Psalms 105

Give thanks to the LORD. Call on his name. Tell the nations what he has done.

1O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people.

Note"The LORD" in small capitals stands for the personal name of Israel's God, four Hebrew letters usually written YHWH. Jewish readers came to avoid pronouncing it and said "Lord" instead, and English Bibles have followed that practice ever since. Verses 1–15 of this psalm appear almost word for word in 1 Chronicles 16, as a song sung when the ark was brought to Jerusalem.

2Sing to him. Sing songs of praise to him. Talk about all the wonderful things he has done.

2Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye of all his wondrous works.

3Take pride in his holy name. Let the hearts of those who look for the LORD be glad.

3Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the LORD.

4Look for the LORD and for his strength. Look for his face always.

4Seek the LORD, and his strength: seek his face evermore.

Note"Seek his face" is court language. To see a ruler's face meant to be granted an audience with him; to be denied his face meant being shut out. The phrase asks for access to God's presence, not for a literal sight of him.

5Remember the wonderful things he has done, the amazing acts, and the decisions he has spoken,

5Remember his marvellous works that he hath done; his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth;

NoteThe Hebrew word behind "judgments" covers both senses at once: the legal rulings a judge pronounces and the acts by which he enforces them. Here it points forward to the plagues on Egypt described later in the psalm.

6you who are the children of his servant Abraham, you sons of Jacob, the ones he chose.

6O ye seed of Abraham his servant, ye children of Jacob his chosen.

NoteAbraham, his son Isaac, and Isaac's son Jacob are the three generations Israel traced itself back to. Jacob was also called Israel, and his twelve sons gave their names to the twelve tribes, so "sons of Jacob" means the whole nation.

7He is the LORD our God. His decisions reach across the whole earth.

7He is the LORD our God: his judgments are in all the earth.

8He remembers his covenant forever, the promise he gave a command about for a thousand generations.

8He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations.

NoteA covenant was a formal, binding agreement, sworn with oaths and often with a ceremony, the same kind of arrangement kings made with each other or with the peoples they ruled. The covenant meant here is God's promise to Abraham of descendants and land.

9That is the covenant he made with Abraham, and the promise he swore to Isaac.

9Which covenant he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac;

Note"A thousand generations" is a Hebrew way of saying "for as long as anyone can count," not a figure meant to be worked out in years.

10He made it firm for Jacob as a settled rule, and for Israel as a covenant that lasts forever.

10And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant:

11He said, "I will give you the land of Canaan as the share of land that belongs to you."

11Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance:

NoteCanaan was the strip of land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean, roughly modern Israel, the Palestinian territories, and southern Lebanon. "The lot of your inheritance" uses the language of dividing land by casting lots, small marked stones or sticks thrown to decide who got which portion, and so means the share assigned to you.

12He said this when they were only a few people, very few, and were foreigners living in that land.

12When they were but a few men in number; yea, very few, and strangers in it.

NoteA "stranger" in this sense was a resident foreigner: someone living permanently among a people not his own, unable to own land and dependent on local goodwill for protection. That was the position of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in Canaan.

13They moved from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people.

13When they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people;

NoteThis summarizes the wanderings told in Genesis: Abraham moving from Mesopotamia into Canaan, down to Egypt and back, Isaac among the Philistines at Gerar, Jacob in Haran and later in Egypt.

14He let no one mistreat them. He warned kings for their sake:

14He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, he reproved kings for their sakes;

15"Do not touch the ones I have chosen and set apart. Do not harm my prophets."

15Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.

NoteTo anoint someone was to pour olive oil on his head, a public act marking him out for a special role, normally a king or a priest. Here the word is applied to the wandering ancestors themselves. "Prophet" means a person who speaks on God's behalf; Genesis 20:7 calls Abraham one. The verse recalls the episodes where foreign rulers took Abraham's or Isaac's wife and were warned off.

