Psalms 102:20

Translations

King James Version (KJV)

To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death;

American King James Version (AKJV)

To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death;

American Standard Version (ASV)

To hear the sighing of the prisoner; To loose those that are appointed to death;

Basic English Translation (BBE)

Hearing the cry of the prisoner, making free those for whom death is ordered;

Webster's Revision

To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death;

World English Bible

to hear the groans of the prisoner; to free those who are condemned to death;

English Revised Version (ERV)

To hear the sighing of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death;

Clarke's Psalms 102:20 Bible Commentary

To hear the groaning - By sin, all the inhabitants of the earth are miserable. They have broken the Divine laws, are under the arrest of judgment, and all cast into prison, They have been tried, found guilty, and appointed to die; they groan under their chains, are alarmed at the prospect of death, and implore mercy.

Barnes's Psalms 102:20 Bible Commentary

To hear the groaning of the prisoner - Meaning here, probably, the captives in Babylon; those who were held as prisoners there, and who were subjected to such hardships in their long captivity. See the notes at Psalm 79:11.

To loose those that are appointed to death - Margin, as in Hebrew, "the children of death." Compare the notes at Matthew 1:1. This may mean either those who were sentenced to death; those who were sick and ready to die; or those who, in their captivity, were in such a state of privation and suffering that death appeared inevitable. The word rendered "loose" means, properly, to "open," applied to the mouth, for eating, Ezekiel 3:2; or in song, Psalm 78:2; or for speaking, Job 3:1; - or the ear, Isaiah 50:5; or the hand, Deuteronomy 15:8; or the gates of a city, a door, etc., Deuteronomy 20:11. Them it means to set free, as by opening the doors of a prison, Isaiah 14:17; Job 12:14. Here it means to "set free," to deliver. Compare Isaiah 61:1.

Wesley's Psalms 102:20 Bible Commentary

102:20 To loose - To release his poor captives out of Babylon, and from the chains of sin and eternal destruction.