The opening psalm of Book V, Psalm 107 is a hymn of thanksgiving built around four scenes of distress and deliverance: wanderers lost in the desert (vv. 4-9), prisoners in darkness (vv. 10-16), the sick near death (vv. 17-22), and sailors in a storm (vv. 23-32). Each scene follows the same four-part pattern: distress, crying out to God, deliverance, and a call to give thanks. A wisdom epilogue (vv. 33-43) reflects on God's sovereign reversal of human fortunes. The refrain 'Let them give thanks to the LORD for His faithful love' appears four times, once for each scene.
What Makes This Chapter Remarkable
Psalm 107 is one of the most structurally elegant poems in the Psalter. The fourfold repetition of distress-cry-rescue-thanksgiving creates a liturgical rhythm that is almost musical. Each section has two refrains: 'They cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He delivered them from their distress' and 'Let them give thanks to the LORD for His faithful love and His wonders for the children of humanity.' The repetition is not monotonous but cumulative — each scene adds to the evidence that God's chesed operates everywhere: in deserts, in prisons, in sickbeds, on the open sea. The psalm argues inductively: here is one case, here is another, here is another, here is another — therefore God's faithful love endures forever. The wisdom epilogue then generalizes: God turns rivers into deserts and deserts into springs, brings down the proud and lifts up the needy. The psalm's audience is universal — these are not uniquely Israelite experiences but human ones.
Translation Friction
The placement as the opening psalm of Book V is significant. Book IV ended with a prayer for gathering from the nations (106:47); Book V opens with a description of the gathered ones giving thanks (107:1-3). Whether this represents actual post-exilic composition or careful editorial arrangement is debated. The four scenes may represent literal experiences (travelers, prisoners, sick people, sailors) or may function metaphorically for Israel's exile and return. The sick who are afflicted 'because of their transgression' (v. 17) explicitly links suffering to sin, while the other three scenes do not — a tension the psalm leaves unresolved.
Connections
The opening formula hodu la-YHVH ki tov ki le-olam chasdo ('give thanks to the LORD for He is good, for His faithful love endures forever') connects to Psalms 106:1, 118:1, and 136:1. The gathering from east, west, north, and south (v. 3) echoes Isaiah 43:5-6. The storm scene (vv. 23-30) has parallels to Jonah 1. The wisdom epilogue (vv. 33-43) echoes Hannah's Song (1 Samuel 2:1-10) and the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55) in its theme of divine reversal. Jesus' stilling of the storm (Mark 4:35-41) echoes verse 29: 'He stilled the storm to a whisper.'
The psalm's controlling word. chesed will appear in the refrain four times (vv. 8, 15, 21, 31), once for each scene of deliverance. The psalm is a fourfold demonstration of what chesed looks like in practice.
Translator Notes
The identical opening to Psalm 106:1. The phrase ki le-olam chasdo ('for His faithful love is forever') is the thesis the psalm will prove four times over. Each of the four scenes will demonstrate that chesed is not a theological abstraction but an operational reality in specific human crises.
Let the redeemed of the LORD say so,
those He redeemed from the hand of the foe,
KJV Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy;
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The ge'ulei YHVH ('the redeemed of the LORD') are those who have experienced God's go'el action — His kinsman-redeemer rescue. The verb ge'alam ('He redeemed them') and the noun ge'ulei share the same root. The redeemed are the ones qualified to give thanks: they have firsthand testimony.
and gathered from the lands,
from east and from west,
from north and from the sea.
KJV And gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The ingathering from four directions: mi-mizrach ('from the east'), u-mi-ma'arav ('from the west'), mi-tsafon ('from the north'), u-mi-yam ('from the sea'). The last term is literally 'from the sea' (yam), which in Hebrew directional language means 'south' (the direction of the Red Sea from Israel). The four compass points indicate universal regathering — wherever God's people were scattered, He brought them back.
They wandered in the wilderness, on a desert road;
they found no city to settle in.
KJV They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Scene one begins: lost travelers. The verb ta'u ('they wandered, they strayed') indicates purposeless, directionless movement. The bamidbar bishimon derekh ('in the wilderness, on a wasteland path') places them in terrain without landmarks. The phrase ir moshav lo matsa'u ('a city of habitation they did not find') means they had no destination, no shelter, no community. They were utterly lost.
KJV Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The re'evim gam tseme'im ('hungry and also thirsty') describes total deprivation. The phrase nafsham bahem tit'attaf ('their soul within them was fainting') uses the verb ataf ('to be feeble, to faint, to be covered over'). The nephesh — the life-force — was failing. They were dying.
Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble,
and He delivered them from their distress.