16He also called for a famine to come on the land. He cut off the whole supply of food.

16Moreover he called for a famine upon the land: he brake the whole staff of bread.

Note"He brake the whole staff of bread" is a Hebrew idiom. A staff is a walking stick that holds a man up, so bread is pictured as the support that holds life up; breaking it means cutting off the food supply. The famine is the one in Genesis 41–47.

17He sent a man ahead of them: Joseph, who was sold to be a slave.

17He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant:

NoteJoseph, Jacob's son, was sold by his brothers to traders who took him to Egypt, where he was resold as a household slave (Genesis 37).

18They hurt his feet with chains. His neck was put in iron.

18Whose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron:

NoteThe Hebrew of the second line is compressed and can be read two ways: that iron entered his neck (a collar or shackle), or that his very self came into iron. The King James "he was laid in iron" takes the first sense.

19This lasted until the time when what he had said came true. The word of the LORD tested him and proved him right.

19Until the time that his word came: the word of the LORD tried him.

Note"His word" is most likely Joseph's own prediction, his interpretation of the prisoners' and then Pharaoh's dreams, which the passing of time proved right. "Tried" here means tested, the way metal is put through fire to prove it, not "tried" in the sense of a trial in court.

20The king sent word and set him free. The ruler of the peoples let him go.

20The king sent and loosed him; even the ruler of the people, and let him go free.

NoteThe king is Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt, who released Joseph from prison to interpret his dream (Genesis 41).

21He made Joseph master of his household and ruler over everything he owned,

21He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all his substance:

22so that Joseph could bind the king's officials as he chose, and teach his older advisers wisdom.

22To bind his princes at his pleasure; and teach his senators wisdom.

Note"Senators" is the King James word for elders, the senior men who advised a ruler. The first line is disputed: the Hebrew as written says "to bind his princes," but the same consonants, read with different vowels, give "to instruct his princes," which fits the parallel with "teach" in the second line. Both readings are ancient.

23Then Israel came into Egypt. Jacob lived as a foreigner in the land of Ham.

23Israel also came into Egypt; and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.

Note"The land of Ham" is a poetic name for Egypt. Ham was one of Noah's three sons, and Genesis 10 lists Egypt among his descendants. To "sojourn" is to live somewhere as a resident foreigner rather than a citizen.

24The LORD made his people grow in number very fast. He made them stronger than their enemies.

24And he increased his people greatly; and made them stronger than their enemies.

25He turned the hearts of the Egyptians to hate his people and to plot against his servants.

25He turned their heart to hate his people, to deal subtilly with his servants.

Note"Subtilly" in 1611 English meant craftily or by cunning scheming, with no sense of the modern word's delicacy or restraint.

26He sent Moses, his servant, and Aaron, whom he had chosen.

26He sent Moses his servant; and Aaron whom he had chosen.

NoteMoses led Israel out of Egypt; Aaron was his older brother, who acted as his spokesman before Pharaoh and later became the first priest.

27They performed his signs among the Egyptians, and his wonders in the land of Ham.

27They shewed his signs among them, and wonders in the land of Ham.

NoteVerses 27–36 run through the plagues of Exodus 7–12, but not in the order Exodus gives them and without listing all ten; the boils and the cattle disease are left out, and the darkness is moved to the front.

28He sent darkness and made the land dark, and they did not disobey his word.

28He sent darkness, and made it dark; and they rebelled not against his word.

NoteThe Hebrew here is genuinely uncertain. As written, the line says "they did not rebel against his word," which would refer to Moses and Aaron doing as they were told; some ancient copies and translations lack the "not," giving "they defied his words," referring to the Egyptians. Translators split on which to follow.

29He turned their water into blood and killed their fish.

29He turned their waters into blood, and slew their fish.

30Their land swarmed with frogs, even in the rooms of their kings.

30Their land brought forth frogs in abundance, in the chambers of their kings.

