Psalm 107:1

O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(1) For this doxology see Note, Psalm 106:1.

Benson Commentary

Psalm 107:1-3. O give thanks, &c. — This whole verse occurs also Psalm 106:1; only there the address is made to the Israelites, here, it seems, to all mankind. For his mercy endureth for ever — “Eternal mercy is the theme here proposed; and they who have tasted its sweets, are invited to join in setting forth its praises.” Let the redeemed say so — All those whom God hath redeemed, as it is expressed in the next clause, or delivered from the calamities hereafter mentioned: whom he hath redeemed from the enemy — From such as had taken them captive, either in battle, or in their travels, to which they were led, either by their own inclinations or by their necessary affairs. And gathered them out of the lands, &c. — Bringing them into their own land, out of the several quarters of the world into which they had been carried. And from the south — Hebrew, from the sea; which, in Scripture, commonly denotes the west, because the great Mediterranean sea was on the west of Canaan; but here, as appears from the opposition of this to the north, it signifies the south, so called from the Red sea, which was on the south, and which is sometimes called The Sea, simply, and without addition. “The members of the Christian Church,” says Dr. Horne, “are now, in the most proper and emphatical sense of the words, the redeemed of Jehovah, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy, and gathered them, by the gospel, out of all lands, and from all the four quarters of the world, to form a church, and to supply the place of the apostate Jews, whose forefathers experienced, in type and shadow, the good things prepared for them and for us, in truth and substance.”

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

107:1-9 In these verses there is reference to the deliverance from Egypt, and perhaps that from Babylon: but the circumstances of travellers in those countries are also noted. It is scarcely possible to conceive the horrors suffered by the hapless traveller, when crossing the trackless sands, exposed to the burning rays of the sum. The words describe their case whom the Lord has redeemed from the bondage of Satan; who pass through the world as a dangerous and dreary wilderness, often ready to faint through troubles, fears, and temptations. Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, after God, and communion with him, shall be filled with the goodness of his house, both in grace and glory.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good - See the notes at Psalm 106:1.

For his mercy endureth for ever - He is unchanging in his mercy. It is an attribute of his very nature. He is constantly manifesting it. The word rendered "mercy" here, however - חסד chesed - is more general in its signification than our word "mercy." Our word means "favor shown to the guilty;" the Hebrew word means kindness, goodness, benignity in general. It is this which is celebrated in the psalm before us.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

PSALM 107

Ps 107:1-43. Although the general theme of this Psalm may have been suggested by God's special favor to the Israelites in their restoration from captivity, it must be regarded as an instructive celebration of God's praise for His merciful providence to all men in their various emergencies. Of these several are given—captivity and bondage, wanderings by land and sea, and famine; some as evidences of God's displeasure, and all the deliverances as evidence of His goodness and mercy to them who humbly seek Him.

1, 2. This call for thankful praise is the burden or chorus (compare Ps 107:8, 15, &c.).

The Treasury of David

1 O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good; for his mercy endureth forever.

2 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy;

3 And gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south.

Psalm 107:1

"O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good." It is all we can give him, and the least we can give; therefore let us diligently render to him our thanksgiving. The Psalmist is in earnest in the exhortation, hence the use of the interjection "O" to intensify his words: let us be at all times thoroughly fervent in the praises of the Lord, both with our lips and with our lives, by thanksgiving and thanksgiving. JEHOVAH, for that is the name here used, is not to be worshipped with groans and cries, but with thanks, for he is good; and these thanks should be heartily rendered, for his is no common goodness: he is good by nature, and essence, and proven to be good in all the acts of his eternity. Compared with him there is none good, no, not one: but he is essentially, perpetually, superlatively, infinitely good. We are the perpetual partakers of his goodness, and therefore ought above all his creatures to magnify his name. Our praise should be increased by the fact that the divine goodness is not a transient thing, but in the attribute of mercy abides for ever the same, "for his mercy endureth for ever." The word endureth has been properly supplied by the translators, but yet it somewhat restricts the sense, which will be better seen if we read it, "for his mercy for ever." That mercy had no beginning, and shall never know an end. Our sin required that goodness should display itself to us in the form of mercy, and it has done so, and will do so evermore; let us not be slack in praising the goodness which thus adapts itself to our fallen nature.

Psalm 107:2

"Let the redeemed of the Lord say so." Whatever others may think or say, the redeemed have overwhelming reasons for declaring the goodness of the Lord. Theirs is a peculiar redemption, and for it they ought to render peculiar praise. The Redeemer is so glorious, the ransom price so immense, and the redemption so complete, that they are under sevenfold obligations to give thanks unto the Lord, and to exhort others to do so. Let them not only feel so but say so; let them both sing and bid their fellows sing. "Whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy." Snatched by superior power away from fierce oppressions, they are bound above all men to adore the Lord, their Liberator. Theirs is a divine redemption, "he hath redeemed" them, and no one else has done it. His own unaided arm has wrought out their deliverance. Should not emancipated slaves be grateful to the hand which set them free? What gratitude can suffice for a deliverance from the power of sin, death, and hell? In heaven itself there is no sweeter hymn than that whose burden is, "Thou hast redeemed us unto God by thy blood."