KJV Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The first occurrence of the cry-and-rescue refrain: vayyits'aqu el YHVH batsar lahem ('they cried to the LORD in their distress'). The verb tsa'aq ('to cry out') is the exodus verb — the same cry Israel raised in Egypt (Exodus 2:23). The response: mi-metsuqoteihem yatsilem ('from their straits He rescued them'). The metsuqah ('strait, distress, tight place') is a narrow passage from which only God can extract them.
He led them by a straight road
to reach a city where they could settle.
KJV And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
God's response to the lost: vayyaddrikhem be-derekh yesharah ('He led them by a straight path'). The verb darak in the Hiphil means to guide someone's feet onto a path. The derekh yesharah ('straight road') contrasts with the aimless wandering of verse 4. The destination: ir moshav ('a city of habitation') — the very thing they could not find, God provided.
Let them give thanks to the LORD for His faithful love
and His wonders for the children of humanity.
KJV Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The first occurrence of the thanksgiving refrain: yodu la-YHVH chasdo ve-nifle'otav livnei adam. The beneficiaries are not 'the children of Israel' but livnei adam ('the children of humanity, human beings'). The psalm's scope is universal — God's chesed operates for all people, not only the covenant nation.
For He satisfies the longing soul
and fills the hungry soul with good things.
KJV For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
God satisfies (hisbia) the nephesh shoqeqah ('the parched soul, the longing soul') and fills (mille) the nephesh re'evah ('the hungry soul') with tov ('good, goodness'). The scene closes with the hunger and thirst of verse 5 fully resolved. The satisfied soul is the evidence of chesed.
Those who sat in darkness and deep shadow,
prisoners in affliction and chains,
KJV Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron;
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Scene two: prisoners. The yoshevei choshekh ve-tsalmavet ('those sitting in darkness and death-shadow') describes people confined in dungeons where no light reaches. The word tsalmavet is a compound of tsel ('shadow') and mavet ('death') — the shadow cast by death itself. They are asirei oni u-varzel ('prisoners of affliction and iron'). The iron is literal; the affliction is both physical and spiritual.
because they rebelled against the words of God
and despised the counsel of the Most High.
KJV Because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel of the most High:
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The cause of imprisonment: ki himru imrei El ('they rebelled against the words of God'). The verb marah ('to rebel, to be bitter') indicates defiance. The atsut Elyon ('counsel of the Most High') was scorned (na'atsu, from na'ats, 'to despise, to scorn'). This is the one scene where sin is explicitly named as the cause of distress.
He humbled their hearts through hard labor;
they stumbled, with no one to help.
KJV Therefore he brought down their heart with labour; they fell down, and there was none to help.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The verb vayyakhna ('He humbled') uses kana ('to bow down, to subdue') — God brought their hearts low through suffering. The amal ('labor, toil, hardship') broke them. The phrase kashelu ve-ein ozer ('they stumbled and there was no helper') describes the moment of total helplessness that precedes the cry for help.
Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble,
and He saved them from their distress.
KJV Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The second occurrence of the cry-refrain. The verb changes slightly from yatsilem ('He delivered,' v. 6) to yoshi'em ('He saved') — the language intensifies with each scene.
He brought them out of darkness and deep shadow
and tore apart their chains.
KJV He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
God's action reverses the imprisonment of verse 10: yotsi'em me-choshekh ve-tsalmavet ('He brought them out of darkness and death-shadow') and u-moseroteihem yenattteq ('their bonds He tore apart'). The verb nataq ('to tear, to pull apart, to break') means the chains were not unlocked but ripped — divine force overcomes iron.
Let them give thanks to the LORD for His faithful love
and His wonders for the children of humanity.
KJV Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The thanksgiving refrain, second occurrence. Identical wording to verse 8. The repetition builds the psalm's case: chesed is not episodic but patterned.
For He shattered gates of bronze
and cut through bars of iron.
KJV For he hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The specifics of the rescue: shibbar daltot nechoshet ('He shattered doors of bronze') and u-verichei varzel gidde'a ('bars of iron He cut through'). The verbs shibbar ('to shatter') and gidde'a ('to cut, to hew') describe violent destruction of the strongest materials available for imprisonment. No dungeon can hold those God decides to free.
Fools — because of their rebellious ways
and because of their iniquities — suffered affliction.
KJV Fools because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Scene three: the sick. The evilim ('fools') are not intellectually deficient but morally perverse — in wisdom literature, the fool rejects God's instruction. The cause is explicit: mi-derekh pish'am ('because of their rebellious way') and me-avonoteihem ('because of their iniquities'). The suffering (yit'annu, 'they were afflicted') is presented as a consequence of moral folly.
They loathed all food
and drew near to the gates of death.
