Psalms 107:40 Meaning and Explanation
“He poureth contempt upon princes, and causeth them to wander in the wilderness, where there is no way.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Power looks permanent from the outside. Verse 40 says otherwise, describing rulers losing both their honor and their bearings. The line matters most for what it implies about everyone else, since a psalm that can say this about princes has already said something about how little our own position finally secures. It also frames the promise in verse 41.
Rulers are not exempt. God is described as stripping princes of honor and setting them adrift in trackless country, the same wilderness the psalm's first travelers knew, which levels every human claim to security.
The Context of Psalms 107:40
The psalm's closing meditation reaches its sharpest contrast here. Verse 39 described a people reduced through oppression, affliction, and sorrow. Verse 40 turns to those with power, and verse 41 turns to the poor, so the three lines set high and low beside each other. Two lines in Job 12 stand close enough to this verse that the two books clearly share an idiom, and the psalm places that shared saying inside a hymn of thanks. Verse 42 concludes the sequence with the righteous rejoicing and all iniquity stopping her mouth.
What Does Psalms 107:40 Mean?
'Poureth' is a liquid verb, suggesting something emptied over a person from above, complete and impossible to shake off. What gets poured is 'contempt,' the public reversal of the honor a prince depends on. The second half moves from reputation to location. 'Causeth them to wander' uses the same verb that opened the chapter's first rescue story in verse 4, so rulers end up in the condition of the lost travelers. 'In the wilderness, where there is no way' closes off even the hope of a road. The line strips status and direction in one motion.
This verse belongs to a wide biblical theme about the reversal of the proud. Hannah sang that the LORD brings low and lifts up, that he raises the poor from the dust and sets them among princes. Daniel told a king that the most High rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomever he will. Psalm 107 places that theme at the end of a thanksgiving song for one reason above others. The four rescue portraits all show God responding to a cry from below. Verse 40 states the matching truth from the top, that no rank in the world sits outside his governing.
Mary's song carries this line into the Gospels, announcing that God has put down the mighty from their seats and exalted them of low degree. Jesus lived that pattern in reverse order, receiving contempt from rulers and being led outside the city, and Scripture says he was afterward highly exalted. Paul wrote that God chose weak and despised things to confound the mighty. Verse 40 sounds severe on its own. Read alongside verse 41, it describes a God who rearranges human standing in the direction of mercy for those with nothing.
Psalms 107:40 in the Original Language
nadiv (נָדִיב), 'princes' -- a noble or generous person, someone of rank whose willing giving marks their status. The plural here names people accustomed to honor, which is what makes the poured contempt of this verse such a complete reversal.
Bible Verses Related to Psalms 107:40
“He poureth contempt upon princes, and weakeneth the strength of the mighty.”
- Job 12:21
“Yet setteth he the poor on high from affliction, and maketh him families like a flock.”
- Psalm 107:41
“The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up.”
- 1 Samuel 2:7
“This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.”
- Daniel 4:17
Where Psalms 107:40 Echoes in Scripture
Job 12:21 and 12:24 contain this verse almost word for word. Job says God pours contempt upon princes, and that he takes away the heart of the chief of the people of the earth and causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way. The overlap is close enough that one passage is drawing on the other, or both on shared language. Job speaks it as an argument about God's unsearchable power. Psalm 107 folds the same claim into a song of thanks.
How to Apply Psalms 107:40 Today
Two habits follow from this line. The first is humility about our own standing. Titles, incomes, and reputations rest on ground that can shift, so holding them loosely is simple wisdom. The second is patience with injustice. Watching people misuse authority is exhausting, and this verse assures us that God notices and acts, which frees us from having to settle every score ourselves. There is a warning attached as well. Whatever authority we carry, over employees, children, students, or volunteers, is held on loan and answerable to the One described here.
Reflection & Prayer
Where are we holding a position tightly enough that losing it would shake our sense of who we are? A prayer about standing: Lord, you place people and you remove them, and I would rather learn that gently. Loosen my grip on what I have been given, keep me honest in whatever authority I carry, and let my security rest in you. Amen.