Psalm 107:3

"And gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south." Gathering follows upon redeeming. The captives of old were restored to their own land from every quarter of the earth, and even from beyond the sea; for the word translated south is really the sea. No matter what divides, the Lord will gather his own into one body, and first on earth by "one Lord, one faith, and one baptism," and then in heaven by one common bliss they shall be known to be the one people of the One God. What a glorious Shepherd must he be who thus collects the blood-bought flock from the remotest regions, guides them through countless perils, and at last makes them to lie down in the green pastures of Paradise. Some have wandered one way and some another, they have all left Immanuel's land and strayed as far as they could, and great are the grace and power by which they are all collected into one flock by the Lord Jesus. With one heart and voice let the redeemed praise the Lord who gathers them into one. THE ARGUMENT

The most of the Psalms have a peculiar respect unto the church or people of God, or to some eminent members thereof; but there are some few Psalms which have a more general respect to all nations, of which number this is one; wherein the psalmist discourseth of the merciful providence of God towards all mankind, and of his readiness to help them in all their distresses, some few particular instances whereof he mentioneth, and leaveth the rest to be understood, there being the same reason of all. But withal he takes notice also of God’s judgments upon wicked persons and people. And by this representation of God’s mercies and judgments, he invites all nations to an acknowledgment of the true God, to praise him for his favours, and to tremble at his judgments, which is their just duty and reasonable service.

An exhortation to the redeemed to praise and celebrate the Lord, and to observe his manifold providences, Psalm 107:1-3; to strangers and captives, Psalm 107:4-16; to sick, and sea-men, Psalm 107:17-32; and to all others, commending them that carefully observe this, Psalm 107:33-43.

This whole verse occurs also Psalm 106:1; only there the address is made to the Israelites, and here to all mankind.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

O give thanks unto the Lord,.... As all men should do, at all times and for all things; the psalm begins as the former does, and gives the same reasons for thanksgiving.

For he is good; and does good, and is the author of all good.

For his mercy endureth for ever; and men in every age are partakers of it.

Geneva Study Bible

O give thanks unto {a} the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

(a) This notable sentence was in the beginning used as the foot or tenor of the song, which was often repeated.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

1, 2. The Psalm begins, like Psalms 106, with the regular liturgical doxology. This “the redeemed of Jehovah” are called to recite (Psalm 107:2) in grateful acknowledgement of His mercy and in fulfilment of Jeremiah’s prophecy (Psalm 33:11) that there should again be heard in Jerusalem “the voice of them that say, Give thanks to Jehovah of hosts, for Jehovah is good, for his mercy endureth for ever.” Cp. Psalm 118:1-4.

the redeemed of the Lord] The phrase is taken from Isaiah 62:12 (cp. Isaiah 35:9-10; Isaiah 51:10-11; Isaiah 63:4), and clearly denotes the Israelites who had been released from exile in Babylon and elsewhere, and brought home to Jerusalem.

from the hand of the enemy] Rather, from the clutch (lit. hand) of adversity. Cp. the use of the same word in Psalm 107:6 &c. (A.V. trouble).

1–3. An invitation to the returned exiles to join in grateful confession of Jehovah’s lovingkindness.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 1. - O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good (comp. Psalm 106:1; Psalm 118:1; Psalm 136:1). For his mercy endureth forever (see the comment on Psalm 106:1). Psalm 107:1

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The introit, with the call upon them to grateful praise, is addressed to the returned exiles. The Psalm carries the marks of its deutero-Isaianic character on the very front of it, viz.: "the redeemed of Jahve," taken from Isaiah 62:12, cf. Psalm 63:4; Psalm 35:9.; קבּץ as in Isaiah 56:8, and frequently; "from the north and from the sea," as in Isaiah 49:12 : "the sea" (ים) here (as perhaps there also), side by side with east, west, and north, is the south, or rather (since ים is an established usus loquendi for the west) the south-west, viz., the southern portion of the Mediterranean washing the shores of Egypt. With this the poet associates the thought of the exiles of Egypt, as with וּממּערב the exiles of the islands, i.e., of Asia Minor and Europe; he is therefore writing at a period in which the Jewish state newly founded by the release of the Babylonian exiles had induced the scattered fellow-countrymen in all countries to return home. Calling upon the redeemed ones to give thanks to God the Redeemer in order that the work of the restoration of Israel may be gloriously perfected amidst the thanksgiving of the redeemed ones, he forthwith formulates the thanksgiving by putting the language of thanksgiving of the ancient liturgy (Jeremiah 33:11) into their mouth. The nation, now again established upon the soil of the fatherland, has, until it had acquired this again, seen destruction in every form in a strange land, and can tell of the most manifold divine deliverances. The call to sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving is expanded accordingly into several pictures portraying the dangers of the strange land, which are not so much allegorical, personifying the Exile, as rather exemplificative.