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Commentary on Psalms 106 verses 34–48
Here, I. The narrative concludes with an account of Israel's conduct in Canaan, which was of a piece with that in the wilderness, and God's dealings with them, wherein, as all along, both justice and mercy appeared.
1.They were very provoking to God. The miracles and mercies which settled them in Canaan made no more deep and durable impressions upon them than those which fetched them out of Egypt; for by the time they were just settled in Canaan they corrupted themselves, and forsook God. Observe,
(1.)The steps of their apostasy. [1.] They spared the nations which God had doomed to destruction (Psa 106:34); when they had got the good land God had promised them they had no zeal against the wicked inhabitants whom the Lord commanded them to extirpate, pretending pity; but so merciful is God that no man needs to be in any case more compassionate than he. [2.] When they spared them they promised themselves that, notwithstanding this, they would not join in any dangerous affinity with them. But the way of sin is down-hill; omissions make way for commissions; when they neglect to destroy the heathen the next news we hear is, They were mingled among the heathen, made leagues with them and contracted an intimacy with them, so that they learned their works, Psa 106:35. That which is rotten will sooner corrupt that which is sound than be cured or made sound by it. [3.] When they mingled with them, and learned some of their works that seemed innocent diversions and entertainments, yet they thought they would never join with them in their worship; but by degrees they learned that too (Psa 106:36): They served their idols in the same manner, and with the same rites, that they served them; and they became a snare to them. That sin drew on many more, and brought the judgments of God upon them, which they themselves could not but be sensible of and yet knew not how to recover themselves. [4.] When they joined with them in some of their idolatrous services, which they thought had least harm in them, they little thought that ever they should be guilty of that barbarous and inhuman piece of idolatry the sacrificing of their living children to their dead gods; but they came to that at last (Psa 106:37, Psa 106:38), in which Satan triumphed over his worshippers, and regaled himself in blood and slaughter: They sacrificed their sons and daughters, pieces of themselves, to devils, and added murder, the most unnatural murder, to their idolatry; one cannot think of it without horror. They shed innocent blood, the most innocent, for it was infant-blood, nay, it was the blood of their sons and their daughters. See the power of the spirit that works in the children of disobedience, and see his malice. The beginning of idolatry and superstition, like that of strife, is as the letting forth of water, and there is no villany which those that venture upon it can be sure they shall stop short of, for God justly gives them up to a reprobate mind, Rom 1:28.
(2.)Their sin was, in part, their own punishment; for by it, [1.] They wronged their country: The land was polluted with blood, Psa 106:38. That pleasant land, that holy land, was rendered uncomfortable to themselves, and unfit to receive those kind tokens of God's favour and presence in it which were designed to be its honour. [2.] They wronged their consciences (Psa 106:39): They went a whoring with their own inventions, and so debauched their own minds, and were defiled with their own works, and rendered odious in the eyes of the holy God, and perhaps of their own consciences.
2.God brought his judgments upon them; and what else could be expected? For his name is Jealous, and he is a jealous God. (1.) He fell out with them for it, Psa 106:40. He was angry with them: The wrath of God, that consuming fire, was kindled against his people; for from them he took it as more insulting and ungrateful than from the heathen that never knew him. Nay, he was sick of them: He abhorred his own inheritance, which once he had taken pleasure in; yet the change was not in him, but in them. This is the worst thing in sin, that it makes us loathsome to God; and the nearer any are to God in profession the more loathsome are they if they rebel against him, like a dunghill at our door. (2.) Their enemies then fell upon them, and, their defence having departed, made an easy prey of them (Psa 106:41, Psa 106:42): He gave them into the hands of the heathen. Observe here how the punishment answered to the sin: They mingled with the heathen and learned their works; from them they willingly took the infection of sin, and therefore God justly made use of them as the instruments of their correction. Sinners often see themselves ruined by those by whom they have suffered themselves to be debauched. Satan, who is a tempter, will be a tormentor. The heathen hated them. Apostates lose all the love on God's side, and get none on Satan's; and when those that hated them ruled over them, and they were brought into subjection under them, no marvel that they oppressed them and ruled them with rigour; and thus God made them know the difference between his service and the service of the kings of the countries, Ch2 12:8. (3.) When God granted them some relief, yet they went on in their sins, and their troubles also were continued, Psa 106:43. This refers to the days of the Judges, when God often raised up deliverers and wrought deliverances for them, and yet they relapsed to idolatry and provoked God with their counsel, their idolatrous inventions, to deliver them up to some other oppressor, so that at last they were brought very low for their iniquity. Those that by sin disparage themselves, and will not by repentance humble