Psalms 107

1 Oh, thank God - he's so good! His love never runs out.

2 All of you set free by God, tell the world! Tell how he freed you from oppression,

3 Then rounded you up from all over the place, from the four winds, from the seven seas.

4 Some of you wandered for years in the desert, looking but not finding a good place to live,

5 Half-starved and parched with thirst, staggering and stumbling, on the brink of exhaustion.

6 Then, in your desperate condition, you called out to God. He got you out in the nick of time;

7 He put your feet on a wonderful road that took you straight to a good place to live.

8 So thank God for his marvelous love, for his miracle mercy to the children he loves.

9 He poured great draughts of water down parched throats; the starved and hungry got plenty to eat.

10 Some of you were locked in a dark cell, cruelly confined behind bars,

11 Punished for defying God's Word, for turning your back on the High God's counsel -

12 A hard sentence, and your hearts so heavy, and not a soul in sight to help.

13 Then you called out to God in your desperate condition; he got you out in the nick of time.

14 He led you out of your dark, dark cell, broke open the jail and led you out.

15 So thank God for his marvelous love, for his miracle mercy to the children he loves;

16 He shattered the heavy jailhouse doors, he snapped the prison bars like matchsticks!

17 Some of you were sick because you'd lived a bad life, your bodies feeling the effects of your sin;

18 You couldn't stand the sight of food, so miserable you thought you'd be better off dead.

19 Then you called out to God in your desperate condition; he got you out in the nick of time.

20 He spoke the word that healed you, that pulled you back from the brink of death.

21 So thank God for his marvelous love, for his miracle mercy to the children he loves;

22 Offer thanksgiving sacrifices, tell the world what he's done - sing it out!

23 Some of you set sail in big ships; you put to sea to do business in faraway ports.

24 Out at sea you saw God in action, saw his breathtaking ways with the ocean:

25 With a word he called up the wind - an ocean storm, towering waves!

26 You shot high in the sky, then the bottom dropped out; your hearts were stuck in your throats.

27 You were spun like a top, you reeled like a drunk, you didn't know which end was up.

28 Then you called out to God in your desperate condition; he got you out in the nick of time.

29 He quieted the wind down to a whisper, put a muzzle on all the big waves.

30 And you were so glad when the storm died down, and he led you safely back to harbor.

31 So thank God for his marvelous love, for his miracle mercy to the children he loves.

32 Lift high your praises when the people assemble, shout Hallelujah when the elders meet!

33 God turned rivers into wasteland, springs of water into sunbaked mud;

34 Luscious orchards became alkali flats because of the evil of the people who lived there.

35 Then he changed wasteland into fresh pools of water, arid earth into springs of water,

36 Brought in the hungry and settled them there; they moved in - what a great place to live!

37 They sowed the fields, they planted vineyards, they reaped a bountiful harvest.

38 He blessed them and they prospered greatly; their herds of cattle never decreased.

39 But abuse and evil and trouble declined

40 as he heaped scorn on princes and sent them away. He gave the poor a safe place to live,

41 treated their clans like well-cared-for sheep.

42 Good people see this and are glad; bad people are speechless, stopped in their tracks.

43 If you are really wise, you'll think this over - it's time you appreciated God's deep love.

Psalms 107 Commentary

Chapter 107

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)

Verses 1-9 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.

Verses 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.

Verses 17-22 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.

Verses 23-32 Let those who go to sea, consider and adore the Lord. Mariners have their business upon the tempestuous ocean, and there witness deliverances of which others cannot form an idea. How seasonable it is at such a time to pray! This may remind us of the terrors and distress of conscience many experience, and of those deep scenes of trouble which many pass through, in their Christian course. Yet, in answer to their cries, the Lord turns their storm into a calm, and causes their trials to end in gladness.

Verses 33-43 What surprising changes are often made in the affairs of men! Let the present desolate state of Judea, and of other countries, explain this. If we look abroad in the world, we see many greatly increase, whose beginning was small. We see many who have thus suddenly risen, as suddenly brought to nothing. Worldly wealth is uncertain; often those who are filled with it, ere they are aware, lose it again. God has many ways of making men poor. The righteous shall rejoice. It shall fully convince all those who deny the Divine Providence. When sinners see how justly God takes away the gifts they have abused, they will not have a word to say. It is of great use to us to be fully assured of God's goodness, and duly affected with it. It is our wisdom to mind our duty, and to refer our comfort to him. A truly wise person will treasure in his heart this delightful psalm. From it, he will fully understand the weakness and wretchedness of man, and the power and loving-kindness of God, not for our merit, but for his mercy's sake.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 107

This psalm, from its style, and from its connection with the preceding psalms, seems to have been written by David. The two foregoing psalms respect the children of Israel; this is generally thought to concern all mankind, and its view to assert a general providence which attends all, in whatsoever condition and circumstance; and to encourage men in their distresses to cry unto the Lord. According to Kimchi, Aben Ezra, and others, four sorts of persons are mentioned, travellers through a wilderness, prisoners, sick persons, and such who use the seas; to which some add a fifth, husbandmen; these are instanced in, not to the exclusion of others, but from them it may be concluded that whatsoever state or condition persons may be in, they are known and taken notice of by the Lord, and are relieved by him when they call upon him. Some restrain the whole to the Israelites, as the Targum, R. Obadiah, Arama, and others, where they make any application; and others apply the psalm to New Testament times; and indeed, though the literal sense should be attended unto and preserved, yet it seems to be applicable to spiritual persons and things. The title of it in the Syriac version is pretty remarkable,

``it is said concerning Joab and Abiah the sons of Samuel, who recited the commandments of the Lord. God gathered the Jews out of captivity, and brought them out from Babylon. Also the only begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ, gathered the Gentiles from the four corners of the world, by preaching to baptism.''