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Psalm 105

God’s Faithfulness to Israel

O give thanks to the L ord, call on his name,

make known his deeds among the peoples.

Sing to him, sing praises to him;

tell of all his wonderful works.

Glory in his holy name;

let the hearts of those who seek the L ord rejoice.

Seek the L ord and his strength;

seek his presence continually.

Remember the wonderful works he has done,

his miracles, and the judgments he has uttered,

O offspring of his servant Abraham,

children of Jacob, his chosen ones.

He is the L ord our God;

his judgments are in all the earth.

He is mindful of his covenant forever,

of the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations,

the covenant that he made with Abraham,

his sworn promise to Isaac,

which he confirmed to Jacob as a statute,

to Israel as an everlasting covenant,

saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan

as your portion for an inheritance.”

When they were few in number,

of little account, and strangers in it,

wandering from nation to nation,

from one kingdom to another people,

he allowed no one to oppress them;

he rebuked kings on their account,

saying, “Do not touch my anointed ones;

do my prophets no harm.”

When he summoned famine against the land,

and broke every staff of bread,

he had sent a man ahead of them,

Joseph, who was sold as a slave.

His feet were hurt with fetters,

his neck was put in a collar of iron;

until what he had said came to pass,

the word of the L ord kept testing him.

The king sent and released him;

the ruler of the peoples set him free.

He made him lord of his house,

and ruler of all his possessions,

to instruct his officials at his pleasure,

and to teach his elders wisdom.

Then Israel came to Egypt;

Jacob lived as an alien in the land of Ham.

And the L ord made his people very fruitful,

and made them stronger than their foes,

whose hearts he then turned to hate his people,

to deal craftily with his servants.

He sent his servant Moses,

and Aaron whom he had chosen.

They performed his signs among them,

and miracles in the land of Ham.

He sent darkness, and made the land dark;

they rebelled against his words.

He turned their waters into blood,

and caused their fish to die.

Their land swarmed with frogs,

even in the chambers of their kings.

He spoke, and there came swarms of flies,

and gnats throughout their country.

He gave them hail for rain,

and lightning that flashed through their land.

He struck their vines and fig trees,

and shattered the trees of their country.

He spoke, and the locusts came,

and young locusts without number;

they devoured all the vegetation in their land,

and ate up the fruit of their ground.

He struck down all the firstborn in their land,

the first issue of all their strength.

Then he brought Israel out with silver and gold,

and there was no one among their tribes who stumbled.

Egypt was glad when they departed,

for dread of them had fallen upon it.

He spread a cloud for a covering,

and fire to give light by night.

They asked, and he brought quails,

and gave them food from heaven in abundance.

He opened the rock, and water gushed out;

it flowed through the desert like a river.

For he remembered his holy promise,

and Abraham, his servant.

So he brought his people out with joy,

his chosen ones with singing.

He gave them the lands of the nations,

and they took possession of the wealth of the peoples,

that they might keep his statutes

and observe his laws.

Praise the L ord!

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

42. For he remembered his holy promise The Psalmist again mentions the cause why God dealt so graciously with that people, and sustained them so tenderly, namely, that he might fulfill his promise; for he had entered into a covenant with Abraham, engaging to be the God of his seed. Nor did the prophets without cause teach so carefully as we find them doing, that the free covenant is the fountain whence the deliverance, and the continual welfare of the people flowed. Thereby the grace of God became better known, since what took place, so far from happening upon the sudden, and without anticipation, was only the fulfillment of what he had promised four hundred years before. God then, for ages previous to this, gave the light of his word of promise, that his grace and truth might be brought the more distinctly into view. For this reason the prophet again repeats, that God was not led from some new cause to deliver his people, but that his design in doing so was to prove the faithfulness of his covenant, and to give it effect; just as if a man should dig up from the ground a treasure which he had buried in it. Nor is it to be doubted, that the prophet aimed at leading the faith of his countrymen still farther, — that his object was that their posterity might be persuaded beyond all doubt, that as God had then proved, in the experience of that generation, the sure and substantial truth of his promise delivered many hundred years before, so he would not be to them otherwise than their fathers had found him to be in times past. Accordingly, he signalises this promise by the epithet, holy, intimating, that after the death of Abraham it retained its virtue and efficacy unimpaired. God had spoken it to Abraham; but the force of the covenant died not with him. God continued to show himself faithful towards the posterity of the patriarch.