themselves, are justly debased, and humbled, and brought low, by the judgments of God. (4.) At length they cried unto God, and God returned in favour to them, Psa 106:44-46. They were chastened for their sins, but not destroyed, cast down, but not cast off. God appeared for them, [1.] As a God of mercy, who looked upon their grievances, regarded their affliction, beheld when distress was upon them (so some), who looked over their complaints, for he heard their cry with tender compassion (Exo 3:7) and overlooked their provocations; for though he had said, and had reason to say it, that he would destroy them, yet he repented, according to the multitude of his mercies, and reversed the sentence. Though he is not a man that he should repent, so as to change his mind, yet he is a gracious God, who pities us, and changes his way. [2.] As a God of truth, who remembered for them his covenant, and made good every word that he had spoken; and therefore, bad as they were, he would not break with them, because he would not break his own promise. [3.] As a God of power, who has all hearts in his hand, and turns them which way soever he pleases. He made them to be pitied even of those that carried them captives, and hated them, and ruled them with rigour. He not only restrained the remainder of their enemies' wrath, that it should not utterly consume them, but he infused compassion even into their stony hearts, and made them relent, which was more than any art of man could have done with the utmost force of rhetoric. Note, God can change lions into lambs, and, when a man's ways please the Lord, will make even his enemies to pity him and be at peace with him. When God pities men shall. Tranquillus Deus tranquillat omnia - A God at peace with us makes every thing at peace.
II. The psalm concludes with prayer and praise. 1. Prayer for the completing of his people's deliverance. Even when the Lord brought back the captivity of his people still there was occasion to pray, Lord, turn again our captivity (Psa 126:1, Psa 126:4); so here (Psa 106:47), Save us, O Lord our God! and gather us from among the heathen. We may suppose that many who were forced into foreign countries, in the times of the Judges (as Naomi was, Rut 1:1), had not returned in the beginning of David's reign, Saul's time being discouraging, and therefore it was seasonable to pray, Lord, gather the dispersed Israelites from among the heathen, to give thanks to thy holy name, not only that they may have cause to give thanks and hearts to give thanks, that they may have opportunity to do it in the courts of the Lord's house, from which they were now banished, and so may triumph in thy praise, over those that had in scorn challenged them to sing the Lord's song in a strange land. 2. Praise for the beginning and progress of it (Psa 106:48): Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting. He is a blessed God from eternity, and will be so to eternity, and so let him be praised by all his worshippers. Let the priests say this, and then let all the people say, Amen, Hallelujah, in token of their cheerful concurrence in all these prayers, praises, and confessions. According to this rubric, or directory, we find that when this psalm (or at least the closing verses of it) was sung all the people said Amen, and praised the Lord by saying, Hallelujah. By these two comprehensive words it is very proper, in religious assemblies, to testify their joining with their ministers in the prayers and praises which, as their mouth, they offer up to God, according to his will, saying Amen to the prayers and Hallelujah to the praises.
"Yea, they offered their sons and their daughters unto devils" [Psalm 106:37]; "and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they offered unto the idols of Canaan" [Psalm 106:38]. That history does not relate that they offered their sons and daughters to devils and idols; but neither can that Psalm lie, nor the Prophets, who assert this in many passages of their rebukes. But the literature of the Gentiles is not silent respecting this custom of theirs. But what is it that follows? "And the land was slain with bloods." We might suppose that this was a mistake of the writer, and that he had written interfecta for infecta, were it not for the goodness of God, who has willed His Scriptures to be written in many languages; were it not that we see it written as in the text in many Greek copies which we have inspected; "the land was slain with bloods." What means then, "the land was slain," unless this be referred to the men who dwelt in the land, by a metaphorical expression....For they themselves were slaying their own souls when they offered up their sons, and when they shed the blood of infants who were far from consent to this crime: whence it is said, "They shed innocent blood." "The land" therefore "was slain with bloods, and defiled by their works" [Psalm 106:39], since they themselves were slain in soul, and defiled by their works; "and they went a whoring after their own inventions." By inventions are meant what the Greeks call ἐ πιτηδεύματα: for this word does occur in the Greek copies both in this and a former passage, where it is said, "They provoked Him to anger with their own inventions;" "inventions" in both instances signifying what they had initiated others in. Let no man therefore suppose inventions to mean what they had of themselves instituted, without any example before them to imitate. Whence other translators in the Latin tongue have preferred pursuits, affections, imitations, pleasures, to inventions: and the very same who here write inventions, have elsewhere written pursuits. I chose to mention this, lest the word inventions, applied to what they had not invented, but imitated from others, might raise a difficulty.
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SUMMARY
Psalms 106:37 starkly recounts a horrifying low point in Israel's history of apostasy, revealing that "they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils." This verse exposes the profound depth of Israel's spiritual decline, where, in direct defiance of God's explicit commands, they adopted the abominable practices of the pagan nations around them, culminating in the ultimate act of moral depravity: offering their own children as burnt offerings to malevolent spiritual entities behind the false gods. It serves as a chilling testament to the severe consequences of abandoning the one true God for idolatry and embracing the darkest forms of pagan worship.
CONTEXT
Literary Context: Psalm 106 is a historical psalm, functioning as a national confession of sin that meticulously chronicles Israel's persistent rebellion against God from the Exodus through their settlement in Canaan and subsequent exile. It serves as both a lament and a fervent prayer for restoration, consistently contrasting God's enduring faithfulness and covenant love with Israel's repeated unfaithfulness and spiritual amnesia. Verse 37 is situated within a section (verses 34-39) that details Israel's catastrophic failure to obey God's explicit command to utterly drive out the Canaanite inhabitants upon entering the Promised Land. Instead, the psalmist laments that "they mingled with the heathen, and learned their works" Psalms 106:35, leading directly to the adoption of their idolatrous and morally repugnant practices. Child sacrifice is presented as the zenith of their defilement before God, a direct consequence of their unholy assimilation. The preceding verses lament their failure to destroy the pagan altars, while the subsequent verses describe the defilement of the land by their actions and the consequent divine judgment.
Historical & Cultural Context: The practice of child sacrifice, particularly to deities like Molech, was a horrific and widespread aspect of ancient Canaanite religion, prevalent among nations such as the Ammonites and Phoenicians. These barbaric rituals often involved burning children alive as propitiatory offerings, believed to ensure fertility, prosperity, or military success. God's Law explicitly and vehemently prohibited this practice, condemning it as an "abomination" and a defilement of the land and the sanctuary, punishable by death. For instance, Leviticus 18:21 warns against giving one's children to Molech, and Deuteronomy 12:31 emphasizes God's abhorrence of such practices, stating that the Canaanites did "every abominable thing which the Lord hates." Despite these clear prohibitions and the Lord's miraculous deliverance and sustenance, Israel succumbed to the pervasive influence of the surrounding cultures, demonstrating a profound spiritual amnesia and a tragic failure to maintain their distinct identity as God's holy covenant people.
Key Themes: This verse powerfully contributes to several overarching themes within Psalm 106 and the broader biblical narrative. Firstly, it underscores the theme of Profound Idolatry and Apostasy, illustrating the extreme lengths to which Israel departed from their covenant with Yahweh, violating the very first commandment against having other gods before Him Exodus 20:3. Their actions demonstrate a complete rejection of God's sovereignty and exclusivity. Secondly, it highlights Moral Depravity, showcasing the ultimate defilement and degradation that results when a people abandon divine truth and embrace practices that utterly reject the sanctity of human life and the most fundamental parental bonds. Thirdly, the mention of "devils" (Hebrew: shedim) introduces the theme of Spiritual Warfare, revealing that these pagan gods were not inert idols but were backed by malevolent spiritual forces, making idolatry a direct engagement with demonic entities. Finally, the verse serves as a stark example of the Consequences of Disobedience, demonstrating how Israel's mingling with foreign nations and adoption of their sins inevitably led to divine judgment and ultimately, their exile, a pattern reiterated throughout the entire psalm, particularly in passages detailing their repeated cycles of sin and judgment Psalms 106:40-46.
