Net English TranslationPsalms 105 =

Psalm 1051

105
1 Give thanks to the Lord!
Call on his name!
Make known his accomplishments among the nations!
2 Sing to him!
Make music to him!
Tell about all his miraculous deeds!
3 Boast about his holy name!
Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!
4 Seek the Lord and the strength he gives!
Seek his presence continually!
5 Recall the miraculous deeds he performed,
his mighty acts and the judgments he decreed,2
6 O children3 of Abraham,4 God’s5 servant,
you descendants6 of Jacob, God’s7 chosen ones!
7 He is the Lord our God;
he carries out judgment throughout the earth.8
8 He always remembers his covenantal decree,
the promise he made9 to a thousand generations –
9 the promise10 he made to Abraham,
the promise he made by oath to Isaac!
10 He gave it to Jacob as a decree,
to Israel as a lasting promise,11
11 saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan
as the portion of your inheritance.”
12 When they were few in number,
just a very few, and resident aliens within it,
13 they wandered from nation to nation,
and from one kingdom to another.12
14 He let no one oppress them;
he disciplined kings for their sake,
15 saying,13 “Don’t touch my chosen14 ones!
Don’t harm my prophets!”
16 He called down a famine upon the earth;
he cut off all the food supply.15
17 He sent a man ahead of them16 –
Joseph was sold as a servant.
18 The shackles hurt his feet;17
his neck was placed in an iron collar,18
19 until the time when his prediction19 came true.
The Lord’s word20 proved him right.21
20 The king authorized his release;22
the ruler of nations set him free.
21 He put him in charge of his palace,23
and made him manager of all his property,
22 giving him authority to imprison his officials24
and to teach his advisers.25
23 Israel moved to26 Egypt;
Jacob lived for a time27 in the land of Ham.
24 The Lord28 made his people very fruitful,
and made them29 more numerous than their30 enemies.
25 He caused them31 to hate his people,
and to mistreat32 his servants.
26 He sent his servant Moses,
and Aaron, whom he had chosen.
27 They executed his miraculous signs among them,33
and his amazing deeds in the land of Ham.
28 He made it dark;34
they did not disobey his orders.35
29 He turned their water into blood,
and killed their fish.
30 Their land was overrun by frogs,
which even got into the rooms of their kings.
31 He ordered flies to come;36
gnats invaded their whole territory.
32 He sent hail along with the rain;37
there was lightning in their land.38
33 He destroyed their vines and fig trees,
and broke the trees throughout their territory.
34 He ordered locusts to come,39
innumerable grasshoppers.
35 They ate all the vegetation in their land,
and devoured the crops of their fields.40
36 He struck down all the firstborn in their land,
the firstfruits of their reproductive power.41
37 He brought his people42 out enriched43 with silver and gold;
none of his tribes stumbled.
38 Egypt was happy when they left,
for they were afraid of them.44
39 He spread out a cloud for a cover,45
and provided a fire to light up the night.
40 They asked for food,46 and he sent quails;
he satisfied them with food from the sky.47
41 He opened up a rock and water flowed out;
a river ran through dry regions.
42 Yes,48 he remembered the sacred promise49
he made to Abraham his servant.
43 When he led his people out, they rejoiced;
his chosen ones shouted with joy.50
44 He handed the territory of nations over to them,
and they took possession of what other peoples had produced,51
45 so that they might keep his commands
and obey52 his laws.
Praise the Lord!
1sn Psalm 105. The psalmist summons Israel to praise God because he delivered his people from Egypt in fulfillment of his covenantal promises to Abraham. A parallel version of vv. 1-15 appears in 1 Chr 16:8-22. 2tn Heb “and the judgments of his mouth.” 3tn Or “offspring”; Heb “seed.” 4tc Some mss have “Israel,” which appears in the parallel version of this psalm in 1 Chr 16:13. 5tn Heb “his”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity. 6tn Heb “sons.” 7tn Heb “his”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity. 8tn Heb “in all the earth [are] his judgments.” 9tn Heb “[the] word he commanded.” The text refers here to God’s unconditional covenantal promise to Abraham and the patriarchs, as vv. 10-12 make clear. 10tn Heb “which.” 11tn Or “eternal covenant.” 12tn Heb “and from a kingdom to another nation.” 13tn The word “saying” is supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons. 14tn Heb “anointed.” 15tn Heb “and every staff of food he broke.” The psalmist refers to the famine that occurred in Joseph’s time (see v. 17 and Gen 41:53-57). 16tn After the reference to the famine in v. 16, v. 17 flashes back to events that preceded the famine (see Gen 37). 17tn Heb “they afflicted his feet with shackles.” 18tn Heb “his neck came [into] iron.” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) with the suffix could mean simply “he” or “his life.” But the nuance “neck” makes good sense here (note the reference to his “feet” in the preceding line). See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 38. 19tn Heb “word,” probably referring to Joseph’s prediction about the fate of Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker (see Gen 41:9-14). 20tn This line may refer to Joseph’s prediction of the famine in response to Pharaoh’s dream. Joseph emphasized to Pharaoh that the interpretation of the dream came from God (see Gen 41:16, 25, 28, 32, 39). 21tn Heb “refined him.” 22tn Heb “[the] king sent and set him free.” 23tn Heb “he made him master of his house.” 24tn Heb “to bind his officials by his will.” 25tn Heb “and his elders he taught wisdom.” 26tn Heb “entered.” 27tn Heb “lived as a resident alien.” 28tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity. 29tn Heb “him,” referring to “his people.” 30tn Heb “his,” referring to “his people.” 31tn Heb “their heart.” 32tn Or “to deal deceptively.” The Hitpael of נָכַל (nakhal) occurs only here and in Gen 37:18, where it is used of Joseph’s brothers “plotting” to kill him. 33tn Apparently the pronoun refers to “his servants” (i.e., the Israelites, see v. 25). 34tn Heb “he sent darkness and made it dark.”sn He made it dark. The psalmist begins with the ninth plague (see Exod 10:21-29). 35tn Heb “they did not rebel against his words.” Apparently this refers to Moses and Aaron, who obediently carried out God’s orders. 36tn Heb “he spoke and flies came.” 37tn Heb “he gave their rains hail.” 38tn Heb “fire of flames [was] in their land.” 39tn Heb “he spoke and locusts came.” 40tn Heb “the fruit of their ground.” 41tn Heb “the beginning of all their strength,” that is, reproductive power (see Ps 78:51).sn Verses 28-36 recall the plagues in a different order than the one presented in Exodus: v. 28 (plague 9), v. 29 (plague 1), v. 30 (plague 2), v. 31a (plague 4), v. 31b (plague 3), vv. 32-33 (plague 7), vv. 34-35 (plague 8), v. 36 (plague 10). No reference is made in Ps 105 to plagues 5 and 6. 42tn Heb “them”; the referent (the Lord’s people) has been supplied in the translation for clarity. 43tn The word “enriched” is supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons. 44tn Heb “for fear of them had fallen upon them.” 45tn Or “curtain.” 46tn Heb “he [i.e., his people] asked.” The singular form should probably be emended to a plural שָׁאֲלוּ (sha’alu, “they asked”), the vav (ו) having fallen off by haplography (note the vav at the beginning of the following form). 47tn Or “bread of heaven.” The reference is to manna (see Exod 16:4, 13-15). 48tn Or “for.” 49tn Heb “his holy word.” 50tn Heb “and he led his people out with joy, with a ringing cry, his chosen ones.” 51tn Heb “and the [product of the] work of peoples they possessed.” 52tn Heb “guard.”
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