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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0;"/><title>Psalm 107 Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/expositors/psalms/107.htm" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/psalms/107.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/psalms/107-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="/commentaries/">Commentary</a> > <a href="../">Ellicott</a> > <a href="../psalms/">Psalm</a></div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../psalms/106.htm" title="Psalm 106">◄</a> Psalm 107 <a href="../psalms/108.htm" title="Psalm 108">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</div><div class="chap"><span class= "bld"> Book V.</span><p><span class= "bld">CVII.</span><p>Two widely different accounts have been given of this psalm; one, that it describes historically the dangers and sufferings of the return from captivity, and the Divine power and guidance which brought the redeemed safely through them; the other, that it presents a general picture or group of pictures of the vicissitudes of human life and the interposition of Divine Providence. The true explanation probably lies intermediate between these two. <a href="/context/psalms/107-2.htm" title="Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he has redeemed from the hand of the enemy;">Psalm 107:2-3</a> leave no room for question that the poet had the Return primarily in his mind. Indications in the same direction are supplied by the many expressions and figures taken from the later chapters of Isaiah, among which is prominent the phrase “the redeemed of Jehovah.” But, on the other hand, the series of vivid pictures of which the greater part of the poem is composed are not directly historical, notably the sea-piece (<a href="/context/psalms/107-23.htm" title="They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;">Psalm 107:23-32</a>).<p>While, therefore, the psalm may properly be regarded as a lyric embodiment of the lessons of the Captivity, it applies these lessons to the human lot generally, and travels over the whole experience of human life for the pictures under which it presents them. The fortunes of his own race were uppermost in the psalmist’s mind, but the perils depicted are typical of the straits into which men of all lands and all times are driven; and he had learnt that the goodness and wisdom which at the cry of prayer come to extricate and save are not confined to one race, but are universal and continuous.<p>Critics unite in assigning a late date for the composition of this poem, and no one doubts that it was intended for liturgic use. The beautiful double refrain marks the division of its somewhat irregular versification.<p>Of the unity of the poem there is considerable doubt. The piece beginning at <a href="/psalms/107-33.htm" title="He turns rivers into a wilderness, and the springs into dry ground;">Psalm 107:33</a> is not only in form very different from the first, but bears marks of greatly inferior poetical power. (See Note to <a href="/psalms/107-33.htm" title="He turns rivers into a wilderness, and the springs into dry ground;">Psalm 107:33</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/107-1.htm">Psalm 107:1</a></div><div class="verse">O give thanks unto the LORD, for <i>he is</i> good: for his mercy <i>endureth</i> for ever.</div>(1) For this doxology see Note, <a href="/psalms/106-1.htm" title="Praise you the LORD. O give thanks to the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endures for ever.">Psalm 106:1</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/107-2.htm">Psalm 107:2</a></div><div class="verse">Let the redeemed of the LORD say <i>so</i>, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy;</div>(2) <span class= "bld">Redeemed of the Lord.</span>—See for this grand expression, for which so high a destiny was prepared, <a href="/isaiah/62-12.htm" title="And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the LORD: and you shall be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken.">Isaiah 62:12</a>; and comp. <a href="/isaiah/63-4.htm" title="For the day of vengeance is in my heart, and the year of my redeemed is come.">Isaiah 63:4</a>; <a href="/isaiah/35-9.htm" title="No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there:">Isaiah 35:9</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/107-3.htm">Psalm 107:3</a></div><div class="verse">And gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south.</div>(3) <span class= "bld">Gathered them.</span>—The usual prophetic word for the Restoration. (See references in margin, and with the verse comp. <a href="/isaiah/49-12.htm" title="Behold, these shall come from far: and, see, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.">Isaiah 49:12</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">From the south.