Psalms 106

Praise the LORD! Give thanks to the LORD, because he is good. His faithful love lasts forever.

1Praise ye the LORD. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

Note"Praise the LORD" translates the single Hebrew word *hallelujah*, a plural command meaning "you all, praise Yah" (Yah being the short form of God's personal name. That name is what LORD in small capital letters stands for throughout: the Hebrew has the name (YHWH), not the ordinary word for "lord" or "master." "Faithful love" renders *hesed*, the loyalty owed within a binding relationship), not warm feeling but committed, dependable treatment of someone you are bound to.

2Who can put into words the mighty things the LORD has done? Who can speak all the praise he deserves?

2Who can utter the mighty acts of the LORD? who can shew forth all his praise?

3Happy are the people who hold on to what is fair, and the person who does what is right at all times.

3Blessed are they that keep judgment, and he that doeth righteousness at all times.

4Remember me, LORD, with the kindness you show to your people. Come to me and save me,

4Remember me, O LORD, with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people: O visit me with thy salvation;

5so that I may see the good things you give your chosen ones, share the joy of your nation, and be proud along with the people who belong to you.

5That I may see the good of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that I may glory with thine inheritance.

Note"The people who belong to you" translates a word meaning an inheritance or allotted share of land. Israel is pictured as the portion God received as his own permanent holding, the way each family received its own field.

6We have sinned, just as our ancestors did. We have done wrong. We have acted wickedly.

6We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.

7In Egypt our ancestors did not understand the wonders you did. They did not remember your many acts of kindness. Instead they rebelled at the sea, at the Red Sea.

7Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt; they remembered not the multitude of thy mercies; but provoked him at the sea, even at the Red sea.

NoteThe Red Sea is Hebrew *yam suph*, literally "sea of reeds." Which body of water is meant is disputed; the traditional identification is an arm of the Red Sea, but the Hebrew name itself suggests reedy marsh water. Verses 7–12 retell the escape from Egypt described in Exodus 14.

8Even so, he saved them for the sake of his own name, so that his great power would be known.

8Nevertheless he saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known.

9He gave a sharp command to the Red Sea, and it dried up. He led them through the deep water as if it were dry desert ground.

9He rebuked the Red sea also, and it was dried up: so he led them through the depths, as through the wilderness.

10He saved them from the power of the one who hated them. He set them free from the grip of the enemy.

10And he saved them from the hand of him that hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.

11The water covered their enemies. Not one of them was left.

11And the waters covered their enemies: there was not one of them left.

12Then they believed what he had said, and they sang his praise.

12Then believed they his words; they sang his praise.

13But they soon forgot the things he had done. They would not wait for his advice.

13They soon forgat his works; they waited not for his counsel:

14In the wilderness they were filled with greedy craving, and in the desert they put God to the test.

14But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert.

NoteThe craving is the episode in Numbers 11, where the people demanded meat instead of the manna they had been given. "Put God to the test" means to push him to prove himself by producing what they wanted, a challenge, not a sincere question.

15He gave them what they asked for, but he also sent a wasting sickness among them.

15And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul.

NoteThe King James "sent leanness into their soul" translates a phrase meaning a wasting away of the person's very life or appetite. In Numbers 11 God sends the quail they demanded, and a plague along with it.

16In the camp they grew jealous of Moses, and of Aaron, the man set apart for the LORD.

16They envied Moses also in the camp, and Aaron the saint of the LORD.

NoteAaron was Moses' older brother and Israel's first priest. "The man set apart for the LORD" translates "holy one," meaning someone designated for God's exclusive service, a job description, not a comment on his character. The jealousy is the rebellion of Numbers 16, which challenged Moses' and Aaron's right to lead and to handle sacred things.

17The ground opened up and swallowed Dathan. It closed over the followers of Abiram.

17The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the company of Abiram.

NoteDathan and Abiram were leaders of that rebellion. In Numbers 16 the ground splits open and they, their households and their belongings drop into it.

18Fire broke out among their group, and the flames burned up the wicked.

18And a fire was kindled in their company; the flame burned up the wicked.

NoteIn the same account, fire kills the 250 men who had presumed to burn incense, a priestly act, as a test of who was authorized to approach God.

19At Mount Horeb they made a calf and bowed down to an image made of melted metal.

