Book 5
(Psalms 107-150)

Psalm 107

1Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,

and his loyal love endures!

2Let those delivered by the Lord speak out,

those whom he delivered from the power of the enemy,

3and gathered from foreign lands,

from east and west,

from north and south.

4They wandered through the wilderness on a desert road;

they found no city in which to live.

5They were hungry and thirsty;

they fainted from exhaustion.

6They cried out to the Lord in their distress;

he delivered them from their troubles.

7He led them on a level road,

that they might find a city in which to live.

8Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love,

and for the amazing things he has done for people!

9For he has satisfied those who thirst,

and those who hunger he has filled with food.

10They sat in utter darkness,

bound in painful iron chains,

11because they had rebelled against God’s commands,

and rejected the instructions of the sovereign king.

12So he used suffering to humble them;

they stumbled and no one helped them up.

13They cried out to the Lord in their distress;

he delivered them from their troubles.

14He brought them out of the utter darkness,

and tore off their shackles.

15Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love,

and for the amazing things he has done for people!

16For he shattered the bronze gates,

and hacked through the iron bars.

17They acted like fools in their rebellious ways,

and suffered because of their sins.

18They lost their appetite for all food,

and they drew near the gates of death.

19They cried out to the Lord in their distress;

he delivered them from their troubles.

20He sent them an assuring word and healed them;

he rescued them from the pits where they were trapped.

21Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love,

and for the amazing things he has done for people!

22Let them present thank offerings,

and loudly proclaim what he has done!

23Some traveled on the sea in ships,

and carried cargo over the vast waters.

24They witnessed the acts of the Lord,

his amazing feats on the deep water.

25He gave the order for a windstorm,

and it stirred up the waves of the sea.

26They reached up to the sky,

then dropped into the depths.

The sailors’ strength left them because the danger was so great.

27They swayed and staggered like a drunk,

and all their skill proved ineffective.

28They cried out to the Lord in their distress;

he delivered them from their troubles.

29He calmed the storm,

and the waves grew silent.

30The sailors rejoiced because the waves grew quiet,

and he led them to the harbor they desired.

31Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love,

and for the amazing things he has done for people!

32Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people!

Let them praise him in the place where the leaders preside!

33He turned streams into a desert,

springs of water into arid land,

34and a fruitful land into a barren place,

because of the sin of its inhabitants.

35As for his people, he turned a desert into a pool of water,

and a dry land into springs of water.

36He allowed the hungry to settle there,

and they established a city in which to live.

37They cultivated fields,

and planted vineyards,

which yielded a harvest of fruit.

38He blessed them so that they became very numerous.

He would not allow their cattle to decrease in number.

39As for their enemies, they decreased in number and were beaten down,

because of painful distress and suffering.

40He would pour contempt upon princes,

and he made them wander in a wasteland with no road.

41Yet he protected the needy from oppression,

and cared for his families like a flock of sheep.

42When the godly see this, they rejoice,

and every sinner shuts his mouth.

43Whoever is wise, let him take note of these things!

Let them consider the Lord’s acts of loyal love!