For the needy shall not alway be forgotten: the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever.
Psalm 9:18 stands in the first book of the Psalms, which gives help for every phase of human experience, and it follows the pattern of many psalms in beginning with a sense of great need in the needy and the poor and ending with triumph and confidence in God. The promise is that the needy shall not always be forgotten and that the expectation or hope of the poor shall not perish forever, but shall be fulfilled and not finally lost or destroyed. It points to a God who is able and willing and anxious to save, bringing help in discouragement, strength in trial, and solid comfort in grief.
It comforts and encourages the poor with enduring hope for those in need, assuring the needy and poor that God will not forget them forever and that their hope will not be destroyed or finally lost. This comfort belongs especially to those who feel they have no one to help them. It also belongs especially to those who lack worldly goods and earthly wealth, encouraging them not to lose hope. The same word gives hope to the poor and instruction to the rich.
Those without earthly wealth are directed to seek wealth in faith and the eternal inheritance promised to the faithful. In the psalm's setting of judgment and deliverance, the promise is realized in the final deliverance of the righteous. Then they come forth from Sheol to receive immortal life, while the living wicked are cut off and consigned to Sheol with the wicked dead, remaining there until the resurrection of the unjust.
In this way the poor shall not be forgotten and their expectation shall not perish, for God's people shall receive their reward and inherit the earth when it is redeemed from the curse.
Psalm 9:18 stands in the first book of the Psalms, which gives help for every phase of human experience, and it follows the pattern of many psalms in beginning with a sense of great need in the needy and the poor and ending with triumph and confidence in God. The promise is that the needy shall not always be forgotten and that the expectation or hope of the poor shall not perish forever, but shall be fulfilled and not finally lost or destroyed. It points to a God who is able and willing and anxious to save, bringing help in discouragement, strength in trial, and solid comfort in grief.
It comforts and encourages the poor with enduring hope for those in need, assuring the needy and poor that God will not forget them forever and that their hope will not be destroyed or finally lost. This comfort belongs especially to those who feel they have no one to help them. It also belongs especially to those who lack worldly goods and earthly wealth, encouraging them not to lose hope. The same word gives hope to the poor and instruction to the rich.
Those without earthly wealth are directed to seek wealth in faith and the eternal inheritance promised to the faithful. In the psalm's setting of judgment and deliverance, the promise is realized in the final deliverance of the righteous. Then they come forth from Sheol to receive immortal life, while the living wicked are cut off and consigned to Sheol with the wicked dead, remaining there until the resurrection of the unjust.
In this way the poor shall not be forgotten and their expectation shall not perish, for God's people shall receive their reward and inherit the earth when it is redeemed from the curse.