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Psalm 107:12
Therefore he brought down their heart with labor. They fell down, and there was no one to help.
10Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron,
11because they rebelled against the words of God, and condemned the counsel of the Most High.
12Therefore he brought down their heart with labor. They fell down, and there was no one to help.
13Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses.
14He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and broke away their chains.
Notice
“Therefore” ties their collapse to the rebellion just named: God brings these prisoners low through labor, and the verse leaves them fallen, without anyone to help.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
How does the word “Therefore” shape your reading of the prisoners’ collapse?
Write on thisWhat is hardest for you to face in this account of God bringing rebellious people low?
Write on thisWhat would you want to say to God when there is “no one to help”?
Write on thisConnect
Where else Scripture says this
12 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.
This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Psalm 22:11Don’t be far from me, for trouble is near. For there is no one to help.Both passages say there is no one to help, describing trouble in which human aid is absent.
Exodus 5:18–19Go therefore now, and work; for no straw shall be given to you; yet you shall deliver the same number of bricks!”Labor weighs on people in both passages: the prisoners collapse, and the brickmakers must meet their quota without supplied straw.
Exodus 2:23In 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 …Bondage and suffering connect these accounts; the surrounding psalm verses and Exodus both describe captives crying to God.
Luke 15:14–17When he had spent all of it, there arose a severe famine in that country, and he began to be in need.Both describe desperate circumstances, though the psalm names God's humbling action and Luke describes need after spent resources and famine.
Isaiah 51:23I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you, who have said to your soul, ‘Bow down, that we may walk over you;’ and you have laid your back as the …Both portray people brought low under affliction; Isaiah describes oppressors walking over backs, while the psalm describes collapse under labor.
Judges 16:30Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” He bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell on the lords, and on all the people who were in it. So …Falling is the limited shared thread: the prisoners fall under labor, while Samson brings down a house, killing himself and others.
Judges 10:16–18They put away the foreign gods from among them and served the LORD; and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel.Both accounts connect rebellion against God with misery; their contexts also show a turn toward God amid that distress.
Isaiah 52:5“Now therefore, what do I do here,” says the LORD, “seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Those who rule over them mock,” says the LORD, “and my …Both passages concern captive people in distress, though Isaiah emphasizes their rulers' mockery and the psalm emphasizes God's humbling action.
Isaiah 63:5I looked, and there was no one to help; and I wondered that there was no one to uphold. Therefore my own arm brought salvation to me. My own wrath upheld me.Both say there is no one to help, though Isaiah's speaker acts with his own strength while the prisoners collapse.
Job 9:13“God will not withdraw his anger. The helpers of Rahab stoop under him.Both describe being brought low under God's power: the prisoners fall, and the helpers of Rahab stoop under him.
Isaiah 51:19–20These two things have happened to you— who will grieve with you?— desolation and destruction, and famine and the sword. How can I comfort you?Both describe severe distress with help or comfort in question; Isaiah names devastation, while the psalm names exhausting labor.
2 Kings 6:26–27As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried to him, saying, “Help, my lord, O king!”The need for help connects these scenes: the prisoners have no helper, and a woman cries to the king for aid.
Where this verse fits
Guilt and confession. sermon or Bible study notes.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
The passage names rebellion here; it does not explain every person's exhaustion. In the next verse, the God who brought these prisoners low saves them when they cry.
Now put it in your words.
Start an entry on Psalm 107:12. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).