</span>—See margin. The sea here can hardly be any sea but the Mediterranean, and therefore ought, according to general use (see <a href="/genesis/12-8.htm" title="And he removed from there to a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he built an altar to the LORD, and called on the name of the LORD.">Genesis 12:8</a>, &c), to stand for the <span class= "ital">west. </span>But as this makes the enumeration of the points of the compass imperfect, several emendations have been proposed, the best of which is <span class= "ital">yamin </span>(the “right hand,” and so “south”) for <span class= "ital">yam.</span><p>Or is the text right, and instead of looking for a complete compass, ought we to connect this general statement with the four tableaux of misery presently painted, and so take “out of the sea” literally in reference to <a href="/context/psalms/107-23.htm" title="They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;">Psalm 107:23-30</a>?<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/107-4.htm">Psalm 107:4</a></div><div class="verse">They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in.</div>(4-9) The wanderers.<p>(4) <span class= "bld">They.</span>—It seems more natural to understand the subject of the verb <span class= "ital">wandered </span>from the preceding clauses, than to supply a general subject, <span class= "ital">they; </span>but this is by no means a certain interpretation. It depends on the view we take of the poem. (See Introduction.)<p><span class= "bld">A solitary way.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">in a desert track. </span>(Comp. <a href="/acts/8-26.htm" title="And the angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south to the way that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza, which is desert.">Acts 8:26</a>.) There is a grammatical difficulty, but this does not affect the general intention of the verse. Whether it represents an historical fact, or merely draws an imaginary picture, the reference to the dangers of Eastern travel is equally clear and distinct.<p><span class= "bld">City to dwell in.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">city of habitation, </span>as rendered in <a href="/psalms/107-7.htm" title="And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation.">Psalm 107:7</a>.<p>“Boundless and bare<p>The lone and level sands stretch far away.”—SHELLEY.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/107-5.htm">Psalm 107:5</a></div><div class="verse">Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them.</div>(5) <span class= "bld">Fainted.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">let itself be covered. </span>(See <a href="/psalms/77-3.htm" title="I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah.">Psalm 77:3</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/107-7.htm">Psalm 107:7</a></div><div class="verse">And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation.</div>(7) <span class= "bld">By the right way.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">in a straight way. </span>Even in the pathless wilderness “there is a hand that guides.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/107-8.htm">Psalm 107:8</a></div><div class="verse">Oh that <i>men</i> would praise the LORD <i>for</i> his goodness, and <i>for</i> his wonderful works to the children of men!</div>(8) <span class= "bld">Oh that men.</span>—The subject is rather to be supplied from the preceding clauses, “let them praise,” &c. Some, however, render “they praise,” &c<p>On the other hand, the insertion of “for” in each clause of the Authorised Version is correct (so LXX. and Vulg.).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/107-9.htm">Psalm 107:9</a></div><div class="verse">For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.</div>(9) <span class= "bld">Longing soul.</span>—Or, <span class= "ital">thirsty, </span>as in <a href="/isaiah/29-8.htm" title="It shall even be as when an hungry man dreams, and, behold, he eats; but he wakes, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreams, and, behold, he drinks; but he wakes, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul has appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.">Isaiah 29:8</a>. (Comp. <a href="/psalms/107-5.htm" title="Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them.">Psalm 107:5</a>.) The word originally applies to an animal running up and down in search of food or water. (See <a href="/joel/2-9.htm" title="They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run on the wall, they shall climb up on the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief.">Joel 2:9</a>; <a href="/proverbs/28-15.htm" title="As a roaring lion, and a ranging bear; so is a wicked ruler over the poor people.">Proverbs 28:15</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/107-10.htm">Psalm 107:10</a></div><div class="verse">Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, <i>being</i> bound in affliction and iron;</div>(10-16) The prisoners.<p>(10) <span class= "bld">In darkness.</span>—A common synonym for a dungeon. (See <a href="/isaiah/42-7.htm" title="To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.">Isaiah 42:7</a>; <a href="/isaiah/49-9.htm" title="That you may say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places.">Isaiah 49:9</a>, both of the exiles in Babylon; comp. <a href="/micah/7-8.htm" title="Rejoice not against me, O my enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light to me.">Micah 7:8</a>.)