Thanksgiving to Yahweh for His of Deliverance

¹ Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good, for his loyal love is forever.

² Let the redeemed of Yahweh declare¹ it, those whom he has redeemed from the hand of the enemy

1. Hebrew “say”

³ and gathered from the lands, from east and from west, from north and from south.¹

1. Hebrew “sea” (yam), which usually means “west” in a listing of directions. The word “south” is expected (Hebrew yamin). Either the MT was corrupted early (along with Isa 49:12; the LXX reads “sea” in both) or it looks to the bodies of waters to the south (see also the Targum)

⁴ They wandered in the wilderness, in a desert. They could find no way¹ to a city to inhabit.

1. The MT reads “way” with the previous line.

⁵ Hungry and thirsty, their soul grew faint within them.

⁶ Then they cried out to Yahweh in their trouble. He delivered them from their distresses

⁷ and led them by a straight way to get to a city to inhabit.

⁸ Let them give thanks to Yahweh for his loyal love, and his wonderful deeds for the children of humankind,

⁹ for he satisfies the longing soul,¹ and the hungry soul he fills with good.

1. Thirst is perhaps in view

¹⁰ Those who sat in darkness and gloom, prisoners of misery and iron—

¹¹ because they rebelled against the words of God and spurned the counsel of the Most High,

¹² he therefore humbled their heart with trouble. They stumbled and there was no helper.

¹³ Then they called to Yahweh for help in their trouble; he saved them from their distresses.

¹⁴ He brought them out of darkness and gloom, and tore off their bonds.

¹⁵ Let them give thanks to Yahweh for his loyal love and his wonderful deeds for the children of humankind,

¹⁶ for he shatters the doors of bronze, and cuts through the bars of iron.

¹⁷ Fools, because of their rebellious way and their iniquities, were afflicted.

¹⁸ Their soul abhorred all food, and they approached the gates of death.

¹⁹ Then they called to Yahweh for help in their trouble. He saved them from their distresses.

²⁰ He sent his word and healed them, and he delivered them from their pits.¹

1. This word is only found elsewhere in Lam 4:20 with the sense of “traps”

²¹ Let them give thanks to Yahweh for his loyal love, and his wonderful deeds for the children of humankind,

²² and let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, and tell of his works with rejoicing.

²³ Those who went down to the sea into ships, doing business on the ⌞high seas⌟,¹

1. Literally “many waters”

²⁴ they saw the works of Yahweh, and his wonderful deeds in the deep.

²⁵ For he spoke and raised up a stormy wind, and it whipped up its waves.

²⁶ They rose to the heavens; they plunged to the depths. Their soul melted in their calamity.

²⁷ They reeled and staggered like a drunkard, and ⌞they were at their wits’ end⌟.¹

1. Literally “all their wisdom was swallowed up”

²⁸ Then they cried out to Yahweh in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distresses.

²⁹ He made the storm be still and their waves became calm.

³⁰ Then they were glad because they grew silent, so he guided them to their desired harbor.

³¹ Let them give thanks to Yahweh for his loyal love and his wonderful deeds for the children of humankind,

³² and let them exalt him in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.

³³ He turns rivers into a wilderness and springs of water into thirsty ground,

³⁴ a fruitful land into a salty place, because of the evil of its inhabitants.

³⁵ He turns a wilderness into a pool of water and a dry land into springs of water.

³⁶ And he settles the hungry there, so that they may establish a city to inhabit,

³⁷ and sow fields and plant vineyards, ⌞that they may yield fruit at harvest⌟.¹

1. Hebrew “and make a fruit of produce”

³⁸ And he blesses them and they multiply greatly, and he does not let their cattle become few.

³⁹ When they become few and they are bent down from the oppression of calamity and grief,

⁴⁰ he pours contempt on princes and causes them to wander in a trackless waste.

⁴¹ But he protects¹ the needy from misery, and he makes their families like a flock.

1. The sense is that of making something inaccessibly high, like a fortress

⁴² The upright see it and are glad, and all wickedness shuts its mouth.

⁴³ Whoever is wise, then let him observe these things, and let them consider Yahweh’s acts of loyal love.