Psalm 107:25

Psalm 107 opens with “O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever” (Psalm 107:1) and then tells of four kinds of people the LORD has rescued. Wanderers lost and hungry in the wilderness are led to a city to dwell in (Psalm 107:4–9). Prisoners held in darkness and chains for rebelling against God’s words are set free (Psalm 107:10–16). Those brought near to death by their own foolish ways are healed (Psalm 107:17–22). The sailors come fourth and last. Each story runs the same course: trouble, a cry to the LORD, his rescue, and a call to praise him. By setting sailors beside wanderers, prisoners and the sick, the psalm shows that the LORD’s care reaches people in every place and every kind of work. The psalm was probably sung after the return from exile, and after this section it turns to God’s rule over lands and nations (Psalm 107:33–43).

“They that go down to the sea in ships” uses yârad, the ordinary verb for going or coming down, here for going down from the land onto the sea. The sea is yâm, the usual word for the sea or any large body of water, and in the Bible it is often the Mediterranean. These people “do business in great waters”, and “business” is mᵉlâʼkâh, work or occupation, here the work of trade. They are at their lawful daily work when the storm comes on them. “Great waters” (mayim rabbim) is the open sea in all its size and power.

Israel was mostly a people of the land, unlike the Phoenicians and the Egyptians, yet it knew the Mediterranean as a road for trade, and Proverbs likens the virtuous woman to the merchants’ ships (Proverbs 31:14). Sailing in those days was dangerous. Ships were at the mercy of weather and currents, and a sudden storm could sink one with all on board. Scripture also pictures the sea as a power that God alone masters. At the beginning the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters (Genesis 1:2), and a psalm praises God for breaking the heads of the sea monsters, Leviathan among them (Psalm 74:13–14). The people who sail out onto that sea are in a place where their own strength counts for little, and that is where God shows them his.

“These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.” People on land hear about the power of the sea, and the sailors see it. “Works” is maʻăseh, a deed, a piece of work or workmanship. “Wonders” comes from pâlâʼ, which Strong’s explains as to separate or distinguish, and so to be great, difficult or wonderful. These are deeds that stand apart from anything people can do and fill those who see them with awe. “The deep” is mᵉtsôwlâh, the depths of the sea.

The next verses say what these wonders are. The LORD raises the storm (verse 25), and then he stills it (verse 29). Both halves are his work, and the sailors see both. The God who set the sea its bounds asked Job who shut it up with doors and told the proud waves where to stop (Job 38:8–11). The heavens declare the glory of God (Psalm 19:1), and Paul writes that God’s eternal power and Godhead are clearly seen, being understood by the things he has made (Romans 1:20). The sea in a storm is one of the plainest places to see that power.

“For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.” The psalm says plainly that the storm is the LORD’s doing. “Commandeth” is ʼâmar, the everyday verb “to say”, which also means to tell or command, and his word is enough to set the wind going. “Raiseth” is ʻâmad, “to stand”, so he makes the stormy wind stand up. “Stormy wind” joins çaʻar, a tempest or whirlwind, with rûwach, which means wind, breath or spirit. That wind “lifteth up” the waves, and the verb is rûwm, to rise or raise, while “waves” is gal, a wave or billow. The line runs from God’s word to the wind and from the wind to the waves.

The peoples around Israel credited the sea to gods such as Baal or Yam. This verse puts the LORD over the wind and the water alike. Nahum says that the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm (Nahum 1:3–4), and when Jonah fled from him, it was the LORD who hurled a great wind upon the sea (Jonah 1:4). Psalm 29 praises the voice of the LORD and his rule over all he has made.

“They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.” The ship climbs each wave as if it would reach the sky and then plunges into the trough. “Mount up” is ʻâlâh, to go up or ascend, and “the depths” is tᵉhôwm, the deep, a surging mass of water. The words are larger than life on purpose, to make us feel how wild the sea has become and how helplessly the ship is thrown between the heights and the depths.

