Psalms106
New Living Translation
1 Praise the Lord! Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.
2 Who can list the glorious miracles of the Lord? Who can ever praise him enough?
3 There is joy for those who deal justly with others and always do what is right.
4 Remember me, Lord, when you show favor to your people; come near and rescue me.
5 Let me share in the prosperity of your chosen ones. Let me rejoice in the joy of your people; let me praise you with those who are your heritage.
6 Like our ancestors, we have sinned. We have done wrong! We have acted wickedly!
7 Our ancestors in Egypt were not impressed by the Lord’s miraculous deeds. They soon forgot his many acts of kindness to them. Instead, they rebelled against him at the Red Sea.
8 Even so, he saved them— to defend the honor of his name and to demonstrate his mighty power.
9 He commanded the Red Sea to dry up. He led Israel across the sea as if it were a desert.
10 So he rescued them from their enemies and redeemed them from their foes.
11 Then the water returned and covered their enemies; not one of them survived.
12 Then his people believed his promises. Then they sang his praise.
13 Yet how quickly they forgot what he had done! They wouldn’t wait for his counsel!
14 In the wilderness their desires ran wild, testing God’s patience in that dry wasteland.
15 So he gave them what they asked for, but he sent a plague along with it.
16 The people in the camp were jealous of Moses and envious of Aaron, the Lord’s holy priest.
17 Because of this, the earth opened up; it swallowed Dathan and buried Abiram and the other rebels.
18 Fire fell upon their followers; a flame consumed the wicked.
19 The people made a calf at Mount Sinai; they bowed before an image made of gold.
20 They traded their glorious God for a statue of a grass-eating bull.
21 They forgot God, their savior, who had done such great things in Egypt—
22 such wonderful things in the land of Ham, such awesome deeds at the Red Sea.
23 So he declared he would destroy them. But Moses, his chosen one, stepped between the Lord and the people. He begged him to turn from his anger and not destroy them.
24 The people refused to enter the pleasant land, for they wouldn’t believe his promise to care for them.
25 Instead, they grumbled in their tents and refused to obey the Lord.
26 Therefore, he solemnly swore that he would kill them in the wilderness,
27 that he would scatter their descendants among the nations, exiling them to distant lands.
28 Then our ancestors joined in the worship of Baal at Peor; they even ate sacrifices offered to the dead!
29 They angered the Lord with all these things, so a plague broke out among them.
30 But Phinehas had the courage to intervene, and the plague was stopped.
31 So he has been regarded as a righteous man ever since that time.
32 At Meribah, too, they angered the Lord, causing Moses serious trouble.
33 They made Moses angry, and he spoke foolishly.
34 Israel failed to destroy the nations in the land, as the Lord had commanded them.
35 Instead, they mingled among the pagans and adopted their evil customs.
36 They worshiped their idols, which led to their downfall.
37 They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons.
38 They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters. By sacrificing them to the idols of Canaan, they polluted the land with murder.
39 They defiled themselves by their evil deeds, and their love of idols was adultery in the Lord’s sight.
40 That is why the Lord’s anger burned against his people, and he abhorred his own special possession.
41 He handed them over to pagan nations, and they were ruled by those who hated them.
42 Their enemies crushed them and brought them under their cruel power.
43 Again and again he rescued them, but they chose to rebel against him, and they were finally destroyed by their sin.
44 Even so, he pitied them in their distress and listened to their cries.
45 He remembered his covenant with them and relented because of his unfailing love.
46 He even caused their captors to treat them with kindness.
47 Save us, O Lord our God! Gather us back from among the nations, so we can thank your holy name and rejoice and praise you.
48 Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, who lives from everlasting to everlasting! Let all the people say, “Amen!” Praise the Lord!
