Psalms 107

Thanksgiving for God's Deliverance

1 Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His faithful love endures forever.^[a]

2 Let the redeemed of the Lord proclaim that He has redeemed them from the hand of the foe

3 and has gathered them from the lands- from the east and the west, from the north and the south.

4 Some^[b] wandered in the desolate wilderness, finding no way to a city where they could live.

5 They were hungry and thirsty; their spirits failed^[c] within them.

6 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble; He rescued them from their distress.

7 He led them by the right path to go to a city where they could live.

8 Let them give thanks to the Lord for His faithful love and His wonderful works for the human race.

9 For He has satisfied the thirsty and filled the hungry with good things.^[d]

10 Others^[e] sat in darkness and gloom^[f]- prisoners in cruel chains^[g]-

11 because they rebelled against God's commands and despised the counsel of the Most High.

12 He broke their spirits^[h] with hard labor; they stumbled, and there was no one to help.

13 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble; He saved them from their distress.

14 He brought them out of darkness and gloom^[i] and broke their chains apart.

15 Let them give thanks to the Lord for His faithful love and His wonderful works for the human race.

16 For He has broken down the bronze gates and cut through the iron bars.^[j]

17 Fools suffered affliction because of their rebellious ways and their sins.

18 They loathed all food and came near the gates of death.

19 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble; He saved them from their distress.

20 He sent His word and healed them; He rescued them from the Pit.

21 Let them give thanks to the Lord for His faithful love and His wonderful works for the human race.

22 Let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving^[k] and announce His works with shouts of joy.

23 Others^[l] went to sea in ships, conducting trade on the vast waters.

24 They saw the Lord's works, His wonderful works in the deep.

25 He spoke and raised a tempest that stirred up the waves of the sea.^[m]

26 Rising up to the sky, sinking down to the depths, their courage^[n] melting away in anguish,

27 they reeled and staggered like drunken men, and all their skill was useless.

28 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He brought them out of their distress.

29 He stilled the storm to a murmur, and the waves of the sea^[o] were hushed.^[p]

30 They rejoiced when the waves^[q] grew quiet. Then He guided them to the harbor they longed for.

31 Let them give thanks to the Lord for His faithful love and His wonderful works for the human race.

32 Let them exalt Him in the assembly of the people and praise Him in the council of the elders.

33 He turns rivers into desert, springs of water into thirsty ground,

34 and fruitful land into salty wasteland, because of the wickedness of its inhabitants.

35 He turns a desert into a pool of water, dry land into springs of water.^[r]

36 He causes the hungry to settle there, and they establish a city where they can live.

37 They sow fields and plant vineyards that yield a fruitful harvest.

38 He blesses them, and they multiply greatly;^[s] He does not let their livestock decrease.

39 When they are diminished and are humbled by cruel oppression and sorrow,

40 He pours contempt on nobles^[t] and makes them wander in trackless wastelands.^[u]

41 But He lifts the needy out of their suffering and makes their families [multiply] like flocks.

42 The upright see it and rejoice,^[v] and all injustice shuts its mouth.^[w]

43 Let whoever is wise pay attention to these things and consider^[x] the Lord's acts of faithful love.^[y]

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.

Footnotes

• [a]. 1 Ch 16:34
• [b]. Lit They
• [c]. Lit their soul fainted
• [d]. Ps 34:10; Lk 1:53
• [e]. Lit They
• [f]. Or the shadow of death
• [g]. Isa 42:7; Lk 1:79
• [h]. Lit hearts
• [i]. Or the shadow of death
• [j]. Isa 45:2
• [k]. Ps 50:14; Lv 7:12; Heb 13:15
• [l]. Lit They
• [m]. Lit of it
• [n]. Lit souls
• [o]. Lit of them
• [p]. Ps 89:9; Mt 8:26; Lk 8:24
• [q]. Lit when they
• [r]. Ps 114:8; Isa 41:17-18
• [s]. Gn 1:28
• [t]. Jb 12:21
• [u]. Jb 12:24
• [v]. Ps 64:10; Jb 22:19
• [w]. Jb 5:16
• [x]. Lit and let them consider
• [y]. Ps 64:9; Hs 14:9

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.''