Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Psalms 147:3 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 3. 3He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Psalm 147:3: Within “Jerusalem restored and creation commanded: Restoration, stars, rain, and care for the lowly,” the line “He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds” supplies one distinct parallel claim, image, address, or response.
Pleasant praise is for a God who rebuilds the city and counts the stars
This verse is one part of that explanation in Psalms 147:1–11. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- Psalms 147:1–11
- Psalms 147:1–20
Read Psalms 147:3 with 147:1–11 and 147:1–20. Read alone, “He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds” could lose the communal voice, the parallel line or movement it develops, and the psalm's outcome. The complete movement establishes: Within Psalms 147:1–11, the communal voice carries the movement “Restoration, stars, rain, and care for the lowly” as part of “Jerusalem restored and creation commanded.” Its hallelujah-hymn form and poetic parallelism hold the petitions, images, memories, or praise together before any single line is applied.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Psalms 147:1–11 opens Psalm 147 with “Praise ye the LORD: for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant;…” and establishes the communal voice and “Restoration, stars, rain, and care for the lowly” movement before later lines develop or answer it. Within that relationship, Psalm 147:3 states or addresses a claim about divine character or action through “He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds” inside this poetic voice.
Follow the Context
- Identify the communal voice, address, and parallel lines in Psalms 147:1–11; do not make every “I”, “we,” king, enemy, or worshiper interchangeable.
- Within Psalms 147:1–11, the communal voice carries the movement “Restoration, stars, rain, and care for the lowly” as part of “Jerusalem restored and creation commanded.” Its hallelujah-hymn form and poetic parallelism hold the petitions, images, memories, or praise together before any single line is applied.
- This reading does not authorize the following misuse: The Greek tradition divides this Hebrew psalm; restoration praise cannot become nationalist triumph or indifference to present suffering.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
Psalms 147:3 does not allow “He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds” to become an independent promise, command, accusation, doctrine, or authorization. This verse states or addresses a claim about divine character or action through “He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds” inside this poetic voice. The complete movement is “Restoration, stars, rain, and care for the lowly.” This reading does not authorize the following misuse: The Greek tradition divides this Hebrew psalm; restoration praise cannot become nationalist triumph or indifference to present suffering.
What Remains True
The verse's role is specific—Psalm 147:3 states or addresses a claim about divine character or action through “He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds” inside this poetic voice. Within that role, Creation's order, dependence, danger, abundance, and praise place human life inside accountable creaturely limits rather than at the center of everything. The local movement is “Restoration, stars, rain, and care for the lowly.” The unit's reviewed limit is: The Greek tradition divides this Hebrew psalm; restoration praise cannot become nationalist triumph or indifference to present suffering.
How It Can Shape Life
- Keep the movement “Jerusalem restored and creation commanded: Restoration, stars, rain, and care for the lowly” in view. Attend to the creaturely image in “He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds”, receive its limit or gift, and choose one act of care that does not treat creation as disposable. The textual reason is this verse's role: Psalm 147:3 states or addresses a claim about divine character or action through “He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds” inside this poetic voice.
Teach It Back
Show how “He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds” functions in the hallelujah-hymn poem “Jerusalem restored and creation commanded: Restoration, stars, rain, and care for the lowly.” Your explanation should include context, source evidence, uncertainty, enduring truth, practice, and the explicit limit This reading does not authorize the following misuse: The Greek tradition divides this Hebrew psalm; restoration praise cannot become nationalist triumph or indifference to present suffering.
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Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read Psalms 147:1–11 — Jerusalem restored and creation commanded: Restoration, stars, rain, and care for the lowlySources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
The Greek tradition divides this Hebrew psalm; restoration praise cannot become nationalist triumph or indifference to present suffering.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
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 147:1–11, 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 147:1–11
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 147:1–11.
Exact location: Official NET Bible Psalm 147 HTML, translator, textual, and study notes attached to Psalms 147:1–11
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 and psalm pairs; Theological Themes: kingship, Zion, and covenant; applied to Psalms 147:1–11
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 147 for Psalms 147:1–11
Open NETS Psalms ↗