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106. Psalm 106

1 Praise the LORD. Hebrew Hallelu Yah; also in verse 48

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

    2 Who can proclaim the mighty acts of the LORD
   or fully declare his praise?
3 Blessed are those who act justly,
   who always do what is right.

    4 Remember me, LORD, when you show favor to your people,
   come to my aid when you save them,
5 that I may enjoy the prosperity of your chosen ones,
   that I may share in the joy of your nation
   and join your inheritance in giving praise.

    6 We have sinned, even as our ancestors did;
   we have done wrong and acted wickedly.
7 When our ancestors were in Egypt,
   they gave no thought to your miracles;
they did not remember your many kindnesses,
   and they rebelled by the sea, the Red Sea. Or the Sea of Reeds; also in verses 9 and 22
8 Yet he saved them for his name’s sake,
   to make his mighty power known.
9 He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up;
   he led them through the depths as through a desert.
10 He saved them from the hand of the foe;
   from the hand of the enemy he redeemed them.
11 The waters covered their adversaries;
   not one of them survived.
12 Then they believed his promises
   and sang his praise.

    13 But they soon forgot what he had done
   and did not wait for his plan to unfold.
14 In the desert they gave in to their craving;
   in the wilderness they put God to the test.
15 So he gave them what they asked for,
   but sent a wasting disease among them.

    16 In the camp they grew envious of Moses
   and of Aaron, who was consecrated to the LORD.
17 The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan;
   it buried the company of Abiram.
18 Fire blazed among their followers;
   a flame consumed the wicked.
19 At Horeb they made a calf
   and worshiped an idol cast from metal.
20 They exchanged their glorious God
   for an image of a bull, which eats grass.
21 They forgot the God who saved them,
   who had done great things in Egypt,
22 miracles in the land of Ham
   and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.
23 So he said he would destroy them—
   had not Moses, his chosen one,
stood in the breach before him
   to keep his wrath from destroying them.

    24 Then they despised the pleasant land;
   they did not believe his promise.
25 They grumbled in their tents
   and did not obey the LORD.
26 So he swore to them with uplifted hand
   that he would make them fall in the wilderness,
27 make their descendants fall among the nations
   and scatter them throughout the lands.

    28 They yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor
   and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods;
29 they aroused the LORD’s anger by their wicked deeds,
   and a plague broke out among them.
30 But Phinehas stood up and intervened,
   and the plague was checked.
31 This was credited to him as righteousness
   for endless generations to come.
32 By the waters of Meribah they angered the LORD,
   and trouble came to Moses because of them;
33 for they rebelled against the Spirit of God,
   and rash words came from Moses’ lips. Or against his spirit, / and rash words came from his lips

    34 They did not destroy the peoples
   as the LORD had commanded them,
35 but they mingled with the nations
   and adopted their customs.
36 They worshiped their idols,
   which became a snare to them.
37 They sacrificed their sons
   and their daughters to false gods.
38 They shed innocent blood,
   the blood of their sons and daughters,
whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan,
   and the land was desecrated by their blood.
39 They defiled themselves by what they did;
   by their deeds they prostituted themselves.

    40 Therefore the LORD was angry with his people
   and abhorred his inheritance.
41 He gave them into the hands of the nations,
   and their foes ruled over them.
42 Their enemies oppressed them
   and subjected them to their power.
43 Many times he delivered them,
   but they were bent on rebellion
   and they wasted away in their sin.
44 Yet he took note of their distress
   when he heard their cry;
45 for their sake he remembered his covenant
   and out of his great love he relented.
46 He caused all who held them captive
   to show them mercy.

    47 Save us, LORD our God,
   and gather us from the nations,
that we may give thanks to your holy name
   and glory in your praise.

    48 Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel,
   from everlasting to everlasting.

   Let all the people say, “Amen!”

   Praise the LORD.

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35 But were mingled He describes what was the result of this foolish humanity; namely, that they were defiled with the pollutions of the nations whom they had spared. Had they exclusively inhabited the land of Canaan, they would have more easily retained the pure worship of God. Allured by the influence of such neighbors, it is not wonderful that they soon degenerated from the footsteps of their fathers, for we are more inclined to follow the example of the bad than of the good. And now he speaks of the descendants of those who had so frequently provoked God’s anger in the wilderness, and declares, that as the same unbelief, rebellion, and ingratitude, were rampant in the succeeding race, they were no better than their fathers.

In mingling with the heathens they openly rejected the distinguishing loving-kindness of God, who adopted them as his children, under the express condition that they should be separated from these profane nations. Therefore, in associating with them indiscriminately, they render this holy covenant of no effect. When he adds, that they learned their works, he warns us, that nothing is more dangerous than associating with the ungodly; because, being more prone to follow vice than virtue, it cannot but be, that the more conversant we are with corruption, the more widely will it spread. In such circumstances, the utmost care and caution are requisite, lest the wicked, with whom we come into contact, infect us by their vitiated morals; and particularly where there is danger of relapsing into idolatry, to which we are all naturally prone. What, then, will be the effect produced upon us when instigated by others to commit sin, but to add sin to sin? 267267     “Quid igitur fief ubi oleum camino adder aliena instigatio?” — Lat. “Que sera-ce donc quand l’instigation d’autruy iettera (comme l’on dit) de l’huile dedans le feu?” — Fr. The prophet, therefore, declares that the Jews were already so much under the tuition of the heathen as to abandon themselves to the practice of their idolatrous rites. In employing the word to serve, he confutes the contemptible evasion of the Papists, who pretend that they do not give to images the worship that is due to God alone, but only a sort of honorary adoration. 268268     “Dum adoratione duliae, non latriae, se imagines colere excusant.” — Lat. — See volume 2, page 272, note. But if the worshipping of images be lawful, the prophet had no sufficient cause to condemn his own nation for serving strange gods. Despicable, therefore, is the distinction, that Divine homage is to be paid to God alone, and that a kind of honorary adoration is to be given to images. He adds, that this issued in their overthrow, in order that their obstinate attachment to their follies, and their despising the chastisements of God, may more palpably appear.
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