<p>This description, applicable to prisons in all ages but the most modern, was especially suitable for those of the ancients, who admitted no light at all; <span class= "ital">e.g., </span>the Mamertine prison at Rome. Comp. Virgil, <span class= "ital">Æn. </span>vi. 734:<p><span class= "ital">“</span>Neque auras<p>Dispiciunt clausæ tenebris et carcere cæco.”<p><span class= "bld">In affliction and iron.</span>—Both words are found also in <a href="/psalms/105-18.htm" title="Whose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron:">Psalm 105:18</a>, but distributed into the two clauses of the verse—<span class= "ital">hurt, iron. </span>(Comp., too, <a href="/job/36-8.htm" title="And if they be bound in fetters, and be held in cords of affliction;">Job 36:8</a>, “bound in fetters and holden in cords of affliction.”) The LXX. and Vulg. have “in poverty and in iron.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/107-11.htm">Psalm 107:11</a></div><div class="verse">Because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel of the most High:</div>(11) <span class= "bld">Contemned.</span>—This word is an old Mosaic designation for the <span class= "ital">provocation </span>offered by the chosen people (<a href="/numbers/14-11.htm" title="And the LORD said to Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have showed among them?">Numbers 14:11</a>; <a href="/numbers/14-23.htm" title="Surely they shall not see the land which I swore to their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:">Numbers 14:23</a>), as well as for the <span class= "ital">abhorrence </span>shown by Jehovah for their sin (<a href="/deuteronomy/32-19.htm" title="And when the LORD saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters.">Deuteronomy 32:19</a>). Certainly this verse is more closely applicable to violation of the Theocratic relations of Israel to Jehovah than of heathen opposition to God.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/107-12.htm">Psalm 107:12</a></div><div class="verse">Therefore he brought down their heart with labour; they fell down, and <i>there was</i> none to help.</div>(12) <span class= "bld">Brought down.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">made them bend.</span><p><span class= "bld">Fell down.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">stumbled.</span><p>The whole verse presents a picture of men staggering under the forced labour which was the usual fate of captives under the great Oriental monarchies.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/107-14.htm">Psalm 107:14</a></div><div class="verse">He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder.</div>(14) <span class= "bld">Break their bands in sunder.</span>—See <a href="/psalms/2-3.htm" title="Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.">Psalm 2:3</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/107-15.htm">Psalm 107:15</a></div><div class="verse">Oh that <i>men</i> would praise the LORD <i>for</i> his goodness, and <i>for</i> his wonderful works to the children of men!</div>(15) <span class= "bld">Oh that . . .</span>—The subject is the participle in <a href="/psalms/107-10.htm" title="Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron;">Psalm 107:10</a>, “such as sit,” a fact which bears upon the proper subject in <a href="/psalms/107-8.htm" title="Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!">Psalm 107:8</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/107-16.htm">Psalm 107:16</a></div><div class="verse">For he hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder.</div>-16<a href="/isaiah/45-2.htm" title="I will go before you, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:">Isaiah 45:2</a> was present to the poet’s mind.<p>Virgil’s picture of the shrine of war (<span class= "ital">Æn. </span>vii. 607) has been compared to this.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/107-17.htm">Psalm 107:17</a></div><div class="verse">Fools because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted.</div>(17-22) The sick.<p>(17) <span class= "bld">Fools</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e.</span>, <span class= "ital">infatuated in wickedness. </span>(Comp. the noun foolishness in <a href="/psalms/38-5.htm" title="My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness.">Psalm 38:5</a> with the same ethical sense; and comp. <a href="/job/5-3.htm" title="I have seen the foolish taking root: but suddenly I cursed his habitation.">Job 5:3</a> and the frequent connection of folly with sin in the book of Proverbs.) Another Hebrew word is used in the same way (<a href="/psalms/14-1.htm" title="The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that does good.">Psalm 14:1</a>).<p><span class= "bld">Because of their transgressions.</span>—Better more literally, <span class= "ital">because of way of transgression, </span>or, <span class= "ital">their course of sin, </span>indicating a settled habit.