Bible Strands
Psalms 146:9
The LORD protects foreigners; He sustains the fatherless and the widow, but the ways of the wicked He frustrates.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses God in a concluding hymn of praise, immediately after listing divine actions in verses 7–8. The next verse shifts the address to Zion, framing this declaration as part of a communal doxology.
The words — שֹׁמֵר (shomer) translates literally as "[is] watching over," and יְעוֹדֵד (ye'oded) means "he helps up." These verbs describe active, ongoing divine care for vulnerable groups.
The thread — The theme of divine justice for the fatherless, widow, and foreigner appears in Deuteronomy 10:18 and Psalm 68:5. Psalm 147:6 parallels the contrast between God sustaining the humble and opposing the wicked.
Why it lands — The text states that God actively protects sojourners and sustains the fatherless and widow while frustrating the wicked. It requires the reader to acknowledge this specific pattern of divine action and align expectations of justice accordingly.
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
The Lord preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and widow: but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down.
Cross-references
- Psalms 68:5 A father of the fatherless and a defender of widows is God in His holy habitation.
- Deuteronomy 10:18 He executes justice for the fatherless and widow, and He loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing.
- Psalms 147:6 The LORD sustains the humble, but casts the wicked to the ground.
- Exodus 22:21 You must not exploit or oppress a foreign resident, for you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
- Proverbs 15:25 The LORD tears down the house of the proud, but He protects the boundaries of the widow.
- Malachi 3:5 “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud laborers of their wages and deny justice to the foreigner but do not fear Me,” says the LORD of Hosts.
- Jeremiah 49:11 Abandon your orphans; I will preserve their lives. Let your widows trust in Me.”
- James 1:27 Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
- Psalms 83:13 Make them like tumbleweed, O my God, like chaff before the wind.
- Psalms 145:20 The LORD preserves all who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy.