pursued, yet not forsaken; struck down, yet not destroyed;
Parallel Translations
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pursued, yet not forsaken; struck down, yet not destroyed;
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We are persecuted: but are not forsake. We are cast doune: neverthelesse we perisshe not.
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We are persecuted, but not forsaken: cast downe, but we perish not.
Cross-references (15)
Passages linked to 2 Corinthians 4:9 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 43:2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned, and flame will not scorch you.
- Micah 7:8 Don’t rejoice against me, my enemy. When I fall, I will arise. When I sit in darkness, Yahweh will be a light to me.
- Psalms 37:24-25 Though he stumble, he shall not fall, for Yahweh holds him up with his hand. I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his children begging for bread.
- Proverbs 24:16 for a righteous man falls seven times and rises up again; but the wicked are overthrown by calamity.
- Psalms 42:11 Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him, the saving help of my countenance, and my God.
- Isaiah 62:4 You will not be called Forsaken any more, nor will your land be called Desolate any more; but you will be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for Yahweh delights in you, and your land will be married.
- 2 Corinthians 7:6 Nevertheless, he who comforts the lowly, God, comforted us by the coming of Titus,
- Hebrews 13:5 Be free from the love of money, content with such things as you have, for he has said, “I will in no way leave you, neither will I in any way forsake you.”
- Psalms 9:10 Those who know your name will put their trust in you, for you, Yahweh, have not forsaken those who seek you.
- Psalms 37:28 For Yahweh loves justice, and doesn’t forsake his saints. They are preserved forever, but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.
- Job 5:17-19 “Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects. Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty. For he wounds and binds up. He injures and his hands make whole. He will deliver you in six troubles; yes, in seven no evil will touch you.
- Psalms 22:1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning?
- Psalms 42:5 Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him for the saving help of his presence.
- John 15:20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his lord.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
- Job 22:29 When they cast down, you will say, ‘be lifted up.’ He will save the humble person.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (10 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not…
9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
Ver. 9. Persecuted, but not forsaken] The Church may be shaken, not shivered; persecuted, not conquered. ( Concuti, non excuti.) Roma cladibus animosior, said one; it is more true of the Church. She gets by her losses, and, as the oak, she taketh heart to grace from the maims and wounds given her. Duris ut ilex tonsa bipennibus.
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" Niteris incassum Christi submergere navem:
Fluctuat, at nunquam mergitur illa ratis:"
as the pope wrote once to the Great Turk.
Cast down, but not destroyed] Impellere possunt, said Luther of his enemies, sed totum prosternere non possunt: crudeliter me tractare possunt, sed non extirpare: dentes nudare, sed non devorare: occidere me possunt, sed in totum me perdere non possunt. They may thrust me, but not throw me; show their teeth, but not devour me; kill me, but not hurt me.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Persecuted; violently pursued and prosecuted by such as are…
Persecuted; violently pursued and prosecuted by such as are the adversaries of the gospel, and enemies to our Lord Jesus, because of our profession of him, and preaching his gospel;
but yet not forsaken of God, nor wholly of men; God, by the inward influences of his Holy Spirit, supporting, upholding, and comforting us; and also, by his providence, raising us up some friends that stick by us.
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Cast down, either in our own thoughts, (as it is the nature of worldly troubles and afflictions to sink men’s thoughts), or cast down by the violence of men, thrown to the earth;
but not destroyed; but yet we live, and are by the mighty power of God preserved, that we are not utterly destroyed.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Persecuted, but not forsaken,.... Pursued from place to place,…
Persecuted, but not forsaken,.... Pursued from place to place, and followed with menaces, curses, and reproaches; laid hold on, proscribed, imprisoned, and threatened with the severest tortures, and death itself; but our God never leaves us nor forsakes us; though we are followed close by evil men, and left by our friends, we are not forsaken of God:
cast down we sometimes are, as an earthen vessel; Co2 4:7, which may be cast out of a man's hands, in order to be dashed to pieces; or as a man in wrestling, see Eph 6:12 may be thrown to the ground by his antagonist, so we are sometimes foiled by sin, Satan, and the world:
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but not destroyed; we are still safe in the hands of Christ, and are kept by the power of God; and, indeed, to what else can all this be ascribed? it is surprising that earthen vessels should bear and suffer so much, and not fall, or be dashed to pieces.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 9. Persecuted, but not forsaken] Διωκομενοι, αλλ' ουκ…
Verse 9. Persecuted, but not forsaken] Διωκομενοι, αλλ' ουκ εγκαταλειπομενοι. The διωκομενοι, pursued, is peculiar to the δρομος, or race, when one being foremost others pursue, and get up close after him, endeavouring to outstrip him, but cannot succeed: this is the meaning of ουκ εγκαταλειπομενοι, not outstripped, or outgone, as the word implies. So in PLUTARCH: τους απολειφθεντας ου στεφανουσι, they do not crown them that are distanced or left behind. So says the apostle, 1Co 9:24: All run, but only ONE receiveth the PRIZE.
Cast down, but not destroyed.] Καταβαλλομενοι αλλ' ουκ απολλυμενοι. This also belongs to wrestlers, where he that throws the other first is conqueror. And so Hesychius: καταβαλει, νικησει, ῥιψει, to cast down is to overcome, to throw. And then, the being not destroyed signifies that, although they were thrown down-cast into troubles and difficulties, yet they rose again, and surmounted them all.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Persecuted - Often persecuted, persecuted in all places. The…
Persecuted - Often persecuted, persecuted in all places. The Book of Acts shows how true this was.
But not forsaken - Not deserted; nor left by God Though persecuted by people, yet they experi enced the fulfillment of the divine promise that he would never leave nor forsake them. God always interposed to aid them; always saved them from the power of their enemies; always sustained them in the time of persecution. It is still true. His people have been often persecuted. Yet God has often interposed to save them from the hands of their enemies; and where he has not saved them from their hands, and preserved their lives, yet he has never left them, but has sustained, upheld, and comforted them even in the dreadful agonies of death.
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Cast down - Thrown down by our enemies, perhaps in allusion to the contests of wrestlers, or of gladiators.
But not destroyed - Not killed. They rose again; they recovered their strength; they were prepared for new conflicts. They surmounted every difficulty, and were ready to engage in new strifes, and to meet new trials and persecutions.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain not forsaken--by God and man. Jesus was forsaken by…
not forsaken--by God and man. Jesus was forsaken by both; so much do His sufferings exceed those of His people (Mat 27:46).
cast down--or "struck down"; not only "persecuted," that is, chased as a deer or bird (Sa1 26:20), but actually struck down as with a dart in the chase (Heb 11:35-38). The Greek "always" in this verse means, "throughout the whole time"; in Co2 4:11 the Greek is different, and means, "at every time," "in every case when the occasion occurs."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 9. cast down, but not destroyed] i.e. struck or…
9. cast down, but not destroyed] i.e. struck or thrown down, as in warfare or wrestling, but not yet deprived of life, and therefore not unable to renew the conflict.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (9) Persecuted, but not forsaken.—Better, perhaps, as expressing in…
(9) Persecuted, but not forsaken.—Better, perhaps, as expressing in both terms of the clause the condition of a soldier on the field of battle, pursued, yet not abandoned. The next clause is again distinctly military, or, perhaps, agonistic: stricken down (as the soldier by some dart or javelin), yet not perishing. In the “faint, yet pursuing,” of Jdg_8:4, we have an antithesis of the same kind in a narrative of actual warfare.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Not forsaken. St. Paul, like the author of the…
Not forsaken. St. Paul, like the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, knew by blessed experience the truth of the promise, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee". (Heb_13:5, Heb_13:6) Cast down. Flung to the ground, as in some lost battle; yet not doomed, not "perishing." "Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand". (Psa_37:24)
Cast down, but not destroyed.
