Psalm 105[a]
God’s Fidelity to the Promise
I
1 Give thanks to the Lord, invoke his name;(A)
make known among the peoples his deeds!(B)
2 Sing praise to him, play music;
proclaim all his wondrous deeds!
3 Glory in his holy name;
let hearts that seek the Lord rejoice!
4 Seek out the Lord and his might;
constantly seek his face.(C)
5 Recall the wondrous deeds he has done,
his wonders and words of judgment,
6 You descendants of Abraham his servant,
offspring of Jacob the chosen one!
II
7 He the Lord, is our God
whose judgments reach through all the earth.
8 He remembers forever his covenant,
the word he commanded for a thousand generations,
9 Which he made with Abraham,
and swore to Isaac,(D)
10 And ratified in a statute for Jacob,
an everlasting covenant for Israel:
11 “To you I give the land of Canaan,
your own allotted inheritance.”(E)
III
12 When they were few in number,(F)
a handful, and strangers there,
13 Wandering from nation to nation,
from one kingdom to another people,
14 He let no one oppress them;
for their sake he rebuked kings:[b]
15 [c]“Do not touch my anointed ones,
to my prophets do no harm.”
IV
16 Then he called down a famine on the land,
destroyed the grain that sustained them.[d](G)
17 He had sent a man ahead of them,
Joseph, sold as a slave.(H)
18 They shackled his feet with chains;
collared his neck in iron,(I)
19 Till his prediction came to pass,
and the word of the Lord proved him true.(J)
20 The king sent and released him;
the ruler of peoples set him free.(K)
21 He made him lord over his household,
ruler over all his possessions,(L)
22 To instruct his princes as he desired,
to teach his elders wisdom.
V
23 Then Israel entered Egypt;(M)
Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.[e]
24 God greatly increased his people,
made them more numerous than their foes.(N)
25 He turned their hearts to hate his people,
to treat his servants deceitfully.(O)
26 He sent his servant Moses,
and Aaron whom he had chosen.(P)
27 [f]They worked his signs in Egypt(Q)
and wonders in the land of Ham.
28 He sent darkness and it grew dark,
but they rebelled against his word.
29 He turned their waters into blood
and killed their fish.
30 Their land swarmed with frogs,
even the chambers of their kings.
31 He spoke and there came swarms of flies,
gnats through all their country.
32 For rain he gave them hail,
flashes of lightning throughout their land.
33 He struck down their vines and fig trees,
shattered the trees of their country.
34 He spoke and the locusts came,
grasshoppers without number.(R)
35 They devoured every plant in the land;
they devoured the crops of their fields.
36 He struck down every firstborn in the land,
the first fruits of all their vigor.
37 He brought his people out,
laden with silver and gold;(S)
no one among the tribes stumbled.
38 Egypt rejoiced when they left,
for fear had seized them.
VI
39 He spread a cloud out as a cover,
and made a fire to light up the night.(T)
40 They asked and he brought them quail;
with bread from heaven he filled them.(U)
41 He split the rock and water gushed forth;
it flowed through the desert like a river.(V)
42 For he remembered his sacred promise
to Abraham his servant.
43 He brought his people out with joy,
his chosen ones with shouts of triumph.
44 He gave them the lands of the nations,
they took possession of the wealth of the peoples,(W)
45 That they might keep his statutes
and observe his teachings.(X)
Hallelujah!
Footnotes
- Psalm 105 A hymn to God who promised the land of Canaan to the holy people, cf. Ps 78; 106; 136. Israel is invited to praise and seek the presence of God (Ps 105:1–6), who is faithful to the promise of land to the ancestors (Ps 105:7–11). In every phase of the national story—the ancestors in the land of Canaan (Ps 105:12–15), Joseph in Egypt (Ps 105:16–22), Israel in Egypt (Ps 105:23–38), Israel in the desert on the way to Canaan (Ps 105:39–45)—God remained faithful, reiterating the promise of the land to successive servants.
- 105:14 Kings: Pharaoh and Abimelech of Gerar, cf. Gn 12:17; 20:6–7.
- 105:15 My anointed ones…my prophets: the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who were “anointed” in the sense of being consecrated and recipients of God’s revelation.
- 105:16 The grain that sustained them: lit., every “staff of bread.”
- 105:23, 27 The land of Ham: a synonym for Egypt, cf. Gn 10:6.
- 105:27–38 This Psalm and Ps 78:43–51 have an account of the plagues differing in number or in order from Ex 7:14–12:30. Several versions of the exodus story were current.
Cross references
- 105:1–15 : 1 Chr 16:8–22.
- 105:1 : Ps 18:50; 96:3; 145:5; Is 12:4–5.
- 105:4 : Ps 24:6; 27:8.
- 105:9 : Gn 15:1ff; 26:3.
- 105:11 : Gn 12:7; 15:18.
- 105:12–13 : Dt 4:27; 26:5.
- 105:16 : Gn 41:54, 57.
- 105:17 : Gn 37:28, 36; 45:5.
- 105:18 : Gn 39:20.
- 105:19 : Gn 40–41.
- 105:20 : Gn 41:14.
- 105:21 : Gn 41:41–44.
- 105:23 : Gn 46:1–47:12; Acts 7:15.
- 105:24 : Ex 1:7; Acts 7:17.
- 105:25 : Ex 1:8–14.
- 105:26 : Ex 3:10; 4:27.
- 105:27–36 : Ps 78:43–51; Ex 7–12.
- 105:34 : Jl 1:4.
- 105:37 : Ex 12:33–36.
- 105:39 : Ps 78:14; Ex 13:21–22; Wis 18:3.
- 105:40 : Ps 78:24–28; Ex 16:13–15; Nm 11:31ff; Wis 16:20.
- 105:41 : Ps 78:15–16; Ex 17:1–7; Nm 20:11.
- 105:44 : Dt 4:37–40.
- 105:45 : Dt 6:20–25; 7:8–11.