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Wisdom & Poetry · Old Testament

Psalms 106

Psalm 106: we have sinned with our fathers, from the Red sea to Baal-peor and the heathen's hand

General context

The psalm opens with Praise ye the Lord and thanks for mercy that endures for ever and asks who can utter his mighty acts. The speaker asks to be remembered with the favour God bears his people. Then the confession: We have sinned with our fathers. The fathers did not understand God's wonders in Egypt and provoked him at the Red sea, yet he saved them for his name's sake, dried the sea, led them through and drowned their enemies; they believed and sang, then soon forgot. They lusted in the wilderness and he gave their request but sent leanness into their soul. They envied Moses and Aaron; the earth swallowed Dathan and covered Abiram, and fire burned the wicked. They made a calf in Horeb, forgetting God their saviour, and he would have destroyed them had not Moses stood in the breach. They despised the pleasant land and murmured in their tents, so he lifted up his hand to overthrow them in the wilderness and scatter their seed. They joined themselves to Baal-peor; a plague broke in until Phinehas executed judgment. They angered him at the waters of strife so that it went ill with Moses. They did not destroy the nations but mingled with the heathen, served idols, sacrificed their sons and daughters to devils and polluted the land with blood. The Lord gave them into the hand of the heathen, who oppressed them. Many times he delivered them, and when he heard their cry he remembered his covenant and repented, and made them pitied by their captors. The psalm ends with a plea, Save us and gather us from among the heathen, then a blessing, Amen and Praise ye the Lord.

Cited passages: Psalms 106:1, Psalms 106:2, Psalms 106:4, Psalms 106:6, Psalms 106:7, Psalms 106:8, Psalms 106:9, Psalms 106:11, Psalms 106:12, Psalms 106:13, Psalms 106:15, Psalms 106:16, Psalms 106:17, Psalms 106:19, Psalms 106:20, Psalms 106:23, Psalms 106:24, Psalms 106:26, Psalms 106:28, Psalms 106:30, Psalms 106:32, Psalms 106:33, Psalms 106:35, Psalms 106:37, Psalms 106:38, Psalms 106:41, Psalms 106:43, Psalms 106:45, Psalms 106:46, Psalms 106:47, Psalms 106:48

Psalms 106 (KJV)

1Praise ye the Lord. O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

2Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord? who can shew forth all his praise?

3Blessed are they that keep judgment, and he that doeth righteousness at all times.

4Remember me, O Lord, with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people: O visit me with thy salvation;

5That I may see the good of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that I may glory with thine inheritance.

6We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.

7Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt; they remembered not the multitude of thy mercies; but provoked him at the sea, even at the Red sea.

8Nevertheless he saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known.

9He rebuked the Red sea also, and it was dried up: so he led them through the depths, as through the wilderness.

10And he saved them from the hand of him that hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.

11And the waters covered their enemies: there was not one of them left.

12Then believed they his words; they sang his praise.

13They soon forgat his works; they waited not for his counsel:

14But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert.

15And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul.

16They envied Moses also in the camp, and Aaron the saint of the Lord.

17The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the company of Abiram.

18And a fire was kindled in their company; the flame burned up the wicked.

19They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image.

20Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass.

21They forgat God their saviour, which had done great things in Egypt;

22Wondrous works in the land of Ham, and terrible things by the Red sea.

23Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them.

24Yea, they despised the pleasant land, they believed not his word:

25But murmured in their tents, and hearkened not unto the voice of the Lord.

26Therefore he lifted up his hand against them, to overthrow them in the wilderness:

27To overthrow their seed also among the nations, and to scatter them in the lands.

28They joined themselves also unto Baal-peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead.

29Thus they provoked him to anger with their inventions: and the plague brake in upon them.

30Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment: and so the plague was stayed.

31And that was counted unto him for righteousness unto all generations for evermore.

32They angered him also at the waters of strife, so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes:

33Because they provoked his spirit, so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips.

34They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the Lord commanded them:

35But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works.

36And they served their idols: which were a snare unto them.

37Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils,

38And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood.

39Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a whoring with their own inventions.

40Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against his people, insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance.