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Psalms 106Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Psalms 106. The full AI study guide (summary, themes, context) has its own page.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: The happiness of God's people. (1–5). Israel's sins. (6–12). Their provocations. (13–33). Their rebellions in Canaan. (34–46). Prayer for more complete deliverance. (47, 48).
vv1-5
None of our sins or sufferings should prevent our ascribing glory and praise to the Lord. The more unworthy we are, the more is his kindness to be admired. And those who depend on the Redeemer's righteousness will endeavour to copy his example, and by word and deed to show forth his praise. God's people have reason to be cheerful people; and need not envy the children of men their pleasure or pride.
vv6-12
Here begins a confession of sin; for we must acknowledge that the Lord has done right, and we have done wickedly. We are encouraged to hope that though justly corrected, yet we shall not be utterly forsaken. God's afflicted people own themselves guilty before him. God is distrusted because his favours are not remembered. If he did not save us for his own name's sake, and to the praise of his power and grace, we should all perish.
vv13-33
Those that will not wait for God's counsel, shall justly be given up to their own hearts' lusts, to walk in their own counsels. An undue desire, even for lawful things, becomes sinful. God showed his displeasure for this. He filled them with uneasiness of mind, terror of conscience, and self-reproach. Many that fare deliciously every day, and whose bodies are healthful, have leanness in their souls: no love to God, no thankfulness, no appetite for the Bread of life, and then the soul must be lean. Those wretchedly forget themselves, that feast their bodies and starve their souls. Even the true believer will see abundant cause to say, It is of the Lord's mercies that I am not consumed. Often have we set up idols in our hearts, cleaved to some forbidden object; so that if a greater than Moses had not stood to turn away the anger of the Lord, we should have been destroyed. If God dealt severely with Moses for unadvised words, what do those deserve who speak many proud and wicked words? It is just in God to remove those relations that are blessings to us, when we are peevish and provoking to them, and grieve their spirits.
Key Words
הָלַל: to be clear (orig. of sound, but usually of color); to shine; hence, to make ashow, to boast; and thus to be (clamorously) foolish; to rave; causatively, to celebrate; also to stultify
יָדָה: physically, to throw (a stone, an arrow) at or away; especially to revere or worship (with extended hands); intensively, to bemoan (by wringing the hands)
כִּי: (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below); often largely modified by other particles annexed
טוֹב: good (as an adjective) in the widest sense; used likewise as a noun, both in the masculine and the feminine, the singular and the plural (good, a good or good thing, a good man or woman; the good, goods or good things, good men or women), also as an adverb (well)
חֵסֵד: kindness; by implication (towards God) piety; rarely (by opposition) reproof, or (subject.) beauty
עוֹלָם: properly, concealed, i.e. the vanishing point; generally, time out of mind (past or future), i.e. (practically) eternity; frequentatively, adverbial (especially with prepositional prefix) always
מִי: who? (occasionally, by a peculiar idiom, of things); also (indefinitely) whoever; often used in oblique construction with prefix or suffix
מָלַל: to speak (mostly poetical) or say
גְּבוּרָה: force (literally or figuratively); by implication, valor, victory
שָׁמַע: to hear intelligently (often with implication of attention, obedience, etc.; causatively, to tell, etc.)
Cross References
Psalms 106Direct citation and source of the psalm's closing prayer for gathering and deliverance.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Moses pleads for God's name's sake to avoid destruction of Israel in the wilderness.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Direct parallel showing they believed His words and sang praise at the Red Sea.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
The source text where Israel 'lusted exceedingly' (lusted a lust) in the desert.
Supported by JFB
The historical event of making and worshipping the molten golden calf at Horeb.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The historical account of Israel joining themselves to Baal-peor and eating pagan sacrifices.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Prophetic description of God leading them through the deep Red Sea as a horse.
Supported by JFB
New Testament warning citing Israel's lusting in the wilderness as an example for us.
Supported by JFB
The earth opening to swallow Dathan and the company of Abiram.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Apostolic echo of changing the glory of the incorruptible God into images.
Supported by JFB
Moses standing in the breach to turn away God's wrath from destroying them.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
God's covenant of peace given because Phinehas executed judgment and turned away wrath.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The provocation at the waters of Meribah where Moses spoke unadvisedly.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Solomon's prayer matching the three-fold confession of sin used by the captives.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole, JFB
The sister psalm's detailed catalog of the wonders and plagues in Egypt (land of Ham).
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole