Psalms 107

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

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

NoteLORD printed in capitals marks the places where the Hebrew has God's personal name, the four consonants usually written YHWH; readers said "the Lord" aloud instead of pronouncing it. "Mercy" here translates *hesed*, the loyal, committed love owed between parties bound to each other, closer to steady faithfulness than to pity or feeling. The word returns at the very end of the psalm, framing the whole poem.

2Let the people the LORD has bought back say so, the ones he rescued from the power of the enemy.

2Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy;

Note"Redeemed" translates a Hebrew word from family law: paying a price to get something back. It was used of a relative buying a family member out of slavery or debt, or buying back land the family had been forced to sell. The image is a purchase, not a feeling.

3He gathered them out of many lands, from the east and the west, from the north and the south.

3And gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south.

NoteHebrew reckons direction as if facing east, so "before" is east and "behind" is west. The fourth term here is literally "from the sea," which normally means west; a nearly identical Hebrew word means "south," which is why translations differ. The phrase "gathered out of the lands" was standard wording for scattered exiles being brought home from the countries they had been dispersed to.

4Some of them wandered in the desert, on a lonely road. They found no city where they could settle.

4They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in.

Note"Wilderness" in the Bible is dry, unfarmed open country, scrub and rock used for grazing, not forest. The danger in it is thirst and exposure, and the absence of any settlement to shelter in.

5They were hungry and thirsty, and they felt their strength draining away.

5Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them.

Note"Soul" translates the Hebrew *nephesh*, which means the throat, the appetite, and by extension the life or the whole person, not an immaterial part inside a body. "Their soul fainted in them" describes life itself ebbing away from hunger and thirst.

6Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he brought them out of the tight places they were in.

6Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.

Note"Distresses" translates a Hebrew word whose root sense is narrowness or a tight, cramped place; being rescued is being brought out into open ground. This two-line cry-and-rescue is a refrain: it recurs almost word for word at verses 13, 19 and 28, marking off four separate scenes of trouble.

7He led them along a straight road, so they could reach a city where people lived.

7And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation.

8If only people would thank the LORD for his goodness, and for the wonderful things he does for human beings!

8Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

9He gives the thirsty person all he needs, and he fills the hungry person with good things.

9For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.

10Others sat in darkness, in the deep shadow of death. They were prisoners, held down by suffering and iron chains.

10Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron;

Note"The shadow of death" translates *tsalmaveth*, a word for the thickest possible darkness; the form of the word suggests both "deep shadow" and "death," and it was used of dungeons and of the grave. Prisoners in the ancient world were commonly held in dark underground pits and secured with iron fetters, which is the picture here.

11This happened because they had rebelled against the words of God and had treated the advice of the Most High as worthless.

11Because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel of the most High:

Note"The Most High" (*Elyon*) is an ancient title for God, used of the highest god over all others. "Contemned" is 1611 English for despised or treated as worthless.

12So he humbled their hearts with hard labor. They stumbled and fell, and no one was there to help.

12Therefore he brought down their heart with labour; they fell down, and there was none to help.

13Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them out of the tight places they were in.

13Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses.

14He brought them out of the darkness and the deep shadow of death, and he snapped their chains apart.

14He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder.

15If only people would thank the LORD for his goodness, and for the wonderful things he does for human beings!

15Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

16For he has smashed the bronze gates and cut through the iron bars.

16For he hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder.

NoteCity gates were the weak point in a wall, so they were faced with bronze and secured by heavy iron cross-bars slotted into the gateposts. Breaking gate and bar was the decisive moment in capturing a city, here the image is applied to letting prisoners out.

17Some were fools who suffered because of the wrong they did and the crooked way they lived.

17Fools because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted.

NoteA "fool" in Hebrew writing is not someone unintelligent but someone morally reckless, a person who ignores warnings and lives in a way that wrecks him. The affliction described follows from their own conduct.

18They could not stand the sight of any food, and they came close to the gates of death.

18Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat; and they draw near unto the gates of death.

Note"Meat" in 1611 English meant food of any kind, not flesh in particular. Losing all appetite was understood as a sign that a sick person was near death.

19Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them out of the tight places they were in.

19Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses.

20He sent out his word and healed them, and he rescued them from the things destroying them.

20He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.

Note"Their destructions" renders a Hebrew word meaning a pit or a grave, often a trapping pit dug for animals. It stands for death itself closing over someone.

21If only people would thank the LORD for his goodness, and for the wonderful things he does for human beings!

21Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

22Let them bring thank offerings, and tell what he has done, with glad shouts.

22And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.

NoteThe "sacrifice of thanksgiving" (*todah*) was a specific offering: an animal was killed, part burned, and the rest eaten in a shared meal by the worshiper and his household and guests. Telling the assembled company what had happened to you was part of the ritual, which is why sacrificing and declaring are named together.

23Others went out on the sea in ships, doing their trade on the great waters.

23They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;

NoteIsrael had almost no seafaring tradition of its own; long-distance shipping was the business of Phoenician neighbors, and in Hebrew poetry the open sea is a place of dread rather than of adventure. "Great waters" means the deep sea, out of sight of land.

24They saw the works of the LORD, the wonderful things he does out in the deep.

24These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.

25For he gave the command, and a stormy wind rose up and lifted the waves high.

25For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.

26Their ships climbed toward the sky, then dropped down into the deep. The sailors lost all their courage in the danger.

26They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.

Note"Their soul is melted" is a stock Hebrew idiom for courage draining away in terror, the way wax loses its shape in heat. The same phrase is used elsewhere of armies losing their nerve before a battle.

27They lurched and staggered like a drunk man, and all their skill was of no use.

27They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit’s end.

Note"Wit" in 1611 English meant skill or practical knowledge, not humor; the Hebrew says their expertise was swallowed up, the sailors' seamanship counted for nothing. The English expression "at their wit's end" entered common speech from this verse.

28Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he brought them out of the tight places they were in.

28Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.

29He hushed the storm into a calm, and the waves of the sea grew still.

29He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.

30They were glad when the sea went quiet, and he guided them to the harbor they wanted to reach.

30Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.

31If only people would thank the LORD for his goodness, and for the wonderful things he does for human beings!

31Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

32Let them lift him high when the people gather, and praise him where the elders sit together.

32Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.

Note"The congregation" is the assembled community of Israel gathered for worship; "the assembly of the elders" is the council of senior heads of families, who governed the town and settled disputes, usually meeting in the open space just inside the city gate. Thanks for a rescue was expected to be given publicly, in front of both bodies.

33He turns rivers into desert, and bubbling springs into dry ground.

33He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the watersprings into dry ground;

34He turns good farmland into salty waste, because of the evil of the people who live there.

34A fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.

Note"Barrenness" is literally "salt land." Salt flats surround the Dead Sea, and scattering salt on captured ground was a known way of declaring it permanently ruined; salted soil grows nothing.

35He turns desert into pools of water, and dry ground into flowing springs.

35He turneth the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into watersprings.

36There he settles hungry people, and they build a city to live in.

36And there he maketh the hungry to dwell, that they may prepare a city for habitation;

37They plant seed in the fields and plant vineyards, and these give them a good harvest.

37And sow the fields, and plant vineyards, which may yield fruits of increase.

38He blesses them, and their numbers grow greatly. He does not let their herds get smaller.

38He blesseth them also, so that they are multiplied greatly; and suffereth not their cattle to decrease.

39Then again their numbers drop and they are brought low by cruel treatment, hard trouble, and sorrow.

39Again, they are minished and brought low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow.

NoteThe Hebrew does not say who "they" are here, and it can be read either as the same people of verses 36–38 later suffering a reversal, or as a new group set against the rulers of verse 40. Translations differ, and the ambiguity is in the original.

40He pours out shame on rulers and sends them wandering in a wasteland with no path through it.

40He poureth contempt upon princes, and causeth them to wander in the wilderness, where there is no way.

Note"Princes" in 1611 English means nobles and leading men generally, not the sons of a king. "Pouring out contempt" is the language of publicly stripping someone of their standing.

41But he lifts the poor person up out of suffering, and makes his family grow like a flock.

41Yet setteth he the poor on high from affliction, and maketh him families like a flock.

42Honest people see this and are glad, and every wicked mouth is shut.

42The righteous shall see it, and rejoice: and all iniquity shall stop her mouth.

NoteShutting the mouth is courtroom language: the party who has lost the argument falls silent because there is nothing left to say. "Iniquity" is pictured as a speaker being silenced.

43Whoever is wise will pay attention to these things, and think hard about the faithful love of the LORD.

43Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the LORD.

Note"Observe" in 1611 English means to watch closely and take note of, not to obey. The closing line returns to the word of verse 1, *hesed*, the loyal, binding love that the four scenes have been illustrating.