105 Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name;
make known his deeds among the peoples!
2 Sing to him, sing praises to him;
tell of all his wondrous works!
3 Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!
4 Seek the Lord and his strength;
seek his presence continually!
5 Remember the wondrous works that he has done,
his miracles, and the judgments he uttered,
6 O offspring of Abraham, his servant,
children of Jacob, his chosen ones!
7 He is the Lord our God;
his judgments are in all the earth.
8 He remembers his covenant forever,
the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations,
9 the covenant that he made with Abraham,
his sworn promise to Isaac,
10 which he confirmed to Jacob as a statute,
to Israel as an everlasting covenant,
11 saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan
as your portion for an inheritance.”
12 When they were few in number,
of little account, and sojourners in it,
13 wandering from nation to nation,
from one kingdom to another people,
14 he allowed no one to oppress them;
he rebuked kings on their account,
15 saying, “Touch not my anointed ones,
do my prophets no harm!”
16 When he summoned a famine on the land
and broke all supply1 of bread,
17 he had sent a man ahead of them,
Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
18 His feet were hurt with fetters;
his neck was put in a collar of iron;
19 until what he had said came to pass,
the word of the Lord tested him.
20 The king sent and released him;
the ruler of the peoples set him free;
21 he made him lord of his house
and ruler of all his possessions,
22 to bind2 his princes at his pleasure
and to teach his elders wisdom.
23 Then Israel came to Egypt;
Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.
24 And the Lord made his people very fruitful
and made them stronger than their foes.
25 He turned their hearts to hate his people,
to deal craftily with his servants.
26 He sent Moses, his servant,
and Aaron, whom he had chosen.
27 They performed his signs among them
and miracles in the land of Ham.
28 He sent darkness, and made the land dark;
they did not rebel3 against his words.
29 He turned their waters into blood
and caused their fish to die.
30 Their land swarmed with frogs,
even in the chambers of their kings.
31 He spoke, and there came swarms of flies,
and gnats throughout their country.
32 He gave them hail for rain,
and fiery lightning bolts through their land.
33 He struck down their vines and fig trees,
and shattered the trees of their country.
34 He spoke, and the locusts came,
young locusts without number,
35 which devoured all the vegetation in their land
and ate up the fruit of their ground.
36 He struck down all the firstborn in their land,
the firstfruits of all their strength.
37 Then he brought out Israel with silver and gold,
and there was none among his tribes who stumbled.
38 Egypt was glad when they departed,
for dread of them had fallen upon it.
39 He spread a cloud for a covering,
and fire to give light by night.
40 They asked, and he brought quail,
and gave them bread from heaven in abundance.
41 He opened the rock, and water gushed out;
it flowed through the desert like a river.
42 For he remembered his holy promise,
and Abraham, his servant.
43 So he brought his people out with joy,
his chosen ones with singing.
44 And he gave them the lands of the nations,
and they took possession of the fruit of the peoples’ toil,
45 that they might keep his statutes
and observe his laws.
Praise the Lord!
Section Overview
Psalm 105 serves as a hymn celebrating God’s faithful dealings with his people, particularly reflecting on episodes from the Pentateuch in which the people interacted with powerful foreigners who might have harmed them: Abimelech (Genesis 20), Potiphar (Genesis 39), and Pharaoh (Exodus; esp. chs. 7–14). The tone of Psalm 105 is one of gratitude (vv. 1–6); as a result, each member of the singing congregation should recognize that he is an heir and beneficiary of all these great deeds that God has done, so that each one would embrace his calling to live as a member of God’s holy people (vv. 43–45). This is the only psalm to recall explicitly the promises to the patriarchs.
Psalm 105 is a “historical psalm,” like Psalms 78; 106. Psalm 106 takes up events that follow those of Psalm 105, stressing God’s patience with his people when they disbelieved and rebelled against him. The theme of the people’s disbelief is absent from Psalm 105.
Verses 28–36 recount eight of the ten plagues sent upon the Egyptians, leaving out the fifth and sixth (Ex. 9:1–12). The psalm mentions the ninth plague first (Ps. 105:28) and has the third and fourth in reverse order (v. 31). There is no doubt that the psalm depends on Exodus; the difference between the two tellings is due to the different purposes behind them. As with Psalm 78 (cf. comment on 78:40–55), Exodus gives the fuller narrative, whereas Psalm 105 focuses on features that display God’s disposition toward his people.
Verses 1–15 also appear in 1 Chronicles 16:8–22, followed by a version of Psalm 96, forming the song for moving the ark to Jerusalem.
The flow of the psalm is discernible from its subject matter, which follows largely the narrative order of Genesis and Exodus.
Section Outline
I. Call to Give Thanks to the Lord (105:1–6)
II. The Lord Makes and Keeps His Covenant (105:7–11)
III. He Watched Over His People While They Wandered in Canaan (105:12–15)
IV. He Brought Israel to Egypt to Sojourn (105:16–23)
V. He Brought Them out of Egypt by the Hand of Moses (105:24–38)
VI. He Cared For His People in the Desert (105:39–41)
VII. He Gave Them Canaan as He Had Promised (105:42–45)
The last clause of verse 45 (“Praise the Lord”) is the familiar hallelu-yah, the same as the final words of 104:35. As discussed in the comment on 104:31–35, in the LXX the words that end 104:35 in the Hebrew texts are placed at the beginning of 105:1, giving an envelope for the psalm; this would provide a pattern in each of Psalms 103–106.
Response
The psalm writer has chosen the events about which to have the people sing, with specific goals in mind—namely, to enable the people of Israel to renew their thankfulness and trust toward their generous God, their commitment to the purpose for which they exist, and their praise to the Maker and Redeemer. Hence the closing exhortation of the psalm, “Praise the Lord!” (hallelujah), reinforces that point. Psalm 106 (which begins and ends with the same words!) will take up some of the sorrier episodes (cf. Psalm 78).
When Christians sing this psalm, they can revisit their place as Abraham’s children (Rom. 4:12) and thus as heirs of God’s loving care for his ancient people. God brought this people into their land in order that through them the rest of the earth’s “peoples” (Ps. 105:1) might learn to love and serve the true God, especially by the way his people kept his statutes and obeyed his laws (v. 45). God continues with that purpose, testifying to the world through the corporate life of his church.Psalm 105
Psalm 106