Psalms107
New Living Translation
1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.
2 Has the Lord redeemed you? Then speak out! Tell others he has redeemed you from your enemies.
3 For he has gathered the exiles from many lands, from east and west, from north and south.
4 Some wandered in the wilderness, lost and homeless.
5 Hungry and thirsty, they nearly died.
6 “Lord, help!” they cried in their trouble, and he rescued them from their distress.
7 He led them straight to safety, to a city where they could live.
8 Let them praise the Lord for his great love and for the wonderful things he has done for them.
9 For he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.
10 Some sat in darkness and deepest gloom, imprisoned in iron chains of misery.
11 They rebelled against the words of God, scorning the counsel of the Most High.
12 That is why he broke them with hard labor; they fell, and no one was there to help them.
13 “Lord, help!” they cried in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress.
14 He led them from the darkness and deepest gloom; he snapped their chains.
15 Let them praise the Lord for his great love and for the wonderful things he has done for them.
16 For he broke down their prison gates of bronze; he cut apart their bars of iron.
17 Some were fools; they rebelled and suffered for their sins.
18 They couldn’t stand the thought of food, and they were knocking on death’s door.
19 “Lord, help!” they cried in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress.
20 He sent out his word and healed them, snatching them from the door of death.
21 Let them praise the Lord for his great love and for the wonderful things he has done for them.
22 Let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving and sing joyfully about his glorious acts.
23 Some went off to sea in ships, plying the trade routes of the world.
24 They, too, observed the Lord’s power in action, his impressive works on the deepest seas.
25 He spoke, and the winds rose, stirring up the waves.
26 Their ships were tossed to the heavens and plunged again to the depths; the sailors cringed in terror.
27 They reeled and staggered like drunkards and were at their wits’ end.
28 “Lord, help!” they cried in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress.
29 He calmed the storm to a whisper and stilled the waves.
30 What a blessing was that stillness as he brought them safely into harbor!
31 Let them praise the Lord for his great love and for the wonderful things he has done for them.
32 Let them exalt him publicly before the congregation and before the leaders of the nation.
33 He changes rivers into deserts, and springs of water into dry, thirsty land.
34 He turns the fruitful land into salty wastelands, because of the wickedness of those who live there.
35 But he also turns deserts into pools of water, the dry land into springs of water.
36 He brings the hungry to settle there and to build their cities.
37 They sow their fields, plant their vineyards, and harvest their bumper crops.
38 How he blesses them! They raise large families there, and their herds of livestock increase.
39 When they decrease in number and become impoverished through oppression, trouble, and sorrow,
40 the Lord pours contempt on their princes, causing them to wander in trackless wastelands.
41 But he rescues the poor from trouble and increases their families like flocks of sheep.
42 The godly will see these things and be glad, while the wicked are struck silent.
43 Those who are wise will take all this to heart; they will see in our history the faithful love of the Lord.
Study
Psalms 107Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Psalms 107. The full AI study guide (summary, themes, context) has its own page.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: God's providential care of the children of men in distresses, in banishment, and dispersion. (1–9). In captivity. (10–16). In sickness. (17–22). Danger at sea. (23–32). God's hand is to be seen by his own people. (33–43).
vv1-9
In these verses there is reference to the deliverance from Egypt, and perhaps that from Babylon: but the circumstances of travellers in those countries are also noted. It is scarcely possible to conceive the horrors suffered by the hapless traveller, when crossing the trackless sands, exposed to the burning rays of the sum. The words describe their case whom the Lord has redeemed from the bondage of Satan; who pass through the world as a dangerous and dreary wilderness, often ready to faint through troubles, fears, and temptations. Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, after God, and communion with him, shall be filled with the goodness of his house, both in grace and glory.
vv10-16
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.
vv17-22
If we knew no sin, we should know no sickness. Sinners are fools. They hurt their bodily health by intemperance, and endanger their lives by indulging their appetites. This their way is their folly. The weakness of the body is the effect of sickness. It is by the power and mercy of God that we are recovered from sickness, and it is our duty to be thankful. All Christ's miraculous cures were emblems of his healing diseases of the soul. It is also to be applied to the spiritual cures which the Spirit of grace works. He sends his word, and heals souls; convinces, converts them, makes them holy, and all by the word. Even in common cases of recovery from sickness, God in his providence speaks, and it is done; by his word and Spirit the soul is restored to health and holiness.
Key Words
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)
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
גָּאַל: to be the next of kin (and as such to buy back a relative's property, marry his widow, etc.)
אָמַר: to say (used with great latitude)
קָבַץ: to grasp, i.e. collect
אֶרֶץ: the earth (at large, or partitively a land)
מִזְרָח: sunrise, i.e. the east
מַעֲרָב: the west (as a region of the evening sun)
Cross References
Psalms 107Identical introductory liturgical call to praise God for His everlasting mercy and goodness.
Supported by Matthew Poole, John Calvin
Isaianic language of the 'redeemed of the Lord' returning along the holy highway.
Supported by JFB
Prophetic parallel of breaking the gates of brass and cutting the bars of iron.
Supported by JFB
Jesus calming the physical storm mirrors Yahweh's authority over the sea shown here.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
The Zechariah benediction echoes sitting in darkness and the shadow of death.
Supported by JFB
Urges sacrificing the sacrifices of thanksgiving, matching the psalm's liturgical instructions.
Supported by JFB
Direct verbal parallel regarding God making leaders wander in a pathless wilderness.
Supported by JFB
Concludes with the same wisdom formula: the wise observing and understanding Yahweh's ways.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Mary's Magnificat echoes God satisfying the longing and filling the hungry with good.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Saviour's light dawning on those sitting in darkness and the shadow of death.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Matches the description of a sick man abhorring food and drawing near to death.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Sovereign reversal raising the needy from affliction and multiplying families like a flock.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Hannah's song parallel of setting the poor on high and raising the needy.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Theological fulfillment where all iniquity stops her mouth before the righteous judgment.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Miraculous transformation of dry wilderness rock into standing water and water springs.
Supported by Matthew Poole