Psalm 107:39

Psalm 107:39, in plain English

But then the pattern reverses: when these blessed people are decreased and humbled by oppression, evil, and sorrow, they experience a sharp reversal of fortune.

Why it's here

The psalmist is setting up another turn. Blessing was flowing, everything was multiplying, then something goes wrong. Notice the causes: oppression (external injustice), evil (internal corruption), sorrow (spiritual distress). Their condition deteriorates. Decrease comes where there was increase.

Who's speaking

The psalmist, marking the moment when blessing withdraws.

Where it sits in the story

This reflects the cyclical pattern of Israel's own history—periods of faithfulness met by blessing, followed by unfaithfulness, oppression, and diminishment. The Psalms are teaching through concrete example what covenant faithfulness produces and what covenant-breaking produces.

The scholarly reading

However, the prosperity proves reversible; populations diminish and become oppressed through moral failure and sorrow—a return to the trajectory of diminishment.

Language and setting

The Hebrew 'וַיִּמְעֲטוּ וַיִּשְׁחוּ מִעֹצֶר רָע וְיָגוֹן' (vayim'atu vayishechu mi-otzer ra ve-yagon) uses causative verbs suggesting active agency—decrease and humiliation result from 'oppression, evil, and sorrow.' This signals movement toward the curse cycle articulated in Deuteronomy 28 and Leviticus 26, where covenant breach triggers compensatory diminishment.

Voice

The psalmist, introducing the fourth narrative cycle, now oriented toward divine judgment

Significance

This inaugurates the final deliverance typology—judgment and restoration—completing a comprehensive cycle of human predicament (wilderness, imprisonment, maritime peril, social collapse) and redemptive response.

37They sow fields and plant vineyards that yield a fruitful harvest.

38He blesses them, and they multiply greatly; He does not let their herds diminish.

39When they are decreased and humbled by oppression, evil, and sorrow,

40He pours out contempt on the nobles and makes them wander in a trackless wasteland.

41But He lifts the needy from affliction and increases their families like flocks.

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.