He made them also to be pitied of all those that carried them captives.

PSALMS 106:46KJV
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Psalms 106:46 (KJV)

What does Psalms 106:46 mean?

Psalms 106:46 says that God caused the people who held Israel captive to show them pity. The verse describes a change in how the captors treated their prisoners: those with power over them could also act with compassion toward them.

The speaker looks back on Israel’s troubles and sees God at work even while the people are still in captivity. Following God’s remembrance of his promise in verse 45, the focus turns to the captors’ response. The words “all those” give the statement a sweeping reach.

The Hebrew behind Psalms 106:46

  • “made” — נָתַן (natan): This word often means “give” or “put.” Here it helps express God’s role in bringing about the captors’ compassionate response.
  • “pitied” — רַחֲמִים (raḥamim): This word carries the sense of compassion or tender concern. It points to a response to the prisoners’ suffering, rather than merely an opinion about them.

Why Psalms 106:46 matters

  • The verse places compassion within captivity, not only after release. The people are still described as having been carried captive when their captors show them pity.
  • The captors are pictured as capable of compassion as well as control. The phrase “all those that carried them captives” joins both actions to the same people.
  • The next verse turns the account into a request. After describing God’s past care, the speaker asks God to save the people and gather them from among the nations (verse 47).

Where else these words appear

“captives” Hebrew H7617 · used in 42 verses

  • Genesis 14:14 And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan.
  • 1 Kings 8:47 Yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they were carried captives, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captives, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness;
  • 2 Chronicles 28:11 Now hear me therefore, and deliver the captives again, which ye have taken captive of your brethren: for the fierce wrath of the LORD is upon you.

“pitied” Hebrew H7356 · used in 44 verses

  • Genesis 43:14 And God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may send away your other brother, and Benjamin. If I be bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.
  • Nehemiah 9:31 Nevertheless for thy great mercies' sake thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them; for thou art a gracious and merciful God.
  • Isaiah 47:6 I was wroth with my people, I have polluted mine inheritance, and given them into thine hand: thou didst shew them no mercy; upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke.