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Thanksgiving for Deliverance
Psalm 107 is a thanksgiving song with a repeated pattern. Different kinds of trouble are described in poetry, and each scene points to the same response: cry to Yahweh, receive deliverance, and praise his enduring loving kindness.
Understanding the passage
Read these words in context
The psalm begins by calling the redeemed and gathered people to give thanks. It then presents four rescue pictures in order: wanderers, prisoners, the sick and afflicted, and sailors in a storm. The closing verses widen to God’s rule over land, rulers, needy people, and wise reflection.
Psalms 107:1–43Main takeaway
Psalm 107 calls people to notice Yahweh’s loving kindness in many kinds of deliverance and to praise him for it.
Explore the poem and its images
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01The redeemed are told to speakThe psalm opens with thanksgiving because Yahweh is good and his loving kindness endures forever.
Explanation
The psalm opens with thanksgiving because Yahweh is good and his loving kindness endures forever. Those he has redeemed are told to say so. He has gathered people from many directions, so the whole song is framed as public praise from rescued people.
02Wanderers and prisoners cry to YahwehFirst, wanderers are hungry, thirsty, and without a city, but when they cry out, Yahweh leads them by a straight way and satisfies them.
Explanation
First, wanderers are hungry, thirsty, and without a city, but when they cry out, Yahweh leads them by a straight way and satisfies them. Then some sit in darkness and chains because they rebelled against God’s words, yet he brings them out and breaks their bonds.
03The afflicted and the sailors are deliveredNext, the psalm describes fools afflicted through disobedience, drawing near death, until Yahweh saves them, sends his word, and heals them.
Explanation
Next, the psalm describes fools afflicted through disobedience, drawing near death, until Yahweh saves them, sends his word, and heals them. Sailors then face a storm he commands. They are helpless and terrified, but when they cry to Yahweh, he stills the waves and brings them safely on.
04Yahweh reverses conditions, and the wise should noticeThe closing verses show Yahweh changing both land and human fortunes. He can turn fruitful places into waste because of wickedness, and dry places into water for the hungry to settle.
Explanation
The closing verses show Yahweh changing both land and human fortunes. He can turn fruitful places into waste because of wickedness, and dry places into water for the hungry to settle. Though people may be bowed down, he lifts the needy. The wise are called to consider these loving kindnesses.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01What repeated pattern links the four rescue pictures in this psalm?
Compare the repeated movement from trouble, to crying to Yahweh, to rescue, to praise.
02Which details make the sailors’ danger feel intense before the calm comes?
Notice the storm, the rising and falling, the staggering, and the calm that follows.
03How do the final verses show both judgement and mercy?
Look at the ruined land for wickedness and the needy people whom Yahweh lifts up.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Psalms 107:1–43
1Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever.
2Let the redeemed by Yahweh say so, whom he has redeemed from the hand of the adversary,
3and gathered out of the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.
4They wandered in the wilderness in a desert way. They found no city to live in.
5Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them.
6Then they cried to Yahweh in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.
7He led them also by a straight way, that they might go to a city to live in.
8Let them praise Yahweh for his loving kindness, for his wonderful deeds to the children of men!
9For he satisfies the longing soul. He fills the hungry soul with good.
10Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron,
11because they rebelled against the words of God, and condemned the counsel of the Most High.
12Therefore he brought down their heart with labor. They fell down, and there was no one to help.
13Then they cried to Yahweh in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses.
14He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and broke away their chains.
15Let them praise Yahweh for his loving kindness, for his wonderful deeds to the children of men!
16For he has broken the gates of bronze, and cut through bars of iron.
17Fools are afflicted because of their disobedience, and because of their iniquities.
18Their soul abhors all kinds of food. They draw near to the gates of death.
19Then they cry to Yahweh in their trouble, and he saves them out of their distresses.
20He sends his word, and heals them, and delivers them from their graves.
21Let them praise Yahweh for his loving kindness, for his wonderful deeds to the children of men!
22Let them offer the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his deeds with singing.
23Those who go down to the sea in ships, who do business in great waters,
24these see Yahweh’s deeds, and his wonders in the deep.
25For he commands, and raises the stormy wind, which lifts up its waves.
26They mount up to the sky; they go down again to the depths. Their soul melts away because of trouble.
27They reel back and forth, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.
28Then they cry to Yahweh in their trouble, and he brings them out of their distress.
29He makes the storm a calm, so that its waves are still.
30Then they are glad because it is calm, so he brings them to their desired haven.
31Let them praise Yahweh for his loving kindness, for his wonderful deeds for the children of men!
32Let them exalt him also in the assembly of the people, and praise him in the seat of the elders.
33He turns rivers into a desert, water springs into a thirsty ground,
34and a fruitful land into a salt waste, for the wickedness of those who dwell in it.
35He turns a desert into a pool of water, and a dry land into water springs.
36There he makes the hungry live, that they may prepare a city to live in,
37sow fields, plant vineyards, and reap the fruits of increase.
38He blesses them also, so that they are multiplied greatly. He doesn’t allow their livestock to decrease.
39Again, they are diminished and bowed down through oppression, trouble, and sorrow.
40He pours contempt on princes, and causes them to wander in a trackless waste.
41Yet he lifts the needy out of their affliction, and increases their families like a flock.
42The upright will see it, and be glad. All the wicked will shut their mouths.
43Whoever is wise will pay attention to these things. They will consider the loving kindnesses of Yahweh.