Text -- Psalms 106:18-48 (NET)

106:18 Fire burned their group; the flames scorched the wicked. 106:19 They made an image of a calf at Horeb, and worshiped a metal idol. 106:20 They traded their majestic God for the image of an ox that eats grass. 106:21 They rejected the God who delivered them, the one who performed great deeds in Egypt, 106:22 amazing feats in the land of Ham, mighty acts by the Red Sea. 106:23 He threatened to destroy them, but Moses, his chosen one, interceded with him and turned back his destructive anger. 106:24 They rejected the fruitful land; they did not believe his promise. 106:25 They grumbled in their tents; they did not obey the Lord. 106:26 So he made a solemn vow that he would make them die in the desert, 106:27 make their descendants die among the nations, and scatter them among foreign lands. 106:28 They worshiped Baal of Peor, and ate sacrifices offered to the dead. 106:29 They made the Lord angry by their actions, and a plague broke out among them. 106:30 Phinehas took a stand and intervened, and the plague subsided. 106:31 This brought him a reward, an eternal gift. 106:32 They made him angry by the waters of Meribah, and Moses suffered because of them, 106:33 for they aroused his temper, and he spoke rashly. 106:34 They did not destroy the nations, as the Lord had commanded them to do. 106:35 They mixed in with the nations and learned their ways. 106:36 They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them. 106:37 They sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons. 106:38 They shed innocent blood– the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan. The land was polluted by bloodshed. 106:39 They were defiled by their deeds, and unfaithful in their actions. 106:40 So the Lord was angry with his people and despised the people who belong to him. 106:41 He handed them over to the nations, and those who hated them ruled over them. 106:42 Their enemies oppressed them; they were subject to their authority. 106:43 Many times he delivered them, but they had a rebellious attitude, and degraded themselves by their sin. 106:44 Yet he took notice of their distress, when he heard their cry for help. 106:45 He remembered his covenant with them, and relented because of his great loyal love. 106:46 He caused all their conquerors to have pity on them. 106:47 Deliver us, O Lord, our God! Gather us from among the nations! Then we will give thanks to your holy name, and boast about your praiseworthy deeds. 106:48 The Lord God of Israel deserves praise, in the future and forevermore. Let all the people say, “We agree! Praise the Lord!”

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Psa 106:18

¹ sn Verses 16-18 describe the events of Num 16:1-40.

NET Notes: Psa 106:20

¹ tn Heb “their glory.” According to an ancient Hebrew scribal tradition, the text originally read “his glory” or “my glory.” In Jer 2:11 the Lord states that his people (Israel) exchanged “their glory” (a reference to the Lord) for worthless idols.

NET Notes: Psa 106:21

¹ tn Heb “forgot.”

NET Notes: Psa 106:22

¹ tn Or “awe-inspiring.”

NET Notes: Psa 106:23

¹ tn Heb “and he said.”

² tn Heb “if not,” that is, “[and would have] if [Moses] had not.”

³ tn Heb “stood in the gap before him.”

⁴ tn Heb “to turn back his anger from destroying.”

sn Verses 19-23 describe the events of Exod 32:1-35.

NET Notes: Psa 106:24

¹ tn Heb “a land of delight” (see also Jer 3:19; Zech 7:14).

² tn Heb “his word.”

NET Notes: Psa 106:25

¹ sn They grumbled in their tents. See Deut 1:27.

² tn Heb “did not listen to the voice of.”

NET Notes: Psa 106:26

¹ tn Heb “and he lifted his hand to [or “concerning”] them.” The idiom “to lift a hand” here refers to swearing an oath. One would sometimes solemnly lift one’s hand when making such a vow (see Ezek 20:5-6, 15).

² tn Heb “to cause them to fall.”

NET Notes: Psa 106:27

¹ tn Or “offspring”; Heb “seed.”

² tn Heb “and to cause their offspring to fall.” Some emend the verb to “scatter” to form tighter parallelism with the following line (cf. NRSV “disperse”).

³ tn Heb “among the lands.” The word “foreign” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

NET Notes: Psa 106:28

¹ tn Heb “joined themselves to.”

sn They worshiped Baal of Peor. See Num 25:3, 5. Baal of Peor was a local manifestation of the Canaanite deity Baal located at Peor.

