1. Give thanks to Yahweh, for (he is) good,
for to forever (is) his lovingkindness.
2. Let the redeemed of Yahweh say (so),
whom he redeems from the hand of distress.
3. And from the lands he gathers them,
From east and from west, from north and from the sea.
4. They wander in the wilderness in a desert of a way.
A city of a dwelling place they do not find.
5. Hungry, also thirsty.
Their soul in them fainted.
6. And they cried out to Yahweh in their distress.
From their straits he delivered them,
7. And he made a way for them in a way upright,
To go to a city of a dwelling place.
8. Let them give thanks to Yahweh for
His lovingkindness and his wonders for the sons of man!
9. For he satisfies the longing soul,
And the hungry soul he fills with good.
10. Those who dwell in darkness and death shade,
(are) prisoners of affliction and iron,
11. Because they rebel against the sayings of God,
And the counsel of the Most High they despise.
12. And he humbled their heart with toil.
They stumble and there is no one to help.
13. And they cried out to Yahweh in their distress.
From their straits he saved them.
14. He caused them to go forth from darkness and death shade,
And their chains he broke in pieces.
15. Let them give thanks to Yahweh for
His lovingkindness and his wonders for the sons of man!
16. For he breaks the doors of bronze,
And the bars of iron he cuts in two.
17. Fools because of the way of their transgression
And because of their iniquities were afflicted.
18. All food their soul abhorred,
And they drew near to the gates of death.
19. And they cried to Yahweh in their distress.
From their straits he saved them.
20. He sent his word and healed them,
And he delivered (them) from their pits.
21. Let them give thanks to Yahweh for
His lovingkindness and his wonders for the sons of man.
22. And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving,
And recount his works with a shout of joy.
23. Those who go down to the sea in ships,
Who do business in great waters,
24. They see the works of Yahweh,
And his wonders in the deep.
25. And he speaks and raises the wind of tempest,
And it lifts up the waves of it.
26. They ascended to the heavens.
They descended to the depths.
Their soul in evil melted.
27. They reeled and staggered like a drunken man,
And their wisdom was swallowed up.
28. And they cried out to Yahweh in their distress,
And from their straits he caused them to go forth.
29. He caused the tempest to rise to a whisper,
And their waves were still.
30. And they rejoiced because they were quiet,
And he guided them to a haven of their pleasure.
31. Let them give thanks to Yahweh for
His lovingkindness and his wonders for the sons of man!
32. And let them exalt him in the assembly of the people,
And in the dwelling place of the elders let them praise him.
33. He appointed rivers to wilderness,
And springs of waters to thirsty ground.
34. A land of fruit to barrenness
For the evils of those who dwell in it.
35. He appointed a wilderness to a pool of waters,
And land of drought to springs of water.
36. And he made the hungry dwell there,
And they established a city of a dwelling place.
37. And they sowed fields and planted vineyards,
And they yielded a fruit of increase.
38. And he blessed them and they multiplied greatly,
And their cattle he did not cause to diminish.
39. And they were diminished and bowed down
From coercion, evil and sorrow.
40. He (is) pouring contempt on nobles,
And he causes them to wander in a wasteland, not a way.
41. And he exalts the poor from affliction,
And he appoints like a flock families.
42. The upright ones see and rejoice,
And all iniquity stops its mouth.
43. Who (is) wise and will observe these things?
Even they will understand the lovingkindness of Yahweh.
Psalm 107 is an historical psalm and therefore rightly placed with Psalms 105 and 106. However, it is unlike those psalms because it does not refer to specific historical events. Instead, it describes the Lord’s dealings with his people in a more general way, how he dealt with them when they wandered in a wilderness, when they rebelled against his word, when they committed folly, and when they were caught in storms on the sea. The purpose is to call us to thanksgiving for deliverance from various troubles in which he showed us his lovingkindness and performed wonders for our salvation.
The psalm has six clearly marked stanzas.