31He spoke, and swarms of insects came, and gnats through all their territory.

31He spake, and there came divers sorts of flies, and lice in all their coasts.

Note"Divers sorts of flies" means various kinds of flies, "divers" was the ordinary 1611 word for "different" or "assorted." The Hebrew term means a swarm and does not specify the insect. "Lice" translates a word whose exact meaning is unknown; gnats or mosquitoes are equally possible. "Coasts" in the King James means borders or territory generally, with no reference to the sea.

32He gave them hail instead of rain, and lightning that flashed like fire across their land.

32He gave them hail for rain, and flaming fire in their land.

33He struck down their grapevines and fig trees, and broke the trees all through their country.

33He smote their vines also and their fig trees; and brake the trees of their coasts.

34He spoke, and the locusts came, along with young locusts too many to count.

34He spake, and the locusts came, and caterpillers, and that without number,

Note"Caterpillers" is the King James rendering of a Hebrew word for locusts at a young, wingless stage of growth, not caterpillars in the modern sense.

35They ate up every green plant in the land and finished off the crops of their soil.

35And did eat up all the herbs in their land, and devoured the fruit of their ground.

36He also struck down every firstborn son in their land, the first and best of all their strength.

36He smote also all the firstborn in their land, the chief of all their strength.

Note"The chief of all their strength" is a literal rendering of a Hebrew idiom: the firstborn son was regarded as the first product of his father's vigor, and so as the pick of the household.

37He brought his people out with silver and gold, and not one person in their tribes stumbled or was weak.

37He brought them forth also with silver and gold: and there was not one feeble person among their tribes.

NoteExodus 12 records that the Israelites, on leaving, asked their Egyptian neighbors for objects of silver and gold and were given them. The second line says literally that none among the tribes stumbled: that is, no one lagged or fell behind on the journey out.

38Egypt was glad when they left, because the Egyptians had become afraid of them.

38Egypt was glad when they departed: for the fear of them fell upon them.

39He spread out a cloud to cover them, and gave fire to light up the night.

39He spread a cloud for a covering; and fire to give light in the night.

NoteExodus 13 describes a pillar of cloud that went ahead of Israel by day and a pillar of fire by night. The psalm adds the idea of the cloud spread overhead as shade in the desert.

40The people asked, and he brought quail and filled them with the bread from the sky.

40The people asked, and he brought quails, and satisfied them with the bread of heaven.

NoteThe quails are from Exodus 16 and Numbers 11. "The bread of heaven" is manna, the flaky substance that appeared on the ground each morning during the years in the desert; the Israelites named it from their own question, "man hu", "what is it?"

41He opened the rock, and water poured out. It ran through the dry ground like a river.

41He opened the rock, and the waters gushed out; they ran in the dry places like a river.

NoteThis refers to the occasions when Moses struck a rock and water came out for the thirsty people (Exodus 17 and Numbers 20).

42He did this because he remembered his holy promise, and remembered his servant Abraham.

42For he remembered his holy promise, and Abraham his servant.

43So he brought his people out with joy, the ones he had chosen, with shouts of gladness.

43And he brought forth his people with joy, and his chosen with gladness:

44He gave them the lands of other nations, and they took over what those peoples had worked for,

44And gave them the lands of the heathen: and they inherited the labour of the people;

Note"Heathen" translates the ordinary Hebrew word for "the nations": that is, peoples other than Israel. In 1611 it carried no suggestion of savagery or ignorance. "Inherited the labour of the people" means they took over fields, vineyards, wells and towns that others had built and planted.

45so that they would obey his rules and keep his laws. Praise the LORD.

45That they might observe his statutes, and keep his laws. Praise ye the LORD.

Note"Statutes" and "laws" render two Hebrew words for what God commanded: fixed decrees, and instructions or rulings. "Praise ye the LORD" translates the single Hebrew word hallelu-yah, which is simply carried over untranslated into English as "hallelujah."