19They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image.

NoteHoreb is another name for Mount Sinai, the mountain where Israel received the commandments. The calf is the gold image of Exodus 32, made while Moses was on the mountain. A "molten image" is one cast from metal melted and poured into a mold.

20They traded away their glorious God for the image of an ox that eats grass.

20Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass.

Note"Their glory" means God himself, described by the splendor that belonged to him. Ancient Jewish scribal tradition records that the line originally read "his glory" and was altered out of reverence. Bull and calf images were standard equipment in the religions around Israel, often as pedestals or symbols for a god; the psalm's sting is in "that eats grass", the substitute is livestock.

21They forgot God, the one who saved them, who had done great things in Egypt,

21They forgat God their saviour, which had done great things in Egypt;

22wonderful works in the land of Ham, and awesome deeds at the Red Sea.

22Wondrous works in the land of Ham, and terrible things by the Red sea.

Note"The land of Ham" is Egypt. In the table of nations in Genesis 10, Egypt is descended from Noah's son Ham, so "Ham" works here as a poetic name for the country.

23So he said he would destroy them. But Moses, the man he had chosen, stood in front of him in the gap, to turn his anger away, so that he would not destroy them.

23Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them.

Note"Stood in the gap" is a military picture: when a city wall is breached, someone has to plant himself in the hole and hold off what is coming through. The scene is Exodus 32, where Moses argues God out of destroying the people.

24They looked down on the good land he had promised, and they did not believe what he said.

24Yea, they despised the pleasant land, they believed not his word:

Note"The good land" is Canaan, the territory promised to Israel's ancestors. The refusal is Numbers 13–14: scouts report the land is unconquerable, and the people decline to enter it.

25They complained inside their tents and would not listen to the voice of the LORD.

25But murmured in their tents, and hearkened not unto the voice of the LORD.

26So he raised his hand and swore that he would bring them down in the wilderness,

26Therefore he lifted up his hand against them, to overthrow them in the wilderness:

NoteRaising the hand is the physical gesture that accompanied swearing an oath, the way a raised right hand does in a courtroom today. The oath is that this generation will die in the desert rather than enter the land.

27and that he would bring down their children among the nations and scatter them across other lands.

27To overthrow their seed also among the nations, and to scatter them in the lands.

NoteScattering among the nations is exile, being deported and dispersed among foreign peoples, the standard ancient consequence of military defeat and the situation the psalm's closing prayer assumes.

28They joined themselves to Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices offered to gods that are dead and lifeless.

28They joined themselves also unto Baalpeor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead.

NoteBaal of Peor was the local god worshiped at Mount Peor in Moab; "Baal" means "lord" or "owner" and was applied to many local deities. The episode is Numbers 25. The Hebrew for "joined themselves" suggests being yoked or harnessed to something. "Sacrifices offered to gods that are dead and lifeless" is genuinely ambiguous in Hebrew: it can mean offerings made to lifeless idols, or food offered to the spirits of dead ancestors, a rite practiced in the region and forbidden to Israel.

29They made him angry by the things they did, and a deadly sickness broke out among them.

29Thus they provoked him to anger with their inventions: and the plague brake in upon them.

Note"Plague" here means a sudden lethal outbreak understood as a direct blow from God, not an ordinary illness.

30Then Phinehas stood up and stepped in to carry out justice, and the sickness was stopped.

30Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment: and so the plague was stayed.

NotePhinehas was Aaron's grandson, a priest. In Numbers 25 he ends the outbreak by killing an Israelite man and a Midianite woman caught together in the act that provoked it. "Stepped in to carry out justice" translates a verb meaning to intervene and settle a matter, often used of arbitrating a dispute.

31That act was credited to him as right and good, for all generations, forever.

31And that was counted unto him for righteousness unto all generations for evermore.

Note"Credited to him" is an accounting term: the act was entered in his account as righteousness. The same phrase is used of Abraham's trust in Genesis 15:6. In Numbers 25 the reward is a permanent priesthood for his descendants, which is what "for all generations" points to.

32At the waters of strife they made the LORD angry, and because of them things went badly for Moses.

32They angered him also at the waters of strife, so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes:

Note"The waters of strife" translates the place name Meribah, which means "quarrelling." At Numbers 20 the people demand water; Moses strikes the rock instead of speaking to it as instructed, and is told he will not lead Israel into the promised land. That is what "things went badly for Moses" refers to.

