Psalms 107:33-34

107:33 He turned ¹  streams into a desert,

springs of water into arid land,

107:34 and a fruitful land into a barren place, ² 

because of the sin of its inhabitants.

[107:33]  ¹ tn The verbal form appears to be a preterite, which is most naturally taken as narrational. (The use of prefixed forms with vav [ו] consecutive in vv. 36-37 favor this.) The psalmist may return to the theme of God’s intervention for the exiles (see vv. 4-22, especially vv. 4-9). However, many regard vv. 33-41 as a hymnic description which generalizes about God’s activities among men. In this case it would be preferable to use the English present tense throughout (cf. NEB, NRSV).

[107:34]  ² tn Heb “a salty land.”