Read & explore together
Give Thanks to the LORD, for He Is Good
Psalm 106 is a song of praise, confession and prayer. It thanks Yahweh for his enduring loving kindness, remembers a long pattern of rebellion and rescue, and ends by asking God to save his people again.
Understanding the passage
Read these words in context
In this psalm, the singer speaks as part of the people of God, saying, “We have sinned.” The poem recalls wonders in Egypt, rebellion at the sea and in the wilderness, idolatry, judgment, scattering among the nations, oppression, and Yahweh’s compassion. It closes with a communal blessing and “Amen.”
Psalms 106:1–48Main takeaway
Psalm 106 teaches that God’s people repeatedly forgot and rebelled, yet Yahweh still heard their cry, remembered his covenant, and remained worthy of praise.
Explore the poem and its images
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01Praise, prayer and confessionThe psalm opens with praise because Yahweh is good and his loving kindness endures forever.
Explanation
The psalm opens with praise because Yahweh is good and his loving kindness endures forever. His mighty acts cannot be fully declared. The singer calls those blessed who keep justice, then asks Yahweh to remember him with saving favour. This prayer is joined to a shared confession: “We have sinned.”
02Saved at the sea, then quick to forgetThe people did not understand God’s wonders in Egypt or remember his loving kindnesses, and they were rebellious at the sea.
Explanation
The people did not understand God’s wonders in Egypt or remember his loving kindnesses, and they were rebellious at the sea. Nevertheless, Yahweh saved them for his name’s sake, dried the sea, led them through, and defeated their adversaries. They believed and sang, yet soon forgot, craved, and tested God.
03Envy, the calf, and refusal to listenThe song next recalls envy against Moses and Aaron, then the making of a calf in Horeb. The people exchanged their glory for an image and forgot God their Saviour.
Explanation
The song next recalls envy against Moses and Aaron, then the making of a calf in Horeb. The people exchanged their glory for an image and forgot God their Saviour. Even when destruction was threatened, Moses stood before God. The psalm then says they despised the pleasant land, did not believe his word, and did not listen.
04Overthrow, plague and rash speechBecause of that unbelief and murmuring, Yahweh swore to overthrow them in the wilderness and scatter their offspring among the nations.
Explanation
Because of that unbelief and murmuring, Yahweh swore to overthrow them in the wilderness and scatter their offspring among the nations. The psalm then names Baal Peor, where their deeds provoked anger and a plague broke out, until Phinehas executed judgment. At Meribah, rebellion led to Moses speaking rashly with his lips.
05Defiled deeds, distress and final praiseThe people did not destroy the peoples, but mixed with the nations, learned their works, served idols, and sacrificed their sons and daughters.
Explanation
The people did not destroy the peoples, but mixed with the nations, learned their works, served idols, and sacrificed their sons and daughters. The psalm says they were defiled by their works and prostituted themselves in their deeds. So Yahweh gave them into the nations’ hand. Yet he regarded their distress, remembered his covenant, and the psalm ends in prayer and praise.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01How does the psalm join thanksgiving to confession right from the start?
Notice the movement from praising Yahweh’s goodness to asking for saving favour and then saying, “We have sinned.”
02What pattern appears after Yahweh rescues his people at the sea?
Follow the text from believing and singing to forgetting, craving, testing, and not waiting for God’s counsel.
03What reasons for hope does the psalm give near the end, even after judgment?
Look for the lines about Yahweh regarding their distress, remembering his covenant, and the closing prayer for salvation.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Psalms 106:1–48
1Praise Yahweh! Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever.
2Who can utter the mighty acts of Yahweh, or fully declare all his praise?
3Blessed are those who keep justice. Blessed is one who does what is right at all times.
4Remember me, Yahweh, with the favor that you show to your people. Visit me with your salvation,
5that I may see the prosperity of your chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of your nation, that I may glory with your inheritance.
6We have sinned with our fathers. We have committed iniquity. We have done wickedly.
7Our fathers didn’t understand your wonders in Egypt. They didn’t remember the multitude of your loving kindnesses, but were rebellious at the sea, even at the Red Sea.
8Nevertheless he saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make his mighty power known.
9He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it was dried up; so he led them through the depths, as through a desert.
10He saved them from the hand of him who hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.
11The waters covered their adversaries. There was not one of them left.
12Then they believed his words. They sang his praise.
13They soon forgot his works. They didn’t wait for his counsel,
14but gave in to craving in the desert, and tested God in the wasteland.
15He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul.
16They envied Moses also in the camp, and Aaron, Yahweh’s saint.
17The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the company of Abiram.
18A fire was kindled in their company. The flame burned up the wicked.
19They made a calf in Horeb, and worshiped a molten image.
20Thus they exchanged their glory for an image of a bull that eats grass.
21They forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt,
22wondrous works in the land of Ham, and awesome things by the Red Sea.
23Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had Moses, his chosen, not stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, so that he wouldn’t destroy them.
24Yes, they despised the pleasant land. They didn’t believe his word,
25but murmured in their tents, and didn’t listen to Yahweh’s voice.
26Therefore he swore to them that he would overthrow them in the wilderness,
27that he would overthrow their offspring among the nations, and scatter them in the lands.
28They joined themselves also to Baal Peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead.
29Thus they provoked him to anger with their deeds. The plague broke in on them.
30Then Phinehas stood up and executed judgment, so the plague was stopped.
31That was credited to him for righteousness, for all generations to come.
32They angered him also at the waters of Meribah, so that Moses was troubled for their sakes;
33because they were rebellious against his spirit, he spoke rashly with his lips.
34They didn’t destroy the peoples, as Yahweh commanded them,
35but mixed themselves with the nations, and learned their works.
36They served their idols, which became a snare to them.
37Yes, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons.
38They shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan. The land was polluted with blood.
39Thus they were defiled with their works, and prostituted themselves in their deeds.
40Therefore Yahweh burned with anger against his people. He abhorred his inheritance.
41He gave them into the hand of the nations. Those who hated them ruled over them.
42Their enemies also oppressed them. They were brought into subjection under their hand.
43He rescued them many times, but they were rebellious in their counsel, and were brought low in their iniquity.
44Nevertheless he regarded their distress, when he heard their cry.
45He remembered for them his covenant, and repented according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses.
46He made them also to be pitied by all those who carried them captive.
47Save us, Yahweh, our God, gather us from among the nations, to give thanks to your holy name, to triumph in your praise!
48Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, from everlasting even to everlasting! Let all the people say, “Amen.” Praise Yah!