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BOOK V

(Psalms 107–150)

Psalm 107

Thanksgiving for Deliverance from Many Troubles

1

O give thanks to the L ord, for he is good;

for his steadfast love endures forever.

2

Let the redeemed of the L ord say so,

those he redeemed from trouble

3

and gathered in from the lands,

from the east and from the west,

from the north and from the south.

 

4

Some wandered in desert wastes,

finding no way to an inhabited town;

5

hungry and thirsty,

their soul fainted within them.

6

Then they cried to the L ord in their trouble,

and he delivered them from their distress;

7

he led them by a straight way,

until they reached an inhabited town.

8

Let them thank the L ord for his steadfast love,

for his wonderful works to humankind.

9

For he satisfies the thirsty,

and the hungry he fills with good things.

 

10

Some sat in darkness and in gloom,

prisoners in misery and in irons,

11

for they had rebelled against the words of God,

and spurned the counsel of the Most High.

12

Their hearts were bowed down with hard labor;

they fell down, with no one to help.

13

Then they cried to the L ord in their trouble,

and he saved them from their distress;

14

he brought them out of darkness and gloom,

and broke their bonds asunder.

15

Let them thank the L ord for his steadfast love,

for his wonderful works to humankind.

16

For he shatters the doors of bronze,

and cuts in two the bars of iron.

 

17

Some were sick through their sinful ways,

and because of their iniquities endured affliction;

18

they loathed any kind of food,

and they drew near to the gates of death.

19

Then they cried to the L ord in their trouble,

and he saved them from their distress;

20

he sent out his word and healed them,

and delivered them from destruction.

21

Let them thank the L ord for his steadfast love,

for his wonderful works to humankind.

22

And let them offer thanksgiving sacrifices,

and tell of his deeds with songs of joy.

 

23

Some went down to the sea in ships,

doing business on the mighty waters;

24

they saw the deeds of the L ord,

his wondrous works in the deep.

25

For he commanded and raised the stormy wind,

which lifted up the waves of the sea.

26

They mounted up to heaven, they went down to the depths;

their courage melted away in their calamity;

27

they reeled and staggered like drunkards,

and were at their wits’ end.

28

Then they cried to the L ord in their trouble,

and he brought them out from their distress;

29

he made the storm be still,

and the waves of the sea were hushed.

30

Then they were glad because they had quiet,

and he brought them to their desired haven.

31

Let them thank the L ord for his steadfast love,

for his wonderful works to humankind.

32

Let them extol him in the congregation of the people,

and praise him in the assembly of the elders.

 

33

He turns rivers into a desert,

springs of water into thirsty ground,

34

a fruitful land into a salty waste,

because of the wickedness of its inhabitants.

35

He turns a desert into pools of water,

a parched land into springs of water.

36

And there he lets the hungry live,

and they establish a town to live in;

37

they sow fields, and plant vineyards,

and get a fruitful yield.

38

By his blessing they multiply greatly,

and he does not let their cattle decrease.

 

39

When they are diminished and brought low

through oppression, trouble, and sorrow,

40

he pours contempt on princes

and makes them wander in trackless wastes;

41

but he raises up the needy out of distress,

and makes their families like flocks.

42

The upright see it and are glad;

and all wickedness stops its mouth.

43

Let those who are wise give heed to these things,

and consider the steadfast love of the L ord.


10. They who dwell in darkness The Spirit of God makes mention here of another species of danger in which God manifestly discovers his power and grace in the protecting and delivering of men. The world, as I said, calls these vicissitudes the sport of fortune; and hardly one among a hundred can be found who ascribes them to the superintending providence of God. It is a very different kind of practical wisdom which God expects at our hands; namely, that we ought to meditate on his judgments in the time of adversity, and on his goodness in delivering us from it. For surely it is not by mere chance that a person falls into the hands of enemies or robbers; neither is it by chance that he is rescued from them. But this is what we must constantly keep in view, that all afflictions are God’s rod, and that therefore there is no remedy for them elsewhere than in his grace. If a person fall into the hands of robbers or pirates, and be not instantly murdered, but, giving up all hope of life, expects death every moment; surely the deliverance of such a one is a striking proof of the grace of God, which shines the more illustriously in proportion to the fewness of the number who make their escape. Thus, then, should a great number perish, this circumstance ought by no means to diminish the praises of God. On this account the prophet charges all those with ingratitude, who, after they have been wonderfully preserved, very soon lose sight of the deliverance thus vouchsafed to them. And, to strengthen the charge, he brings forward, as a testimony against them, their sighs and cries. For when they are in straits, they confess in good earnest that God is their deliverer; how happens it, then, that this confession disappears when they are enjoying peace and quietness?

11. Because they rebelled In assigning the cause of their afflictions he corrects the false impressions of those persons who imagine that these happen by chance. Were they to reflect on the judgments of God, they would at once perceive that there was nothing like chance or fortune in the government of the world. Moreover, until men are persuaded that all their troubles come upon them by the appointment of God, it will never come into their minds to supplicate him for deliverance. Farther, when the prophet assigns the reason for their afflictions, he is not to be regarded as speaking of those persons as if they were notoriously wicked, but he is to be considered as calling upon the afflicted carefully to examine some particular parts of their life, and although no one accuse them, to look into their hearts, where they will always discover the true origin of all the miseries which overtake them. Nor does he only charge them with having merely sinned, but with having rebelled against the word of God, thus intimating that the best and only regulation for our lives consists in yielding a prompt obedience to his commandments. When, therefore, sheer necessity compels those who are in this manner convicted to cry unto God, they must be insensate indeed, if they do not acknowledge that the deliverance which, contrary to their expectation, they receive, comes immediately from God. For brazen gates and iron bars are spoken of for the purpose of enhancing the benefit; as if he said, the chains of perpetual slavery have been broken asunder.


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