<p><span class= "bld">Are afflicted . . .</span>—Properly, <span class= "ital">brought </span>(or <span class= "ital">bring</span>)<span class= "ital"> affliction on themselves. </span>LXX. and Vulgate, “were humbled;” and some understand “afflict themselves”—<span class= "ital">i.e., </span>grieve for their sins. This would explain the distaste for food in the next verse equally well as actual sickness. But the analogy of the other stanzas is not in favour of indicating repentance before the emphatic “then they cry,” <span class= "ital">&c.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/107-18.htm">Psalm 107:18</a></div><div class="verse">Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat; and they draw near unto the gates of death.</div>(18) <span class= "bld">Soul.</span>—The Hebrew word for <span class= "ital">soul </span>is very commonly used for <span class= "ital">strong appetite </span>(see <a href="/psalms/107-9.htm" title="For he satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness.">Psalm 107:9</a>), so that we might paraphrase,” their appetite is turned to loathing.” Comp. this verse with <a href="/job/33-20.htm" title="So that his life abhors bread, and his soul dainty meat.">Job 33:20</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/107-20.htm">Psalm 107:20</a></div><div class="verse">He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered <i>them</i> from their destructions.</div>(20) <span class= "bld">He sent His word.</span>—In history (see <a href="/psalms/105-19.htm" title="Until the time that his word came: the word of the LORD tried him.">Psalm 105:19</a>), as in the natural world (<a href="/psalms/147-18.htm" title="He sends out his word, and melts them: he causes his wind to blow, and the waters flow.">Psalm 147:18</a>), God’s word is His messenger. (Comp. <a href="/context/isaiah/55-10.htm" title="For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and returns not thither, but waters the earth, and makes it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:">Isaiah 55:10-11</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">Destructions.</span>—This follows the LXX., who derive as in <a href="/psalms/103-4.htm" title="Who redeems your life from destruction; who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies;">Psalm 103:4</a>. A better derivation, however, gives “pits,” either with metaphorical allusion to the “depths” of suffering, or literally, of the “graves” to which the sufferers had drawn near.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/107-23.htm">Psalm 107:23</a></div><div class="verse">They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;</div>(23-32) Storm-tossed mariners.<p>(23) <span class= "bld">They that go down to the sea.</span>—An expression so exactly opposite to the ancient equivalent for <span class= "ital">embarking </span>that we feel we have the very Hebrew feeling. From the high lands of Judæa it was a literal descent to the shores of the Mediterranean. So Jonah <span class= "ital">went down </span>to Joppa (<a href="/jonah/1-3.htm" title="But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.">Jonah 1:3</a>). (Comp. <a href="/isaiah/42-10.htm" title="Sing to the LORD a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, you that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof.">Isaiah 42:10</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">Do</span> <span class= "bld">business.</span>—Probably with allusion to commercial enterprise.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/107-25.htm">Psalm 107:25</a></div><div class="verse">For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.</div>(25) <span class= "bld">He commandeth.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">He speaks. </span>The Almighty fiat, as in Genesis 1.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/107-26.htm">Psalm 107:26</a></div><div class="verse">They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.</div>(26) <span class= "bld">They mount up.</span>—<p>“Tollimur in cœlum curvato gurgite, et idem<p>Subducta ad Manes imos desedimus unda.”<p>VIRGIL: <span class= "ital">Æn. </span>iii. 564.<p><span class= "bld">Their soul is melted.</span>—The recollection of seasickness is the best comment on this and the next verse.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/107-27.htm">Psalm 107:27</a></div><div class="verse">They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits' end.</div>(27) <span class= "bld">Reel to and fro.</span>—Or more exactly, <span class= "ital">spin round and round.</span><p><span class= "bld">Are at their wit’s end.</span>—An admirable paraphrase of the Hebrew, “all their wisdom swalloweth itself up.” The poet, from the expressions employed, is possibly writing under the influence of <a href="/psalms/22-14.htm" title="I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the middle of my bowels.">Psalm 22:14</a>; but he has evidently himself been to sea and experienced the dangers and discomforts he so graphically describes. Ovid (<span class= "ital">Trist. </span>i. 2) has been quoted in illustration:<p>“Me miserum, quanti montes volvuntur aquarum<p>Jamjam tacturos sidera summa putes.