Psalm 106: Translation and Notes

Psalm 106
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1 Praise ye Jah (Hallelujah). Give thanks unto Jehovah, for [he is] good, for his mercy [is] for ever.
2 Who shall tell the powers of Jehovah—shall utter all his praise?
3 Blessed they that keep judgment, he that doeth righteousness at every time.
4 Remember me, O Jehovah, in the favor of thy people, visit me with (in) thy salvation,
5 To look on (in) the good of thy chosen ones, to rejoice in the joy of thy nation, to glory with thine inheritance.
6 We have sinned with our fathers, we have been perverse, we have done wickedly.
7 Our fathers in Egypt understood not thy wonders; they remembered not the multitude of thy mercies, but rebelled at the sea, at the Red Sea.
8 Yet he saved them for his name’s sake, to make known his power.
9 And he rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up; and he made them walk through the depths as the wilderness.
10 And he saved them from the hater’s hand, and redeemed them from the enemy’s hand.
11 And waters covered their adversaries; not one of them was left.
12 Then (and) believed they his words, they sang his praise.
13 They halted, they forgot his works, they waited not for his counsel;
14 And lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God (El) in the desert.
15 And he gave them their request, and sent leanness into their soul.
16 And they were envious of Moses in the camp, of Aaron, saint of Jehovah.
17 Earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered Abiram’s company.
18 And a fire burned in their company, a flame consumed wicked ones.
19 They made a calf in Horeb and bowed down to a molten image;
20 And changed their glory for the likeness of an ox eating grass.
21 They forgot God (El) their Saviour that did great things in Egypt, wondrous works in Ham’s land, terrible things at the Red Sea.
22 And he said he would destroy them, had not Moses stood in the breach before him, to turn away his wrath from destroying.
23 And they despised the pleasant land, they believed not his word;
24 But they murmured in their tents; they did not hearken to Jehovah’s voice.
25 And he lifted up his hand to them, to make them fall in the wilderness,
26 And to make their seed fall among the nations, and to scatter them in the lands.
27 And they joined themselves to Baal-Peor and ate sacrifices of dead (beings).
28 And they provoked him by their actions, and the plague broke out among them.
29 Then stood up Phinehas and executed judgment, and the plague was stayed.
30 And it was reckoned to him for righteousness to generation and generation for evermore.
31 And they angered him at the waters of Meribah, and it went ill with Moses on their account,
32 For they provoked his spirit, and he spoke unadvisedly with his lips.
33 They destroyed not the peoples as (about which) Jehovah said to them;
34 But they mingled with the nations and learned their doings.
35 And they served their idols, which became a snare unto them.
36 And they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons;
37 And shed innocent blood—blood of their sons and their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood.
38 And they were defiled in their doings, and went a whoring in their actions.
39 And Jehovah’s anger was kindled at his people, and he abhorred his inheritance.
40 And he gave them into nations’ hand, and over them ruled their haters.
41 And their enemies oppressed them, and they were bowed down under their hand.
42 Many times he delivereth them, and they rebel in their counsel and were brought low by their iniquity.
43 But he regarded them in the distress when he heard them cry.
44 And he remembered for them his covenant, and repented according to the multitude of his mercies;
45 And he gave them compassion before all that took them captives.
46 Save us, Jehovah our God, and gather us from among the nations to give thanks unto thy holy name, to glory in thy praise.
47 Blessed [be] Jehovah God of Israel from the everlasting and unto the everlasting! And let all the people say, Amen, Hallelujah (Praise ye Jah).
Notes on Psalm 106
“Praise ye Jah.” “Blessed [be] Jehovah God of Israel from the everlasting and into the everlasting! And let all the people say, Amen Hallelujah (Praise ye Jah).” This confesses the evil works of Israel in ungrateful forgetfulness, rebellion, and idolatry. Yet Jehovah’s ear is open to their repentant cry, as His hand to deliver; hence their prayer to “Jehovah our God,” “Save us,” and “gather us from among the Gentiles” to give thanks to His holy name and to triumph in His praise, as will surely be at the end of this age.
In Psalm 105 only divine goodness appears to Israel, and His judgments on their enemies, ending in Hallelujah. In Psalm 106, which begins and ends with Hallelujah, we have only Israel’s evil ways confessed but divine mercy on their cry; as the ground for salvation and deliverance from among the Gentiles to triumph in Jehovah’s praise. Psalm 103 had the last title.