33They rebelled against his spirit, so that Moses spoke rashly, without thinking.

33Because they provoked his spirit, so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips.

NoteWhose spirit was rebelled against is unsettled in the Hebrew: it may be God's spirit that the people defied, or Moses' own temper that they pushed past its limit. Both readings have been held since antiquity, and the line is left open here.

34They did not destroy the peoples the LORD had commanded them to destroy.

34They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the LORD commanded them:

NoteThe reference is to the command in Deuteronomy that Israel destroy the existing populations of Canaan rather than make treaties with them. The psalm's charge is that Israel disobeyed by leaving them in place.

35Instead they mixed in with those nations and copied the things they did.

35But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works.

36They served their idols, and those idols became a trap for them.

36And they served their idols: which were a snare unto them.

NoteAn idol is a carved or cast image of a god, treated as the place where that god could be approached. A "snare" is a hunter's trap, bait that catches the animal that goes for it.

37They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons.

37Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils,

Note"Demons" translates *shedim*, a rare Hebrew word borrowed from Akkadian, where it named protective spirits. Here it labels the gods to whom the sacrifices were made as something other than gods. Child sacrifice is attested in the region and is repeatedly condemned in Israel's law.

38They killed innocent people, their own sons and daughters, offering them as sacrifices to the idols of Canaan. The land was made filthy with blood.

38And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood.

Note"The land was made filthy" reflects the ancient idea that spilled innocent blood contaminates the ground itself until it is dealt with, the land, not just the killer, is affected.

39They made themselves unclean by what they did, and by their own actions they were unfaithful.

39Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a whoring with their own inventions.

NoteIsrael's relationship with God is regularly described as a marriage, so worship of other gods is described as adultery or prostitution. The King James "went a whoring" is that metaphor; it is not a charge of sexual misconduct as such, though rites involving sex were part of some of the cults in question.

40So the LORD burned with anger against his people, and he turned away in disgust from the people who were his own.

40Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people, insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance.

Note"The people who were his own" is again the inheritance image of verse 5: God is disgusted with the very portion he had taken as his own.

41He handed them over to other nations, and those who hated them ruled over them.

41And he gave them into the hand of the heathen; and they that hated them ruled over them.

NoteBeing handed over to foreign rule is the pattern of the book of Judges and, later, of the Assyrian and Babylonian conquests.

42Their enemies crushed them and held them down under their power.

42Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under their hand.

43Many times he rescued them, but they kept rebelling by their own plans, and they sank low because of their sin.

43Many times did he deliver them; but they provoked him with their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity.

44Even so, he took notice of their suffering when he heard them cry out.

44Nevertheless he regarded their affliction, when he heard their cry:

45He remembered his covenant with them, and because of his great faithful love he changed how he treated them.

45And he remembered for them his covenant, and repented according to the multitude of his mercies.

NoteThe King James "repented" does not mean God was sorry for wrongdoing. The Hebrew verb means to change course or relent, to hold back a punishment that had been announced. "Covenant" is a formal, binding agreement, sworn and permanent, of the kind ancient kings made with peoples and with each other.

46He caused everyone who had taken them away as prisoners to feel pity for them.

46He made them also to be pitied of all those that carried them captives.

NoteAncient conquerors deported defeated populations. The line asks the reader to picture Israelites living under foreign masters whose treatment of them was unexpectedly humane.

47Save us, LORD our God. Gather us back from among the nations, so that we can give thanks to your holy name and be glad as we praise you.

47Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from among the heathen, to give thanks unto thy holy name, and to triumph in thy praise.

NoteThis request places the psalm's singers among people already scattered abroad, praying to be brought home, the situation of the Babylonian exile and after.

48Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from forever in the past to forever in the future. And let all the people say, "Amen." Praise the LORD!

48Blessed be the LORD God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting: and let all the people say, Amen. Praise ye the LORD.

NoteThis verse is not part of the psalm proper. It is the closing blessing that marks the end of the fourth of the five collections the book of Psalms is divided into; each collection ends with a similar formula. "Amen" is a Hebrew word meaning roughly "it is reliable" or "let it stand," spoken by a congregation to endorse what has just been said.