KJV Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat; and they draw near unto the gates of death.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The physical symptom: kol okhel teta'ev nafsham ('every food their soul abhorred') — total loss of appetite, the body refusing sustenance. The phrase vayyaggi'u ad sha'arei mavet ('they reached the gates of death') means they arrived at death's threshold. The sha'arei mavet ('gates of death') is a spatial metaphor — death is a walled city, and the sick person stands at its entrance.
Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble,
and He saved them from their distress.
KJV Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Third occurrence of the cry-refrain. The same words, the same pattern — the repetition is the point. The pattern does not change because God does not change.
He sent His word and healed them
and rescued them from the pit.
KJV He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
God heals by sending His word: yishlach devaro ve-yirpa'em ('He sent His word and healed them'). The word (davar) is the agent of healing — God does not need to be physically present; His word carries His power. The verb vimallete ('He rescued') uses malat ('to escape, to deliver') from shechitotam ('their destructions, their pits'). The word is both physician and rescuer.
Let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving
and recount His deeds with shouts of joy.
KJV And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The healed are called to bring zivchei todah ('sacrifices of thanksgiving') — the todah offering of Leviticus 7:12-15, which accompanies a testimony of deliverance. The verb yesapperu ('let them recount') means the sacrifice is paired with public testimony. Worship is both ritual and narrative: you bring an offering and tell the story.
Those who went down to the sea in ships,
doing business on the great waters,
KJV They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Scene four: sailors. The yordei hayyam ba-oniyyot ('those who go down to the sea in ships') are merchants and traders. The phrase osei melakhah be-mayim rabbim ('doing work on great waters') describes commercial seafaring. The sea in Hebrew thought is the domain of chaos — to travel on it is to enter the realm of the tehom.
They saw the works of the LORD,
His wonders in the deep.
KJV These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Sailors witness God's power firsthand: hemmah ra'u ma'asei YHVH ('they saw the works of the LORD'). The bimtsulah ('in the deep, in the abyss') locates the wonders in the most dangerous environment — the deep sea where human power means nothing.
He spoke and raised a stormy wind
that lifted the waves high.
KJV For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
God commands the storm: vayyomer vayya'amed ruach se'arah ('He spoke and He made a storm wind stand'). The verb amad ('to stand') in the Hiphil means God stationed the wind like a soldier at a post. The waves (gallav) rose at God's command. The storm is not random weather but divine action.
They rose to the heavens, they plunged to the depths;
their courage melted in their peril.
KJV They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The violent motion of the ship: ya'alu shamayim ('they go up to the heavens') and yerdu tehomot ('they go down to the depths'). The extremes — sky and abyss — describe the terrifying pitch of a ship in heavy seas. The phrase nafsham bera'ah titmogag ('their soul in calamity melts') uses mogag ('to melt, to dissolve') — their courage liquefied.
They staggered and swayed like drunkards,
and all their skill was swallowed up.
KJV They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits' end.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The sailors yachogu ve-yanuu kashshikkkor ('they stagger and sway like a drunkard') — seasoned seamen reduced to helplessness. The phrase ve-khol chokmatam titballa ('and all their wisdom is swallowed up') means their professional expertise is consumed by the chaos. The sea has devoured their competence. This is the moment of complete human inadequacy.
Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble,
and He brought them out of their distress.
KJV Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Fourth and final occurrence of the cry-refrain. The verb shifts again: yotsi'em ('He brought them out') — the exodus verb. Every rescue in the psalm recapitulates the original exodus.
He stilled the storm to a whisper,
and the waves were hushed.
KJV He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The word demamah is one of the great theological words of the Hebrew Bible. It is the sound of God's presence when all competing noise ceases. The storm-to-stillness movement is not merely meteorological but spiritual: chaos yields to divine peace.
They were glad when the waters grew calm,
and He guided them to their desired harbor.
KJV Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Joy returns: vayyismechu ki yishttoqu ('they rejoiced because they were quiet'). The verb shaqat means the waters settled. God then guided them (vayyanchem) to mechoz cheftsam ('the harbor of their desire') — the destination they were trying to reach. The rescue is not merely survival but arrival. God does not just save from death; He brings to destination.
Let them give thanks to the LORD for His faithful love
and His wonders for the children of humanity.
KJV Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Fourth and final occurrence of the thanksgiving refrain. The case is complete: four scenes, four cries, four rescues, four calls to thank. The evidence for chesed is overwhelming.
Let them exalt Him in the assembly of the people
and praise Him in the council of the elders.
KJV Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The sailors' thanksgiving is to be public: bi-qehal am ('in the assembly of the people') and be-moshav zeqenim ('in the seat of the elders'). The testimony is not private but communal — it is given in the formal gathering where decisions are made and justice is administered. The elders hear the sailor's story and recognize God's hand.
