Psalms

Psalms 105

45 verses · Wisdom · Old Testament

1Give thanks to Yahweh! Call on his name! Make his doings known among the peoples. 2Sing to him, sing praises to him! Tell of all his marvelous works. 3Glory in his holy name. Let the heart of those who seek Yahweh rejoice. 4Seek Yahweh and his strength. Seek his face forever more. 5Remember his marvelous works that he has done: his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth, 6you offspring of Abraham, his servant, you children of Jacob, his chosen ones. 7He is Yahweh, our God. His judgments are in all the earth. 8He has remembered his covenant forever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations, 9the covenant which he made with Abraham, his oath to Isaac, 10and confirmed it to Jacob for a statute; to Israel for an everlasting covenant, 11saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance,” 12when they were but a few men in number, yes, very few, and foreigners in it. 13They went about from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people. 14He allowed no one to do them wrong. Yes, he reproved kings for their sakes, 15“Don’t touch my anointed ones! Do my prophets no harm!” 16He called for a famine on the land. He destroyed the food supplies. 17He sent a man before them. Joseph was sold for a slave. 18They bruised his feet with shackles. His neck was locked in irons, 19until the time that his word happened, and Yahweh’s word proved him true. 20The king sent and freed him, even the ruler of peoples, and let him go free. 21He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all of his possessions, 22to discipline his princes at his pleasure, and to teach his elders wisdom. 23Israel also came into Egypt. Jacob lived in the land of Ham. 24He increased his people greatly, and made them stronger than their adversaries. 25He turned their heart to hate his people, to conspire against his servants. 26He sent Moses, his servant, and Aaron, whom he had chosen. 27They performed miracles among them, and wonders in the land of Ham. 28He sent darkness, and made it dark. They didn’t rebel against his words. 29He turned their waters into blood, and killed their fish. 30Their land swarmed with frogs, even in the rooms of their kings. 31He spoke, and swarms of flies came, and lice in all their borders. 32He gave them hail for rain, with lightning in their land. 33He struck their vines and also their fig trees, and shattered the trees of their country. 34He spoke, and the locusts came with the grasshoppers, without number, 35ate up every plant in their land, and ate up the fruit of their ground. 36He struck also all the firstborn in their land, the first fruits of all their manhood. 37He brought them out with silver and gold. There was not one feeble person among his tribes. 38Egypt was glad when they departed, for the fear of them had fallen on them. 39He spread a cloud for a covering, fire to give light in the night. 40They asked, and he brought quails, and satisfied them with the bread of the sky. 41He opened the rock, and waters gushed out. They ran as a river in the dry places. 42For he remembered his holy word, and Abraham, his servant. 43He brought his people out with joy, his chosen with singing. 44He gave them the lands of the nations. They took the labor of the peoples in possession, 45that they might keep his statutes, and observe his laws. Praise Yah!

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3 commentators · 54 notes on this chapter

Matthew HenryEnglish Puritan / Nonconformist · 1708–17143

Writes as a pastor rather than a critic. Expect devotional and practical application over historical or linguistic analysis, read through a Reformed covenantal frame — and expect the Old Testament to be read forward toward Christ throughout.

Why this voice is here: The most widely read English commentary for three centuries. Included as a baseline: where Henry and a modern voice diverge, the divergence itself is usually the interesting part.

v. 1–7

Our devotion is here warmly excited; and we are stirred up, that we may stir up ourselves to praise God. Observe, I. The duties to which we are here called, and they are many, but the tendency of them all is to give unto God the glory due unto his name. 1. We…

v. 8–24

We are here taught, in praising God, to look a great way back, and to give him the glory of what he did for his church in former ages, especially when it was in the founding and forming, which those in its latter ages enjoy the benefit of and therefore should…

v. 25–45

After the history of the patriarchs follows here the history of the people of Israel, when they grew into a nation. I. Their affliction in Egypt (Psa 105:25): He turned the heart of the Egyptians, who had protected them, to hate them and deal subtilely with…

John GillParticular Baptist / High Calvinist · 1746–176345

The most exhaustive and the most doctrinally committed here. Expect high — even supralapsarian — Calvinism applied consistently, and unusually heavy use of rabbinic and Talmudic sources for Jewish context. Where a passage bears on election or the will, Gill will read it in one direction, and knowing that in advance is the point.

Why this voice is here: The strongest Calvinist reading available in the public domain, and the best on Jewish background. Read alongside Clarke, not instead of him — between them you get both sides of the argument.

v. 1

O give thanks unto the Lord,.... These are the words of David, either to the singers, or rather to the whole congregation of Israel, the seed of Abraham, and children of Jacob, Psalm 105:6 stirring them up to praise and thankfulness for their mercies…

v. 2

Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him,.... Both vocally and instrumentally, with the voice and upon instruments of music, as were used in David's time. Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, are to be sung now, even the song of Moses, and of the Lamb. The wondrous…

v. 3

Glory ye in his holy name,.... In the knowledge of it, as proclaimed in Christ; in being called by his name, and in having the honour to call upon his name; in the holiness of it; and in Christ being made sanctification as well as righteousness, in whom all…

Keil & DelitzschGerman Lutheran, conservative-critical · 1861–18756

The technical one, and Old Testament only. Expect Hebrew grammar, textual argument, and direct engagement with nineteenth-century critical scholarship — closer to a scholarly apparatus than a devotional read. Where a modern critic claims a text is late or composite, this is where the conservative counter-argument was made.

Why this voice is here: Old Testament only, and heavy going — but the place to look when someone asserts a passage cannot mean what it appears to.

v. 1–6

Invitation to the praise - praise that resounds far and wide among the peoples - of the God who has become manifest wondrously in the deeds and words connected with the history of the founding of Israel. הודה לה, as in Psa 33:2; Psa 75:2, of a praising and…

v. 7–11

The poet now begins himself to do that to which he encourages Israel. Jahve is Israel's God: His righteous rule extends over the whole earth, whilst His people experience His inviolable faithfulness to His covenant. יהוה in Psa 105:7 is in apposition to הוּא…

v. 12–15

The poet now celebrates the divine preservation which had sway over the small beginnings of Israel, when it made the patriarchs proof against harm on their wanderings. "Men of number" are such as can be easily counted, vid., the confessions in Gen 34:30; Deu…

World English Bible — Public domain