<p>Quantæ diducto subsidunt æquore valles:<p>Jamjam tacturas Tartura nigra putes<p>Rector in incerto est, nec quid fugiatve petatve<p>Invenit: <span class= "ital">ambiguis ars stupet ipsa malis.”</span><p>See on this passage Addison in <span class= "ital">Spectator, </span>No. 489.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/107-28.htm">Psalm 107:28</a></div><div class="verse">Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.</div>(28) <span class= "bld">Then they cry.</span>—There is a saying,<p>“Qui nescit orare, discat navigare.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/107-32.htm">Psalm 107:32</a></div><div class="verse">Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.</div>(32) <span class= "bld">Let them exalt.</span>—The addition of this to the refrain, as of 22 to that of the last stanza, clearly points to a liturgical use in the psalm.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/107-33.htm">Psalm 107:33</a></div><div class="verse">He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the watersprings into dry ground;</div>(33) The change in character and style of the psalm at this point is so marked as to suggest an addition by another hand. It is not only that the artistic form is dropped, and the series of vivid pictures, each closed by a refrain, succeeded by changed aspects of thought, but the language becomes harsher, and the poet, if the same, suddenly proclaims that he has exhausted his imagination.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/107-34.htm">Psalm 107:34</a></div><div class="verse">A fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.</div>(34) <span class= "bld">Barrenness.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">a salt marsh, </span>as in LXX. and Vulg. (See <a href="/job/39-6.htm" title="Whose house I have made the wilderness, and the barren land his dwellings.">Job 39:6</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/107-35.htm">Psalm 107:35</a></div><div class="verse">He turneth the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into watersprings.</div>(35) <span class= "bld">Standing water.</span>—Or, <span class= "ital">a pool of water. </span>(See <a href="/isaiah/35-7.htm" title="And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.">Isaiah 35:7</a>; <a href="/context/isaiah/41-18.htm" title="I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the middle of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.">Isaiah 41:18-19</a>; <a href="/isaiah/42-15.htm" title="I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools.">Isaiah 42:15</a>.)<p>The dependence of this psalm on these passages in Isaiah is indubitable. But the images are employed in a different manner. The prophet only thinks of the joy of returning Israel (<a href="/context/psalms/107-39.htm" title="Again, they are diminished and brought low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow.">Psalm 107:39-41</a>). But here the thought is that in the reverses of fortune, which even the chosen nation must be prepared for, God will intervene to protect and save. But the construction is very awkward, owing to the mode in which, in <a href="/psalms/107-40.htm" title="He pours contempt on princes, and causes them to wander in the wilderness, where there is no way.">Psalm 107:40</a>, two clauses from <a href="/job/12-21.htm" title="He pours contempt on princes, and weakens the strength of the mighty.">Job 12:21</a>; <a href="/job/12-24.htm" title="He takes away the heart of the chief of the people of the earth, and causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way.">Job 12:24</a> are introduced.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/107-41.htm">Psalm 107:41</a></div><div class="verse">Yet setteth he the poor on high from affliction, and maketh <i>him</i> families like a flock.</div>(41) <span class= "bld">Like a flock.</span>—This figure of a rapid increase of population is also borrowed from <a href="/job/21-11.htm" title="They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance.">Job 21:11</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/107-42.htm">Psalm 107:42</a></div><div class="verse">The righteous shall see <i>it</i>, and rejoice: and all iniquity shall stop her mouth.</div>(42) Again the dependence on the book of Job is seen. (See marginal reference.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/107-43.htm">Psalm 107:43</a></div><div class="verse">Whoso <i>is</i> wise, and will observe these <i>things</i>, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the LORD.</div>(43) The psalm ends in the style, and almost in the very words, of the prophecy of Hosea. (Comp. <a href="/hosea/14-9.htm" title="Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the LORD are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.">Hosea 14:9</a>.)<p><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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