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
The verse employs several powerful literary devices to convey its chilling message and underscore the gravity of Israel's sin. Contrast is paramount, as the psalmist starkly juxtaposes God's life-giving covenant and His abhorrence of child sacrifice with Israel's adoption of this death-dealing pagan practice. This contrast highlights the profound chasm between divine holiness and human depravity. The very act of sacrificing "sons and daughters" serves as potent Symbolism for the ultimate spiritual apostasy and moral degradation; it represents the complete rejection of God's sanctity of life, the perversion of the family unit, and the abandonment of the future generation to darkness. The term "devils" (shedim) functions as a powerful Metonymy or Synecdoche, where the demonic powers are used to represent the false gods and the malevolent spiritual reality behind the idolatry. The psalmist's direct, unvarnished, and shocking statement of this heinous act also contributes to the psalm's overall tone of Lament and Confession, underscoring the depth of Israel's sin and the righteousness of God's subsequent judgment.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Psalms 106:37 serves as a profound theological statement on the nature of idolatry and its ultimate, dehumanizing consequences. It reveals that the abandonment of the one true God invariably leads to moral depravity, as humanity, in its fallen state, will always seek to fill the void of God's absence with something else, often something destructive and dehumanizing. The act of child sacrifice highlights the absolute antithesis between the God of Israel, who values and preserves life, and the pagan deities, who demand the most precious of human offerings. This verse underscores the exclusivity of God's claim on His people's worship and the severe spiritual dangers of syncretism, where mixing divine truth with worldly practices inevitably leads to corruption and spiritual death. It reminds us that behind all false worship lies a spiritual battle against forces opposed to God's kingdom and His life-giving purposes.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
While literal child sacrifice to physical idols is not a common practice in most modern societies, the underlying principles of Psalms 106:37 remain profoundly relevant, serving as a potent warning against contemporary forms of idolatry and the subtle ways we might "sacrifice" what is precious for lesser gods. This verse challenges us to examine what truly holds ultimate allegiance in our lives. Are we, perhaps inadvertently, sacrificing our children's spiritual well-being, their innocence, or their future for the sake of career advancement, material possessions, social status, or even ideological commitments that subtly contradict God's truth and design for human flourishing? The horror of child sacrifice underscores the sanctity of human life, particularly the most vulnerable, calling believers to actively protect and advocate for the unborn, the young, and the defenseless, reflecting God's heart for justice and mercy. Our devotion to the Lord must be wholehearted and exclusive, recognizing that anything that takes God's rightful place in our lives can become an idol, demanding our "sacrifice" in ways that ultimately lead to spiritual and moral degradation, mirroring the ancient Israelites' tragic error.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
What does "devils" mean in Psalms 106:37?
Answer: In Psalms 106:37, the King James Version translates the Hebrew word shedim (שֵׁדִים) as "devils." This term does not refer to Satan himself, but rather to "demons" or "evil spirits." It signifies that the pagan deities, such as Molech, to whom the Israelites sacrificed their children, were not merely inert idols or human constructs. Instead, they were associated with genuine, malevolent spiritual powers. This highlights the truly demonic nature of the worship of these false gods, emphasizing that the Israelites were engaging with spiritual forces directly opposed to the one true God and His life-giving purposes. The New Testament similarly connects pagan worship with demonic activity, as seen in 1 Corinthians 10:20, which states that "the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God."
Was child sacrifice a common Israelite practice, or was it adopted from other cultures?
Answer: Child sacrifice was emphatically not an original or sanctioned Israelite practice; it was a horrific abomination strictly forbidden by God's Law. For example, Leviticus 18:21 warns against giving one's children to Molech, and Deuteronomy 12:31 explicitly condemns such practices as detestable to the Lord. It was a deeply ingrained practice among the Canaanite nations whom Israel was commanded to dispossess. Psalms 106:37 highlights Israel's tragic failure to obey this command, leading them to "mingle with the heathen, and learned their works" Psalms 106:35. This verse, therefore, describes Israel's adoption of a foreign, abhorrent practice as a sign of their profound apostasy and moral degradation, rather than an indigenous custom. Tragically, some later kings of Judah, like Ahaz and Manasseh, did engage in this practice, bringing severe divine judgment upon the nation (e.g., 2 Kings 16:3, 2 Kings 21:6).
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
The horror of Psalms 106:37, where Israel sacrificed their innocent children to demonic powers, finds its ultimate and redemptive fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ. The Old Testament's repeated pattern of human failure, culminating in such heinous acts, underscores humanity's desperate need for a perfect sacrifice and a complete deliverance from the power of sin and death. While Israel offered their sons and daughters to death-dealing "devils," God, in His infinite love and perfect justice, offered His own Son, Jesus, as the ultimate and final sacrifice for the sins of the world. Jesus is the true Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!, whose once-for-all sacrifice on the cross (as described in Hebrews 9:26) rendered all other sacrifices, especially human ones, obsolete and unnecessary. Through His death and resurrection, Christ triumphed decisively over the very "devils" or demonic powers that held humanity captive through idolatry and sin, disarming them and making a public spectacle of them Colossians 2:15. He came to destroy the works of the devil 1 John 3:8 and offers true life, freedom, and reconciliation to God for all who believe, redeeming us from the futility of worshipping false gods and establishing us in a new covenant of grace where no human sacrifice is ever again required, only the perfect offering of Christ Himself.