“Their soul” is nephesh, which Strong’s traces to a root meaning to breathe. It means a breathing creature, life, soul or self, and here it is the whole person. “Melted” is mûwg, to melt, soften or flow down, and figuratively to faint with fear. The trouble that melts them is raʻ, the common word for what is bad or harmful, here the calamity of the storm.

“Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.” The “then” follows straight on from the end of their wits. These are the same words the psalm has used for each group in turn, from the wanderers onward (Psalm 107:6), and they are the heart of the whole psalm. When human help is gone, the LORD is there to be called on.

“Cry” is tsâʻaq, to cry out or call for help in hardship. “Trouble” is tsar, from a root meaning to cramp. Its most common sense is an adversary, and it also means what is narrow, and so distress. “Distresses” is mᵉtsûwqâh, narrowness, and figuratively trouble or anguish. Both words picture being hemmed in, and the LORD’s answer fits the picture: “he bringeth them out”. The verb is yâtsâʼ, to go or come out, and in this form to bring out, and the Hebrew form here is yotsi’em, “he brings them out”. He leads them out of the tight place into open room.

The cry is answered because of who the LORD is. A psalm tells of a poor man who cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles (Psalm 34:6). God says through Jeremiah, Call unto me, and I will answer thee (Jeremiah 33:3), and through Isaiah, “Fear thou not; for I am with thee” (Isaiah 41:10). Paul tells believers to make their requests known to God in everything by prayer, with the promise that his peace will keep their hearts (Philippians 4:6–7). The “trouble” and “distresses” of this verse are a storm at sea, and the same words cover any narrow place a person can be in, because God’s ear is open to all who cry to him.

“He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.” “Maketh” is qûwm, which in this form means to raise, set up or establish, so the LORD sets up a calm where the storm was. “Storm” is çaʻar, the same word as “stormy” in verse 25, and “waves” is gal, the same word as in verse 25. The storm he raised by his word he now turns into dᵉmâmâh, quiet, silence, stillness. The waves “are still”, châshâh, to hush, keep quiet or hold one’s peace. The sea that rose at his command falls silent at his command.

Other psalms praise him for the same thing. “Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them” (Psalm 89:9). He is the God “Which stilleth the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumult of the people” (Psalm 65:7). The God who spoke the world into being in Genesis 1 rules its waters still, and the calm he gives is his order restored.

“Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.” “Glad” is sâmach, to rejoice or be glad, to feel and show great joy. “Quiet” is shâthaq, to subside or grow calm, the word for a commotion dying down. The sea grows quiet, and the sailors with it, and their terror gives way to joy.

Then the LORD finishes what he began. “Haven” is mâchôwz, a harbour or port, a place where ships find shelter after a voyage, and “desired” comes from chêphets, pleasure, delight or desire. This is the very place they longed to reach. Sailors then kept close to the coasts where they could, with no instruments beyond the stars and the landmarks on shore, so a harbour meant protection, rest and safe arrival. “He bringeth them” makes the LORD the one who guides them in. He stills the storm and he also sees them home.

The haven is a picture Scripture fills out elsewhere. God is our refuge and strength (Psalm 46:1), there remains a rest for the people of God (Hebrews 4), and Jesus calls all that labour and are heavy laden to come to him for rest (Matthew 11:28). The sailors’ safe harbour points to the rest God gives his people now and to the rest still to come.

“Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!” This refrain closes each of the four stories, and here it sounds for the last time. It first comes after the wanderers are led to their city (Psalm 107:8), then after the prisoners are set free (Psalm 107:15), and then after the sick are healed (Psalm 107:21). The psalmist longs for people to give the LORD the praise his goodness deserves.