Verses 1–3: Introduction
Verses 4–9: Thanks for Guidance and Provision in the Wilderness
Verses 10–16: Thanks for Release from Darkness and Chains
Verses 17–22: Thanks for Healing
Verses 23–32: Thanks for Rescue from a Tempestuous Sea
Verses 33–43: Conclusion
The introduction sets the tone (joy) and states the theme: “Give thanks to Yahweh for he is good,” and the conclusion draws the lesson: Whoever is wise and will observe these things will understand the lovingkindness of Yahweh. In between are four stanzas with the same structure in each:
God’s People were in Trouble
They Cried to Yahweh
Yahweh Delivered Them
The People should Thank Him for His Lovingkindness and His Wonders
One verse is precisely the same in each stanza: “Let them give thanks to Yahweh for his lovingkindness and for his wonders to the sons of man!” That is a longer form of the theme stated in verse 1.
Another verse is almost exactly the same in each stanza: “And they cried out to Yahweh…” However, there are minor differences. Verses 6 and 28 use tsa’aq, verses 13 and 19 za’aq. These two words are probably just variant spellings of the same root. To maintain the distinction, I have translated one as cry out and the other as cry. The other difference is more significant. Verse 6 uses the word deliver, verses 13 and 19 use save, and verse 28 cause to go forth.
Another variation in the stanzas is in the last verse of each. Stanzas 2 and 3 give us the reasons for the thanksgiving (cf. vv. 9 and 16), but stanzas 4 and 5 extend the call to thanksgiving, each in its own way.
And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving,
And recount His works with shouts of joy (v. 22).
And let them exalt him in the assembly of the people,
And in the seat of the elders let them praise him (v. 32).
There is a close relationship between stanzas 3 and 4. Both describe distresses that were the result of judgment on sin. In stanza 3 they rebelled against the Lord’s word and despised his counsel. So he sent them into darkness and death shade (the Hebrew word is the same as that in Psalm 23 and usually translated as shadow of death), into affliction and iron. He humbled their heart with toil and, for a time anyway, gave them no help. In stanza 4 they committed folly, transgression and iniquity. Therefore, he afflicted them, brought them near the gates of death, and cast them into pits of destruction.
There are also many verbal connections between stanzas 2 and 6, as well as stanzas 5 and 6. Stanza 6 repeats from stanza 2 the words wilderness, hungry, city, dwelling place, wander, way, and upright. It also repeats from stanza 5 the words waters, evil, dwelling place, see and rejoice. Dwelling place is not immediately obvious because in verse 32, where I have translated it as seat, an alternative meaning which makes more sense in that context.
Stanza 6 also has a connection with stanza 1 in the use of the word land. The idea of the land was, of course, very important to Israel. It was her inheritance from the Lord and a sign of the heavenly country that all God’s people have sought throughout the ages. The Lord gatheres his people from the lands and bring them to his land.
Because the land was a sign and not the reality it was not perfect. Therefore, stanza 6 describes not only the Lord’s blessings on the land but also his judgments for the sin of those who lived there. In fact, he not only turned the fruitful land to barrenness but also caused the wicked nobles to return to the wilderness from which he had originally brought them (v. 40).
We may perhaps conclude from all this that stanza 2 is about Israel’s wandering in the wilderness after her redemption from Egypt and about the Lord’s bringing them to a city (Jerusalem) and satisfying them with the abundance of the land of Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey. Stanzas 3 and 4 then become descriptions of their sin and the judgments the Lord sent because of it, as well as the salvation he granted when they cried to him. These two stanzas cover all their history from the conquest of Canaan to their return from Babylon. Stanza 5 takes us out of the land and shows us how God cared from them even when business took them beyond the borders of his inheritance. Stanza 6 summarizes his dealings with them in the land.
In all of these things, the psalm points us to the lovingkindness of the Lord and urges us to be wise and understand. In sin and departure from his is judgment, but in repentance and crying out to to him is salvation, lovingkindness and thanksgiving.