Bible Strands
Psalms 74:21
Do not let the oppressed retreat in shame; may the poor and needy praise Your name.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses God directly during a national crisis marked by violence and covenant violation. The plea follows a command to consider God's covenant and precedes a demand for God to rise up and defend His cause.
The words — The phrase אַל־יָשֹׁ֣ב דַּ֣ךְ נִכְלָ֑ם (al-yashov dakh nikhlam) literally commands that the oppressed not return humiliated. The verb יְֽהַלְל֥וּ (yehallu) functions as a petition for the poor and needy to praise God's name.
The thread — This appeal for divine protection of the vulnerable and sustenance of their worship runs through Psalms 12:5 and Psalms 9:18. The pattern of communal praise following God's intervention matches the thanksgiving recorded in Ezra 3:11.
Why it lands — The text states that God must prevent the marginalized from enduring shame and must enable their praise. It requires readers to intercede urgently for vulnerable people and to prioritize their dignity and worship.
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
O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name.
Cross-references
- Psalms 12:5 “For the cause of the oppressed and for the groaning of the needy, I will now arise,” says the LORD. “I will bring safety to him who yearns.”
- Ezra 3:11 And they sang responsively with praise and thanksgiving to the LORD: “For He is good; for His loving devotion to Israel endures forever.” Then all the people gave a great shout of praise to the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD had been laid.
- Psalms 9:18 For the needy will not always be forgotten; nor the hope of the oppressed forever dashed.
- Psalms 35:10 All my bones will exclaim, “Who is like You, O LORD, who delivers the afflicted from the aggressor, the poor and needy from the robber?”
- Psalms 103:6 The LORD executes righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.
- Psalms 102:19 For He looked down from the heights of His sanctuary; the LORD gazed out from heaven to earth
- Psalms 109:22 For I am poor and needy; my heart is wounded within me.
- Isaiah 45:17 But Israel will be saved by the LORD with an everlasting salvation; you will not be put to shame or humiliated, to ages everlasting.
- Jeremiah 33:11 the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of the bride and bridegroom, and the voices of those bringing thank offerings into the house of the LORD, saying: ‘Give thanks to the LORD of Hosts, for the LORD is good; His loving devotion endures forever.’ For I will restore the land from captivity as in former times, says the LORD.