The Meaning of Psalms 106:43 Explained

Psalms 106:43

KJV: Many times did he deliver them; but they provoked him with their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity.

YLT: Many times He doth deliver them, And they rebel in their counsel, And they are brought low in their iniquity.

Darby: Often did he deliver them; but as for them they provoked him by their counsel, and they were brought low by their iniquity.

ASV: Many times did he deliver them; But they were rebellious in their counsel, And were brought low in their iniquity.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Many  times  did he deliver  them; but they provoked  [him] with their counsel,  and were brought low  for their iniquity. 

What does Psalms 106:43 Mean?

Context Summary

Psalms 106:34-48 - Regarded When They Cried
Israel's conquest of Canaan did not fulfill the divine mandate. The inhabitants, whose sins had become a menace to mankind, were allowed to exist side by side with the Hebrew immigrants; and, as is often the case, the conquerors were conquered, and the invaders were contaminated by the morals of the invaded. Intermarriage poured a large admixture of alien blood into Israel, and the excesses of idolatry, even to the hideous practice of human sacrifices, became intensified by the ties of kinship and neighborhood.
The whole history of Israel is summed up as alternating cycles of sin and punishment, repentance and deliverance; and we are left wondering, first at the inveterate evil of the human heart, which learns nothing from experience, and next at the inexhaustible long-suffering of God, which, while justice strikes, yet finds some way of alleviating the smart of the stroke, Psalms 106:46. The love of God persists all through humanism and outreaches it.
The prayer of Psalms 106:47 shows that this psalm was written in exile. The psalmist hopes and believes that one result of his people's restoration will be thankfulness and the expression upon grateful lips of never-ending praise. So ends the fourth book of the Psalter.
For Review Questions, see the e-Sword Book Comments. [source]

Chapter Summary: Psalms 106

1  The psalmist exhorts to praise God
4  He prays for pardon of sin, as God pardoned the fathers
7  The story of the people's rebellion, and God's mercy
47  He concludes with prayer and praise

What do the individual words in Psalms 106:43 mean?

Times Many He delivered them but they rebelled in their counsel and were brought low for their iniquity
פְּעָמִ֥ים רַבּ֗וֹת יַצִּ֫ילֵ֥ם וְ֭הֵמָּה יַמְר֣וּ בַעֲצָתָ֑ם וַ֝יָּמֹ֗כּוּ בַּעֲוֺנָֽם

פְּעָמִ֥ים  Times 
Parse: Noun, feminine plural
Root: פַּעַם  
Sense: stroke, beat, foot, step, anvil, occurrence.
רַבּ֗וֹת  Many 
Parse: Adjective, feminine plural
Root: רַב 
Sense: much, many, great.
יַצִּ֫ילֵ֥ם  He  delivered  them 
Parse: Verb, Hifil, Imperfect, third person masculine singular, third person masculine plural
Root: נָצַל  
Sense: to snatch away, deliver, rescue, save, strip, plunder.
וְ֭הֵמָּה  but  they 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Pronoun, third person masculine plural
Root: הֵם 
Sense: they, these, the same, who.
יַמְר֣וּ  rebelled 
Parse: Verb, Hifil, Imperfect, third person masculine plural
Root: מָרָה  
Sense: to be contentious, be rebellious, be refractory, be disobedient towards, be rebellious against.
בַעֲצָתָ֑ם  in  their  counsel 
Parse: Preposition-b, Noun, feminine singular construct, third person masculine plural
Root: עֵצָה 
Sense: counsel, advice, purpose.
וַ֝יָּמֹ֗כּוּ  and  were  brought  low 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Qal, Consecutive imperfect, third person masculine plural
Root: מָכַךְ  
Sense: to be low, be humiliated.
בַּעֲוֺנָֽם  for  their  iniquity 
Parse: Preposition-b, Noun, common singular construct, third person masculine plural
Root: עָוֹן  
Sense: perversity, depravity, iniquity, guilt or punishment of iniquity.