He turns rivers into desert
and springs of water into thirsty ground,
KJV He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the watersprings into dry ground;
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The wisdom epilogue begins. God reverses landscapes: neharot le-midbar ('rivers to wilderness') and motsa'ei mayim le-tsimma'on ('springs of water to drought'). The God who provided water from rocks (Psalm 105:41) can also remove water from rivers. Divine sovereignty operates in both directions.
a fruitful land into a salt waste,
because of the wickedness of its inhabitants.
KJV A fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Fertile land becomes melechah ('salt flats, barren salt ground') — the landscape of Sodom after its destruction. The cause: me-ra'at yoshvei vah ('because of the wickedness of those dwelling in it'). The land's condition reflects its inhabitants' character. Ecological devastation is presented as moral consequence.
He turns desert into pools of water
and parched land into springs.
KJV He turneth the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into watersprings.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The reversal in the other direction: midbar la-agam mayim ('desert to a pool of water') and erets tsiyyah le-motsa'ei mayim ('dry land to springs of water'). God transforms in both directions — from fertility to wasteland (vv. 33-34) and from wasteland to fertility (v. 35). The power is the same; the direction depends on God's purpose.
He settles the hungry there,
and they establish a city to dwell in.
KJV And there he maketh the hungry to dwell, that they may prepare a city for habitation;
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
God settles (vayyoshev) the hungry (re'evim) in the transformed land. They build an ir moshav ('a city of habitation') — the same phrase from verse 4 and verse 7. What the lost wanderers could not find, God creates anew. The hungry of this verse mirror the hungry of verse 5, but now they have a home.
They sow fields and plant vineyards
that yield a fruitful harvest.
KJV And sow the fields, and plant vineyards, which may yield fruits of increase.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Agriculture returns: fields (sadot) are sown, vineyards (keramim) are planted, and the yield is peri tevu'ah ('fruit of produce, a productive harvest'). The cycle of fertility is restored by divine initiative.
He blesses them and they multiply greatly,
and He does not let their livestock diminish.
KJV He blesseth them also, so that they are multiplied greatly; and suffereth not their cattle to decrease.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The blessing echoes Genesis 1:28: vayvarekem vayyirbu me'od ('He blessed them and they multiplied greatly'). Livestock (behemtam) are also protected: lo yam'it ('He does not diminish them'). Fertility extends to both human and animal populations.
When they are diminished and brought low
through oppression, trouble, and sorrow,
KJV Again, they are minished and brought low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The cycle turns again: vayyim'atu vayyashochu ('they are diminished and brought low'). The causes are otser ('oppression, restraint'), ra'ah ('calamity, evil'), and yagon ('sorrow, grief'). The prosperity of verses 36-38 does not last — the human condition includes reversal and loss.
He pours contempt on nobles
and makes them wander in trackless waste.
KJV He poureth contempt upon princes, and causeth them to wander in the wilderness, where there is no way.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
God's sovereignty extends to the powerful: shofekh buz al nedivim ('He pours contempt on nobles'). The nedivim ('nobles, princes, generous ones') are humiliated. The phrase vayyat'em be-tohu lo darekh ('He makes them wander in chaos without a path') uses tohu — the primordial chaos of Genesis 1:2. The powerful are cast into the formless void. This echoes Job 12:21-24.
But He lifts the needy out of affliction
and makes their families like flocks.
KJV Yet setteth he the poor on high from affliction, and maketh him families like a flock.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The reversal: vaysaggev evyon me-oni ('He sets the needy on high from affliction'). The verb sagav means to place in an inaccessibly high position — the needy are elevated beyond the reach of their oppressors. The families multiply katstsosn ('like flocks') — the imagery of pastoral abundance. The God who humbles nobles elevates the destitute.
The upright see it and rejoice,
and all wickedness shuts its mouth.
KJV The righteous shall see it, and rejoice: and all iniquity shall stop her mouth.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The moral response: the yesharim ('upright ones') see God's reversals and rejoice. The avlah ('wickedness, injustice') personified as shutting its mouth (qafetsah piha, 'it closes its mouth') means wickedness is silenced — it has no argument, no defense, no rebuttal. When God acts, evil has nothing to say.
Whoever is wise, let him observe these things
and consider the faithful love of the LORD.
KJV Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the LORD.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The closing verse is identical in tone to Hosea 14:10 ('Who is wise? Let him understand these things'). Both passages end a complex theological text with a wisdom invitation: the material has been presented; now the reader must discern its meaning. The psalm does not force its conclusion — it invites comprehension.