“Praise” is yâdâh, a verb Strong’s ties to holding out the hand, and in this form it means to praise, give thanks or confess. “Goodness” is cheçed, kindness, lovingkindness and mercy, the loyal love God keeps toward his people. “Wonderful works” is pâlâʼ, the same word as the “wonders” the sailors saw in the deep in verse 24. Goodness is who God is, and his wonderful works are what he does out of that goodness, so we praise him for both. “The children of men” (bên ʼâdâm) means all mankind, and the psalm wants every person who has known his care to thank him.

Scripture repeats this call to thanks. “O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good” (1 Chronicles 16:34). “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving” (Psalm 100:4). The psalmist promises to praise the LORD with his whole heart and to tell of all his marvellous works (Psalm 9:1), and those works run all through Israel’s story, from the crossing of the Red Sea (Exodus 14) onward.

“Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.” “Exalt” is rûwm, the same verb as “lifteth up” in verse 25. The wind lifted up the waves against the sailors, and now the rescued sailors lift up the LORD. “Praise” here is hâlal, which Strong’s traces to being clear or shining and so to boasting and celebrating, the joyful praise that boasts in God.

“The congregation of the people” is qâhâl, an assembly or congregation called together, and also a company or multitude. It is the body of Israel gathered at the temple and for great occasions, where it worshipped and heard the law read (Deuteronomy 31:12). “The assembly of the elders” (môwshâb zâqên) is the seat or council of the respected older men who led the community and judged its matters. Together the two phrases take in the whole people, from the ordinary worshipper to those in authority. A rescue that happened at sea, far from home, is to be told where everyone can hear it and praise God for it, and the elders lead the people in that praise.

The church continues this gathered praise. Believers are told to keep on assembling together (Hebrews 10:25), they are a chosen people called to shew forth the praises of him who called them (1 Peter 2:9), and they offer “the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name” (Hebrews 13:15).

When Jesus was in a boat on the Sea of Galilee with his disciples and a great storm arose, he rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace, be still”, and the wind ceased and there was a great calm. His disciples asked what manner of man this was, that even the wind and the sea obey him (Mark 4:39–41, Matthew 8:27). They had good reason to ask. This psalm gives that power to the LORD alone, and Jesus did what the psalm says the LORD does. All things were created by him (Colossians 1:16), he upholds all things by the word of his power (Hebrews 1:3), and his word commands unclean spirits as well as the sea (Mark 1:27).

Christ also went down into deeper waters than any sailor. In Gethsemane he said that his soul was exceeding sorrowful, even unto death (Matthew 26:38), and on the cross he cried, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). God raised him up, having loosed the pains of death (Acts 2:24). He is the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24), for people whose own wisdom has been swallowed up, and the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world (John 1:29). God so loved the world that he gave his Son (John 3:16), and through his blood we have redemption and peace with God (Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 1:19–20).

He is the haven these verses picture. He is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6), the hope that is an anchor of the soul, sure and stedfast (Hebrews 6:19), and the one who gives rest to the weary. God keeps in perfect peace the mind that is stayed on him (Isaiah 26:3), he gives power to the faint (Isaiah 40:29–31), and he directs the paths of those who trust him with all their heart and lean not to their own understanding (Proverbs 3:5–6). The journey ends in the new heaven and new earth, where God dwells with his people (Revelation 21:1–4), and people of every kindred and tongue praise the Lamb who redeemed them (Revelation 5:9–10). That is the congregation where the praise of verse 32 is finally complete.

These verses show us a God who rules the sea from its depths to its surface, who can raise the wind with a word and hush it with another. They show him hearing people who have come to the end of their skill, and bringing them out of the narrow place into the harbour they longed for. They also show what his rescue is for: that his goodness and his wonderful works should be praised among his people, before the whole congregation and its leaders.

Whatever our work or our road, the same God is over it. The sailors had nothing left but a cry, and the cry was enough, because the LORD heard it. Everyone he has brought through a storm has a story that belongs in the assembly, where others can hear of his goodness and join in the praise. And the haven the sailors reached points beyond itself, to the rest Christ gives now and the home he is bringing his people to.