Psalm 107:10

Psalm 107:10, in plain English

Now the psalmist shifts to a second group: prisoners in darkness and chains, held in affliction and despair with no apparent escape.

Why it's here

While the first group was lost, this group is captive—held against their will. They represent people whose situation feels utterly hopeless, trapped by circumstances or consequences beyond their control.

Who's speaking

The psalmist, describing captivity in its various forms

Where it sits in the story

Captivity is a recurring biblical image for spiritual bondage. From slavery in Egypt to exile in Babylon, God consistently shows His power by freeing the captive.

The scholarly reading

The psalmist now introduces the second distress-scenario: prisoners languishing in literal darkness and death-shadow, physically and spiritually bound by chains.

Language and setting

The prisoners sit in chosel u-tzalmavet ('darkness and the shadow of death')—a phrase Elmer B. Smick notes carries the existential weight of absolute separation from God's presence and light. This evokes both literal incarceration (perhaps under Babylonian rule or other foreign powers) and the metaphorical bondage of spiritual alienation. The chains (ziqim) mark not merely physical restraint but the visible sign of lost freedom and dignity.

Voice

The liturgical voice introduces the second of four cycles, beginning a new distress-and-deliverance narrative with a fresh scenario.

Significance

The prison motif recurs throughout Scripture: from Joseph's Egyptian dungeon to Jeremiah's cistern to Peter and John's apostolic imprisonment to Christ's descent into Hades. The psalm universalizes incarceration as a condition from which only God can liberate.

8Let them give thanks to the LORD for His loving devotion and His wonders to the sons of men.

9For He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.

10Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and chains,

11because they rebelled against the words of God and despised the counsel of the Most High.

12He humbled their hearts with hard labor; they stumbled, and there was no one to help.

Read all of Psalm 107 — Four stories of people in trouble — lost, imprisoned, sick, storm-tossed. Each time they cry out. Each time God delivers. Let the redeemed say so.