16 for he breaks down gates of bronze and cuts through bars of iron.
16 For he hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder.
16 For he shatters the doors of bronze and cuts in two the bars of iron.
16 He shattered the heavy jailhouse doors, he snapped the prison bars like matchsticks!
16 For He has broken the gates of bronze, And cut the bars of iron in two.
16 For he broke down their prison gates of bronze; he cut apart their bars of iron.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Psalm 107:16
Commentary on Psalm 107:10-16
(Read Psalm 107:10-16)
This description of prisoners and captives intimates that they are desolate and sorrowful. In the eastern prisons the captives were and are treated with much severity. Afflicting providences must be improved as humbling providences; and we lose the benefit, if our hearts are unhumbled and unbroken under them. This is a shadow of the sinner's deliverance from a far worse confinement. The awakened sinner discovers his guilt and misery. Having struggled in vain for deliverance, he finds there is no help for him but in the mercy and grace of God. His sin is forgiven by a merciful God, and his pardon is accompanied by deliverance from the power of sin and Satan, and by the sanctifying and comforting influences of God the Holy Spirit.