Psalms 106:33-43

33 for they made bitter his spirit, and he parted in his lips. (for they made his spirit so bitter, that he spoke rashly with his lips.)

34 They lost not [the] heathen men; which the Lord said to them (to do). (And they did not destroy the heathen; which the Lord had commanded them to do.)

35 And they were meddled among heathen men, and learned the works of them; (Indeed, they were mixed in among the heathen, and learned all their ways;)

36 and served the graven images of them; and it was made to them into cause of stumbling. (and served their carved idols; and that became their falling, or their trap.)

37 And they offered their sons, and their daughters, to fiends. (And they sacrificed their sons and their daughters, to demons and to devils.)

38 And they shedded out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and of their daughters; which they sacrificed to the graven images of Canaan. And the earth was slain in bloods, (And so they shed innocent blood, the blood of their own sons and daughters; whom they sacrificed to the carved idols of Canaan. And the earth was polluted with their children's blood,)

39 and was defouled in the works of them; and they did fornication in their findings. (and they were defiled by their works; and they wantonly abandoned God with their deeds.)

40 And the Lord was wroth by strong vengeance against his people; and he had abomination of his heritage. (And the Lord grew more and more angry in his fury against his people; and he had abomination for his own inheritance.)

41 And he betook them into the hands of heathen men; and they that hated them, were lords of them. (And he delivered them into the hands of the heathen; and so they who hated them, were their lords.)

42 And their enemies did tribulation to them, and they were meeked under the hands of enemies; (And their enemies troubled them/oppressed them, and they were humbled at the hands of their enemies;)

43 oft he delivered them. But they wrathed him in their counsel; and they were made low in their wickednesses. (and often he rescued them. But then they stirred him to anger again with their deeds/But still they chose to rebel against him; and so they were brought down low for their wickednesses.)

Psalms 106:33-43 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 106

This psalm is without the name of its author, as the Syriac interpreter observes. Aben Ezra, on Ps 106:47, says, that one of the wise men of Egypt (perhaps Maimonides) was of opinion that it was written in the time of the judges, when there was no king in Israel; and another, he says, thought it was written in Babylon: but he was of opinion it was wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, or by a prophetic spirit, concerning their present captivity; and so Kimchi. The petition in Ps 106:47, "gather us from among the Heathen", has led most interpreters to conclude that it was written either in the Babylonish captivity, or, as some, in the times of Antiochus: but by comparing it with 1Ch 16:7, it appears that it was written by David, at the time of the bringing up of the ark to Zion; since the first and two last verses of it are there expressly mentioned, in the psalm he gave Asaph to sing on that occasion, Ps 106:34-36, who therein might have respect to the Israelites that had been taken captive by some of their neighbours, as the Philistines, and still retained; though there is no difficulty in supposing that David, under a prophetic spirit, foresaw future captivities, and represents those that were in them. As the preceding psalm treats of the mercies and favours God bestowed upon Israel, this of their sins and provocations amidst those blessings, and of the goodness of God unto them; that notwithstanding he did not destroy them from being a people; for which they had reason to be thankful.