Psalm 106:47

Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from among the heathen, to give thanks unto thy holy name, and to triumph in thy praise.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(47) Save us.—For this prayer the whole psalm has prepared the way.

Benson Commentary

Psalm 106:47-48. Save us, O Lord our God — O thou, who hast so often pardoned and saved us, notwithstanding our former and manifold provocations, be thou pleased again to interpose and deliver us, how unworthy soever we may be, from all our present enemies. Gather us from the heathen — Restore into their own country such of us as are fallen into their hands. To give thanks unto thy holy name — That they may join with us in giving thanks for thy incomparable goodness; and to triumph in thy praise — In thy praiseworthy works, wrought for us: saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel — Let the great Lord of all the world, who has been so gracious to Israel as to choose them for his own peculiar people, be most heartily praised, from everlasting to everlasting — From one generation to another, as long as the world shall last, and unto all eternity. And let all the people say, Amen — In token of their cheerful concurrence in all these prayers, praises, and confessions. Praise ye the Lord — Hebrew, Hallelujah. By these two comprehensive words, Amen and Hallelujah, “it is very proper,” says Mr. Henry, “in religious assemblies, for the people to testify their joining with their ministers in the prayers and praises which, as their mouth, they offer up to God according to his will, saying Amen to the prayers, and Hallelujah to the praises.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

106:34-48 The conduct of the Israelites in Canaan, and God's dealings with them, show that the way of sin is down-hill; omissions make way for commissions: when they neglected to destroy the heathen, they learned their works. One sin led to many more, and brought the judgments of God on them. Their sin was, in part, their own punishment. Sinners often see themselves ruined by those who led them into evil. Satan, who is a tempter, will be a tormentor. At length, God showed pity to his people for his covenant's sake. The unchangeableness of God's merciful nature and love to his people, makes him change the course of justice into mercy; and no other change is meant by God's repentance. Our case is awful when the outward church is considered. When nations professing Christianity, are so guilty as we are, no wonder if the Lord brings them low for their sins. Unless there is general and deep repentance, there can be no prospect but of increasing calamities. The psalm concludes with prayer for completing the deliverance of God's people, and praise for the beginning and progress of it. May all the people of the earth, ere long, add their Amen.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the heathen - From among the nations. From this it would seem that the psalm was composed when the nation was in captivity, or was dispersed among the nations that were hostile to them. The prayer is, that as God had, in former periods, recovered his people when they were in exile, or were scattered abroad, he would again graciously interpose and bring them to the land of their fathers, where they had been accustomed to worship God.

To give thanks unto thy holy name - Unto thee; a holy God. That we may praise thee in the place where thou art accustomed to be worshipped - in the sanctuary.

And to triumph in thy praise - To exult; to rejoice; to be glad in praising thee - in thy worship.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

46. made … pitied—(1Ki 8:50; Da 1:9). These tokens encourage the prayer and the promise of praise (Ps 30:4), which is well closed by a doxology.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Save us, O Lord our God: O thou who hast so often pardoned and saved us, notwithstanding our former and manifold provocations, be thou pleased once more to deliver us.

In thy praise; in thy praiseworthy work wrought for us;

praise being put for actions worthy of praise, as it is here, above, Psalm 106:2 1 Chronicles 16:35 Psalm 9:14 Philippians 4:8, and oft elsewhere.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Save us, O Lord our God,.... Here the psalmist represents the people in captivity, and represents them as praying for deliverance; as well knowing that none but God could save them: and a prayer of this nature, with respect to spiritual salvation, supposes danger, and a sense of it; that they are not able to save themselves, nor any creature able to save them; only the Lord, who is both willing and able; and of this kind is the prayer of faith.

And gather us from among the Heathen; in Babylon, and other countries; See Gill on the title note "Ps 106:1".

To give thanks unto thy holy name; bring us out of captivity to our own land, to Jerusalem, to the temple there to give thanks to thy holy name for the merciful deliverance of us; see Psalm 122:4.

And to triumph in thy praise; in thy salvation, in thy wondrous works, worthy of praise; or while praising thee: the word signifies to glory therein; and such who are sensible of the mercies they receive from the Lord will make their boast of him and them, and glory; see Psalm 34:1.

Geneva Study Bible

Save us, O LORD our God, and {a} gather us from among the heathen, to give thanks unto thy holy name, and to triumph in thy praise.

(a) Gather your Church which is dispersed, and give us constancy under the cross, that with one consent we may all praise you.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

47. This prayer is the point to which the long confession of national sin, from Psalm 106:6 onward, has been leading up. ‘We have sinned, often and grievously; we are bearing the just punishment of our sins; but we confess our guilt; Thy lovingkindness is inexhaustible, once more bring us to our own land, that we may fulfil the purpose of our calling.’

to give thanks &c.] For Jehovah’s praise is the end and object of Israel’s existence. Cp. Isaiah 43:21; Psalm 22:3, note.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 47. - The historical portion of the psalm here ends, and the writer, in a brief epilogue, returns to the topic of prayer (see vers. 4, 5), only substituting now for the personal supplications of the prologue, a general prayer for the entire nation, and especially for its deliverance from captivity. "It can scarcely be doubted," as Dean Johnson well observes, "that the words of ver. 47 refer to deliverance from the Babylonish captivity," which was the only one that involved the dispersion of the whole people, and the suspension of the liturgical offering of thanks and praise. Verse 47. - Save us, O Lord our God. Contrast with this the "remember me" of ver. 4. The review of the national history has quickened the psalmist's sympathies and widened them. Previously he prayed only for himself. Now it will not content him unless the people generally are "saved." And gather us from among the heathen. (On the wide dispersion of the Israelites at the time of the Babylonian captivity, see the comment on ver. 27.) To give thanks unto thy holy Name, and to triumph in thy praise. This is spoken of as the consequence of the gathering together. Dispersion could not, of course, prevent the rendering of praise and thanks by individual Israelites (Daniel 6:10); but it had stopped the united liturgical expression of them. On the restoration of the Israelites to their own land, this was resumed (Ezra 3:2-11). Psalm 106:47

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

He has now reached the goal, to which his whole Psalm struggles forth, by the way of self-accusation and the praise of the faithfulness of God. השׁתּבּח (found only here) is the reflexive of the Piel, to account happy, Ecclesiastes 4:2, therefore: in order that we may esteem ourselves happy to be able to praise Thee. In this reflexive (and also passive) sense השׁתבח is customary in Aramaic and post-biblical Hebrew.