41And he gave them into the hand of the heathen; and they that hated them ruled over them.

42Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under their hand.

43Many times did he deliver them; but they provoked him with their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity.

44Nevertheless he regarded their affliction, when he heard their cry:

45And he remembered for them his covenant, and repented according to the multitude of his mercies.

46He made them also to be pitied of all those that carried them captives.

47Save 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.

48Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting: and let all the people say, Amen. Praise ye the Lord.

This page shows the King James Version. In the app, reading opens in the Berean Standard Bible unless you have chosen another translation. The reader includes five translations: the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), the King James Version (KJV), the World English Bible (WEB), the Bible in Basic English (BBE), and the American Standard Version (ASV). Search covers three of them: Berean Standard, King James, and World English. Basic English and American Standard readers search the King James words.

Historical context

This source prints no superscription; the psalm begins and ends with Praise ye the Lord. The speaker uses me and I in verses 4 and 5 and we and our from verse 6, and the confession joins the present speakers to the fathers. Named people are Moses, Aaron, Dathan, Abiram and Phinehas; named places are Egypt, the Red sea, the land of Ham, the wilderness and desert, Horeb, Baal-peor, the waters of strife and Canaan. The psalm names these events in its own order: the Red sea, lusting in the wilderness, envy of Moses and Aaron with the earth opening, the calf in Horeb, despising the land and murmuring, Baal-peor and the plague, the waters of strife, and then mingling with the heathen, idols and child sacrifice in the land. It does not narrate details beyond what is quoted, and it does not say when the speakers live, only that they ask to be gathered from among the heathen after speaking of those that carried them captives. Verse 33 says Moses spoke unadvisedly because they provoked his spirit; the psalm lays the cause on the people. The nations the people failed to destroy are described as ones concerning whom the Lord commanded them, and the sacrifice of sons and daughters is stated plainly as innocent blood. There is no Selah; the closing Amen and Praise ye the Lord stand in verse 48.

Cited passages: Psalms 106:4, Psalms 106:6, Psalms 106:7, Psalms 106:22, Psalms 106:14, Psalms 106:31, Psalms 106:33, Psalms 106:34, Psalms 106:38, Psalms 106:47, Psalms 106:48

Literary context

The psalm alternates the people's act with God's response in a pattern that repeats: they provoked, forgat, lusted, envied, made, despised, murmured, joined, angered, mingled, served, sacrificed; and he saved, gave, would have destroyed, lifted up his hand, delivered, remembered, repented. Nevertheless in verse 8 and again in verse 44 marks the two places where God's mercy overrides the pattern, and both times the reason given is on God's side, his name's sake and their cry. Two men stand between the people and destruction, Moses in the breach and Phinehas executing judgment, and Moses appears again suffering for their sakes at the waters of strife. The opening verses ask who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord, and the body of the psalm answers by uttering the people's failures instead. The final petition, save us and gather us, is the first request since verse 5, and the doxology that follows it is written as if the whole assembly answers Amen.

Cited passages: Psalms 106:7, Psalms 106:8, Psalms 106:44, Psalms 106:23, Psalms 106:30, Psalms 106:32, Psalms 106:2, Psalms 106:5, Psalms 106:47

Key moments

  1. We have sinned with our fathers (Psalms 106:6). The present speakers confess alongside the generations before them.
  2. The Red sea rebuked (Psalms 106:9). God dries up the sea and leads the people through the depths.
  3. Dathan and Abiram (Psalms 106:17). The earth opens and swallows those who envied Moses and Aaron.
  4. The calf in Horeb (Psalms 106:19). The people worship a molten image and exchange their glory for an ox.
  5. Moses in the breach (Psalms 106:23). Moses stands before God to turn away the wrath that would destroy them.
  6. Phinehas stays the plague (Psalms 106:30). Phinehas executes judgment after Baal-peor and the plague stops.
  7. Gather us from the heathen (Psalms 106:47). The psalm ends with a plea for rescue and gathering, then Amen.

For reflection

The speakers say we have sinned with our fathers, joining themselves to failures they did not commit. What does it do to a plea for rescue to begin by owning a history rather than pleading distance from it?

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