Psalms 72:13

Psa 72:13 He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy.

Ver. 13. He shall spare the poor and needy] Hereby David showeth his son and all his successors, Qualis debeat esse rex bonus, what manner of man a king ought to be. Regiment without righteousness turneth into tyranny; it is but robbery with authority. O. Scipio Nasica for his good government was surnamed Optimus by the Senate, and had a house given him at the public charge, in Via Sacra, that the poor might repair to him.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Psa 72:13. He will have pity on (or spare) the poor and needy, and the souls (or lives) of the needy he will save. In the first clause the adjectives are of the singular number, and properly denote the poor (man) and the needy (man). The change to the plural in the second clause, needy (ones) or needy (people), shews that the singular was not meant to denote a real individual, but rather an ideal person, representing a whole class, which is then directly designated by the plural.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

72:13 Like a father, the king feels pity for those in need (see Mal 3:17).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

13. He shall have pity on the weak and needy,

And the souls of the needy shall he save.

The weak may include the sick as well as the poor. Cp. Psa_40:1; Psa_82:3-4; Isa_10:1; Isa_11:4; Amo_4:1. Souls primarily = lives, and so in Psa_72:14.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He shall spare the poor and needy,.... Pity them, have mercy and compassion on them, and sympathize with them; such an one is Christ, a merciful King, as well as High Priest, who is touched with a feeling of his people's infirmities, and who in his love and pity has redeemed them;

and shall save the souls of the needy; not to the exclusion of their bodies, which are also his care and charge, are bought with his blood, are preserved by him, will be raised from the dead, and made like his glorious body; but souls are mentioned as being the most excellent part of man, and which having sinned, are liable to damnation and the second death; and are therefore the special objects of redemption and salvation; these are saved by him from all their sins, and from wrath to come they deserve; hence his name is called "Jesus", a Saviour.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

He shall spare the poor and needy - He will have pity on; he will show mercy or favor to them.

And shall save the souls of the needy - Will guard and defend them; will be their protector and friend. His administration will have special respect to those who are commonly overlooked, and who are exposed to oppression and wrong.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The souls, properly so called; this being Christ’s proper work to save souls; or, the lives, which oppressors shall endeavour to take away.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ver. 13. He shall spare the poor and needy. His pity shall be manifested to them; he will not allow their trials to overwhelm them; his rod of correction shall fall lightly; he will be sparing of his rebukes, and not sparing in his consolations.

And shall save the souls of the needy. His is the dominion of souls, a spiritual and not a worldly empire; and the needy, that is to say, the consciously unworthy and weak, shall find that he will give them his salvation. Jesus calls not the righteous, but sinners to repentance. He does not attempt the superfluous work of aiding proud Pharisees to air their vanity; but he is careful of poor Publicans whose eyes dare not look up to heaven by reason of their sense of sin. We ought to be anxious to be among these needy ones whom the Great King so highly favours.

Ver. 13. He shall spare; more correctly, compassionate or comfort the poor and needy; and shall save their souls, or preserve the lives of the needy. William Henry Alexander, in "The Book of Praises: being the Book of Psalms... with Notes Original and Selected." 1867.

Ver. 13. And shall save the souls of the needy. Scipio used to say, that he would rather save a single citizen than slay a thousand enemies. Of this mind ought all princes to be towards their subjects; but this affection and love rose to the highest excellence and power in the breast of Christ. So ardent is his love for his own, that he suffers not one of them to perish, but leads them to full salvation, and, opposing himself to both devils and tyrants who seek to destroy their souls, he constrains their fury and confounds their rage. Mollerus.

None.

Psalms 72:14*

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

He shall spare the poor and needy; or, the weak and needy. And shall save the souls of the needy. He shall not merely deliver them from their cruel oppressors in this life (ver. 4), but also give health and life to their souls.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He has pity on the poor and needy

"He wants to stop the poor and needy from suffering"

the poor and needy

Here the nominal adjectives "poor" and "needy" mean basically the same thing and emphasize that they are unable to help themselves. AT: "those who are poor and those who are needy" (See: Doublet and Nominal Adjectives)

redeems their lives

Here "lives" refers to the whole person. AT: "redeems them" or "saves them" or "rescues them" (See: Synecdoche)

oppression and violence

These two words mean basically the same thing and emphasize how badly the needy suffer. These abstract nouns can be stated as verbs. AT: "those who oppress them and hurt them" (See: Doublet and Abstract Nouns)

their blood is precious in his sight

Here "their blood" is a metonym for their well-being. The sight of Yahweh represents his judgment or evaluation. AT: "their well-being is very important to him" or "he wants them to live well" (See: Metonymy)

in his sight

See how this phrase is translated in Psalms 19:14.

translationWords

save

redeem

oppress

blood

precious

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.