Bible Strands
Psalms 107:14
He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death and broke away their chains.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — A communal voice recounts God's act of rescue for the afflicted, positioned between their cry (v. 13) and the call to give thanks (v. 15).
The words — יְנַתֵּק (yĕnattēq, H5423) is not a gentle removal but a violent tearing apart, the same root behind "loose" in the sense of ripping free.
The thread — The darkness-to-light pattern recurs in Isaiah 42:16 and Ephesians 5:8; the broken-bond language echoes the psalmist's personal testimony in Psalms 116:16.
Why it lands — The verse names the deliverance in physical terms—chains torn, not eased—so the reader is asked to hold the specificity of what was done rather than generalize it into comfort.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 42:16 I will lead the blind by a way they did not know; I will guide them on unfamiliar paths. I will turn darkness into light before them and rough places into level ground. These things I will do for them, and I will not forsake them.
- Psalms 116:16 Truly, O LORD, I am Your servant; I am Your servant, the son of Your maidservant; You have broken my bonds.
- Ephesians 5:8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light,
- 1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
- Zechariah 9:11 As for you, because of the blood of My covenant, I will release your prisoners from the waterless pit.
- Psalms 107:10 Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and chains,
- Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is on Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners,
- Jeremiah 52:31 On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month of the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the first year of the reign of Evil-merodach king of Babylon, he pardoned Jehoiachin king of Judah and released him from prison.
- Acts 5:19 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out, saying,
- Job 36:8 And if men are bound with chains, caught in cords of affliction,