְהוָ֑ה מַשְׁפִּ֖יל רְשָׁעִ֣ים עֲדֵי־ אָֽרֶץ

מְעוֹדֵ֣ד  Lifts  up 
Parse: Verb, Piel, Participle, masculine singular
Root: עוּד 
Sense: to return, repeat, go about, do again.
עֲנָוִ֣ים  the  humble 
Parse: Adjective, masculine plural
Root: עָנָו 
Sense: poor, humble, afflicted, meek.
יְהוָ֑ה  Yahweh 
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: יהוה 
Sense: the proper name of the one true God.
מַשְׁפִּ֖יל  He  casts  down 
Parse: Verb, Hifil, Participle, masculine singular
Root: שָׁפֵל  
Sense: to be or become low, sink, be humbled, be abased.
רְשָׁעִ֣ים  the  wicked 
Parse: Adjective, masculine plural
Root: רָשָׁע  
Sense: wicked, criminal.
אָֽרֶץ  the  ground 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular
Root: אֶרֶץ  
Sense: land, earth.