Psalms 107:10–16, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Psalms 107:10–16
Let the redeemed tell four rescue stories: Prisoners brought from darkness
The second rescue is from a darkness they helped make
Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron, because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel of the most High. Therefore he brought down their heart with labour; they fell down, and there was none to help.
This panel does name cause: rebellion and contempt. The iron is not unexplained. Even so, the poem does not leave them there as a moral display. They cry, and the same LORD who brought the heart down brings them out.
Bronze gates are broken, not merely unlocked
He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder. Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness. For he hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder.
The poetry piles metals: iron, brass, bars. Release is pictured as demolition, not a polite pardon. The refrain repeats, because the same goodness that fed wanderers also frees prisoners. The stanza is not a modern prison policy, and it is not a warrant to call every hardship a cell you earned.
How this should shape us
If your trouble is partly of your own making, still cry out. Do not use someone else's chains as proof that they are beneath help. Praise includes the God who breaks gates, and it includes refusing to sit as the unhelping spectator.
Teach it back
Explain Psalms 107:10–16 in your own words. Name the poetic voice and movement, trace its place in Psalm 107 and Book V, identify one exact source control or uncertainty, and reject one use the passage does not authorize.
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Research trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Psalms 107:10–16, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Ps.xml, OSIS 107:10–16
Supports: Verse-level controls for poetic syntax, imagery, older KJV language, textual issues, headings, and alternatives in Psalms 107:10–16.
Official NET Bible Psalm 107 HTML, translator, textual, and study notes attached to Psalms 107:10–16
Supports: Five-book, genre, poetic, historical, theological, liturgical, communal, and reception synthesis with visible limits.
Enter the Bible Psalms course, Introductory Issues: genres, parallelism, and forms; Theological Themes: Torah and human response; applied to Psalms 107:10–16
Supports: Ancient Greek wording, numbering, division, and superscription evidence where it materially clarifies translation or reception.
NETS Psalms, Pietersma introduction pp. 542–543 and exact Greek translation headed Ps 107 for Psalms 107:10–16
Sources for This Section
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Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Psalms 107:10–16, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Psalms
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Ps.xml, OSIS 107:10–16
Open the fixed Hebrew Psalms file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible Notes: Psalms 1-150
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, current official online edition
Supports: Verse-level controls for poetic syntax, imagery, older KJV language, textual issues, headings, and alternatives in Psalms 107:10–16.
Exact location: Official NET Bible Psalm 107 HTML, translator, textual, and study notes attached to Psalms 107:10–16
Open the official NET Psalms notes ↗modern scholarly book course
Psalms course: summary, outline, background, introductory issues, theological themes, and Bible in the world
Fred Gaiser; revised by Nicholas Schaser
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, revised May 2024
Supports: Five-book, genre, poetic, historical, theological, liturgical, communal, and reception synthesis with visible limits.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Psalms course, Introductory Issues: genres, parallelism, and forms; Theological Themes: Torah and human response; applied to Psalms 107:10–16
Open the Enter the Bible Psalms course ↗ancient greek text translation and introduction
A New English Translation of the Septuagint: Psalms
Albert Pietersma
International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies; Oxford University Press, 2009
Supports: Ancient Greek wording, numbering, division, and superscription evidence where it materially clarifies translation or reception.
Exact location: NETS Psalms, Pietersma introduction pp. 542–543 and exact Greek translation headed Ps 107 for Psalms 107:10–16
Open NETS Psalms ↗