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In ministering the Word, we need to play, if we may so speak, on various instruments of music. We take the silver trumpet when we would utter "the joyful sound." We take the harp when we show forth God"s praise. What shall we take for encouragement and comfort to the weary? As a great poetess has it
Experience, like a pale musician, holds A dulcimer of patience in his hand.
Let us play on the dulcimer. A good man struggling with adversity has been the subject of many moral reflections. We want to go further than the moralist, and show how the man of God is preserved in time of trouble. What heroism in the immortal Jew of Tarsus! All the sharp ordeal through which he passed his personal disadvantages, the disparagement by false apostles jealous of his influence, the coldness of former friends when he was in bonds at Rome, the hardship and misconstruction under which his great work had been done, all served only to bring out more fully the singleness of his aim and fortitude of his spirit
And give the world assurance of a man.
down, but not destroyed." Trouble threw him down, as one wrestler might throw another in the arena; but the cast was not mortal. He revived, for Christ lived in him. Nay; his sufferings increased his usefulness, No follower of Christ ever made such an impression on mankind, or did so much for the gospel, as this troubled, persecuted, perplexed, cast down Paul of Tarsus. Times have changed. Religious liberty prevails. Gross forms of persecution for confessing Christ are prevented by law and condemned by public sentiment. But it does not follow that the course of a faithful Christian is made easy. It is often beset with difficulty, broken, and uneven. Good men are "cast down;" and it is painful to have the skin grazed, even when the bones are not broken. Under such disappointing experiences feeble souls are apt to become more timid and more querulous, while bolder natures grow selfish and cynical. These last, if they have been struck down when grappling with something to them impracticable or forbidden, resolve to knock others down, and, if need be for their own interest, trample on them. But natures that are sweet and sound learn wisdom, consideration for others, and knowledge of themselves through hard experience. And hearts that trust in God have this joy in the worst defeat, that they are not, they cannot be, destroyed. Life is not wrecked by every trouble or by a score of troubles. A mistake may be the very making of a man, if he knows how to correct it. If the way is blocked in one direction, other paths are open. And if helpers fail and friends forsake, God still lives. We do not, indeed, conceal from ourselves that some overthrows cannot be quite remedied in this world; some losses are irreparable on earth, just as some diseases are incurable. But no Christian needs to be inconsolable. If he be stripped of ever so much that he valued, his best treasure remains, and is above the reach of worldly vicissitude. There is a good part which shall not be taken away. Thus life is always worth living. For a brave man it cannot be utterly wrecked by misfortune. For a devout man it cannot be shattered, though once and again struck down to the ground. The good Shepherd restores the soul. But many are the uses of adversity. Remember your faults and correct them; your mistakes, and avoid them; but do not waste time in vain regrets or temper in weak complaints. What purpose does it serve to brood over disappointment and "feed with sighs the passing wind? How much better to gird up your purpose and make the best of what is left to you of time, strength, and opportunity! You may yet stand all the more firmly because of that casting down. The ill you have suffered may lead to higher good. "Though the outward man perish, the inward man is renewed day by day." God knows how to give
Secret refreshings that repair your strength, And fainting spirits uphold.
F.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain pursued, yet not forsaken; smitten down, yet not destroyed…
pursued, yet not forsaken; smitten down, yet not destroyed [The apostle again changes his figure, and describes the Christian minister as a warrior defending a divine treasure. His enemies press upon him very closely, yet still leave him room to wield his weapons. He is greatly disturbed in mind because of his imperiled position, yet does not lose hope; as the conflict grows more strenuous he seeks refuge in flight, but feels that Providence has not forsaken him; finally the overtaking enemy strikes him down, and would overcome him, did not God deliver him for the sake of the treasure committed to his defense];
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.