² tn Here “the dead” may refer to deceased ancestors (see Deut 26:14). Another option is to understand the term as a derogatory reference to the various deities which the Israelites worshiped at Peor along with Baal (see Num 25:2 and L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 49).

NET Notes: Psa 106:29

¹ tn Heb “They made angry [him].” The pronominal suffix is omitted here, but does appear in a few medieval Hebrew mss. Perhaps it was accidentally left off, an original וַיַּכְעִיסוּהוּ (vayyakh’isuhu) being misread as וַיַּכְעִיסוּ (vayyakh’isu). In the translation the referent of the pronominal suffix (the Lord) has been specified for clarity to avoid confusion with Baal of Peor (mentioned in the previous verse).

NET Notes: Psa 106:30

¹ sn The intervention of Phinehas is recounted in Num 25:7-8.

NET Notes: Psa 106:31

¹ tn Heb “and it was reckoned to him for righteousness, to a generation and a generation forever.” The verb חָשַׁב (khashav, “to reckon”) is collocated with צְדָקָה (tsÿdaqah, “righteousness”) only in Ps 106:31 and Gen 15:6, where God rewards Abram’s faith with a land grant.

sn Brought him a reward. See Num 25:12-13.

NET Notes: Psa 106:32

¹ tn Heb “there was harm to Moses.”

NET Notes: Psa 106:33

¹ tn The Hebrew text vocalizes the form as הִמְרוּ (himru), a Hiphil from מָרָה (marah, “to behave rebelliously”), but the verb fits better with the object (“his spirit”) if it is revocalized as הֵמֵרוּ (hemeru), a Hiphil from מָרַר (marar, “to be bitter”). The Israelites “embittered” Moses’ “spirit” in the sense that they aroused his temper with their complaints.

² tn Heb “his spirit.”

³ tn The Hebrew text adds “with his lips,” but this has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

sn Verses 32-33 allude to the events of Num 20:1-13.

NET Notes: Psa 106:34

¹ tn That is, the nations of Canaan.

NET Notes: Psa 106:35

¹ tn Heb “their deeds.”

NET Notes: Psa 106:36

¹ tn Or “served.”

² sn Became a snare. See Exod 23:33; Judg 2:3.

NET Notes: Psa 106:37

¹ tn The Hebrew term שֵׁדִים (shedim, “demons”) occurs only here and in Deut 32:17. Some type of lesser deity is probably in view.

NET Notes: Psa 106:38

¹ sn Num 35:33-34 explains that bloodshed defiles a land.

NET Notes: Psa 106:39

¹ tn Heb “and they committed adultery in their actions.” This means that they were unfaithful to the Lord (see Ps 73:27).

NET Notes: Psa 106:40

¹ tn Heb “the anger of the Lord burned against his people.”

² tn Heb “his inheritance.”

NET Notes: Psa 106:41

¹ tn Heb “gave them into the hand of.”

NET Notes: Psa 106:42

¹ tn Heb “they were subdued under their hand.”

NET Notes: Psa 106:43

¹ tn The prefixed verbal form is either preterite or imperfect, in which case it is customary, describing repeated action in past time (“he would deliver”).

² tn Heb “but they rebelled in their counsel.” The prefixed verbal form is either preterite or imperfect, in which case it is customary, describing repeated action in past time (“they would have a rebellious attitude”).

³ tn Heb “they sank down.” The Hebrew verb מָכַךְ (makhakh, “to lower; to sink”) occurs only here in the Qal.

NET Notes: Psa 106:45

¹ tn The Niphal of נָחַם (nakham) refers here to God relenting from a punishment already underway.

NET Notes: Psa 106:46

¹ tn Or “captors.”

NET Notes: Psa 106:47

¹ tn Heb “to give thanks.” The infinitive construct indicates result after the imperative.

² tn Heb “to boast in your praise.”

NET Notes: Psa 106:48

¹ tn Heb “[be] blessed.” See Pss 18:46; 28:6; 31:21.

² tn Heb “from everlasting to everlasting.”

³ tn Heb “surely” (אָמֵן, ’amen), traditionally transliterated “amen.”

⁴ sn The final verse (v. 48) is a conclusion to this fourth “book” (or major editorial division) of the Psalter. Similar statements appear at or near the end of each of the first, second and third “books” of the Psalter (see Pss 41:13; 72:18-19; 89:52, respectively).