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107. Psalm 107

¹ Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his love endures forever.

    ² Let the redeemed of the LORD tell their story—
   those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,
³ those he gathered from the lands,
   from east and west, from north and south. Hebrew north and the sea

    ⁴ Some wandered in desert wastelands,
   finding no way to a city where they could settle.
⁵ They were hungry and thirsty,
   and their lives ebbed away.
⁶ Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble,
   and he delivered them from their distress.
⁷ He led them by a straight way
   to a city where they could settle.
⁸ Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love
   and his wonderful deeds for mankind,
⁹ for he satisfies the thirsty
   and fills the hungry with good things.

    ¹⁰ Some sat in darkness, in utter darkness,
   prisoners suffering in iron chains,
¹¹ because they rebelled against God’s commands
   and despised the plans of the Most High.
¹² So he subjected them to bitter labor;
   they stumbled, and there was no one to help.
¹³ Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,
   and he saved them from their distress.
¹⁴ He brought them out of darkness, the utter darkness,
   and broke away their chains.
¹⁵ Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love
   and his wonderful deeds for mankind,
¹⁶ for he breaks down gates of bronze
   and cuts through bars of iron.

    ¹⁷ Some became fools through their rebellious ways
   and suffered affliction because of their iniquities.
¹⁸ They loathed all food
   and drew near the gates of death.
¹⁹ Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,
   and he saved them from their distress.
²⁰ He sent out his word and healed them;
   he rescued them from the grave.
²¹ Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love
   and his wonderful deeds for mankind.
²² Let them sacrifice thank offerings
   and tell of his works with songs of joy.

    ²³ Some went out on the sea in ships;
   they were merchants on the mighty waters.
²⁴ They saw the works of the LORD,
   his wonderful deeds in the deep.
²⁵ For he spoke and stirred up a tempest
   that lifted high the waves.
²⁶ They mounted up to the heavens and went down to the depths;
   in their peril their courage melted away.
²⁷ They reeled and staggered like drunkards;
   they were at their wits’ end.
²⁸ Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble,
   and he brought them out of their distress.
²⁹ He stilled the storm to a whisper;
   the waves of the sea Dead Sea Scrolls; Masoretic Text / their waves were hushed.
³⁰ They were glad when it grew calm,
   and he guided them to their desired haven.
³¹ Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love
   and his wonderful deeds for mankind.
³² Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people
   and praise him in the council of the elders.

    ³³ He turned rivers into a desert,
   flowing springs into thirsty ground,
³⁴ and fruitful land into a salt waste,
   because of the wickedness of those who lived there.
³⁵ He turned the desert into pools of water
   and the parched ground into flowing springs;
³⁶ there he brought the hungry to live,
   and they founded a city where they could settle.
³⁷ They sowed fields and planted vineyards
   that yielded a fruitful harvest;
³⁸ he blessed them, and their numbers greatly increased,
   and he did not let their herds diminish.

    ³⁹ Then their numbers decreased, and they were humbled
   by oppression, calamity and sorrow;
⁴⁰ he who pours contempt on nobles
   made them wander in a trackless waste.
⁴¹ But he lifted the needy out of their affliction
   and increased their families like flocks.
⁴² The upright see and rejoice,
   but all the wicked shut their mouths.

⁴³ Let the one who is wise heed these things
and ponder the loving deeds of the LORD.

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.