Psalm 107

International Standard Version

⁴ They wandered in desolate wilderness;
    they found no road to a city where they could live.
⁵ Hungry and thirsty,
    their spirits^[c] failed.
⁶ Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
    and he delivered them from their distress.
⁷ He led them in a straight way
    to find a city where they could live.
⁸ Let them give thanks to the Lord
    for his gracious love
        and his awesome deeds for mankind.
⁹ He has satisfied the one who thirsts,
    filling the hungry with what is good.

¹⁰ Some sat in deepest darkness,
    shackled with cruel iron,
¹¹ because they had rebelled against the command of God,
    despising the advice of the Most High.
¹² He humbled them^[d] through suffering,
    as they stumbled without a helper.
¹³ Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble;
    he delivered them from their distress.
¹⁴ And he^[e] brought them out from darkness and the shadow of death,^[f]
    shattering their chains.

¹⁵ Let them give^[g] thanks to the Lord for his gracious love,
    and for his awesome deeds to mankind.
¹⁶ For he shattered bronze gates
    and cut through iron bars.

¹⁷ Because of their rebellious ways,
    fools suffered for their iniquities.
¹⁸ They^[h] loathed all food,
    and even reached the gates of death.
¹⁹ Yet when they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
    he delivered them from certain destruction.
²⁰ He issued his command^[i] and healed them;
    he delivered them from their destruction.
²¹ Let them give thanks to the Lord for his gracious love,
    and for his awesome deeds for mankind.
²² Let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving
    and talk about his works with shouts of joy.

²³ Those who go down to the sea in ships,
    who work in the great waters,
²⁴ witnessed the works of the Lord—
    his awesome deeds in the ocean’s depth.
²⁵ He spoke and stirred up a windstorm
    that made its waves surge.
²⁶ The people^[j] ascended skyward and descended to the depths,
    their courage^[k] melting away in their peril.
²⁷ They reeled and staggered like a drunkard,
    as all their wisdom became useless.
²⁸ Yet when they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
    the Lord brought them out of their distress.
²⁹ He calmed the storm
    and its waves^[l] quieted down.
³⁰ So they rejoiced that the waves^[m] became quiet,
    and he led them to their desired haven.

³¹ Let them give thanks to the Lord for his gracious love
    and for his awesome deeds on behalf of mankind.
³² Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people
    and praise him in the counsel of the elders.

³³ He turns rivers into a desert,
    springs of water into dry ground,
³⁴ and a fruitful land into a salty waste,
    due to the wickedness of its inhabitants.
³⁵ He turns a desert into a pool of water,
    dry land into springs of water.
³⁶ There he settled the hungry,
    where they built a city to live in.
³⁷ They sowed fields and planted vineyards
    that yielded a productive harvest.
³⁸ Then he blessed them, and they became numerous;
    he multiplied their cattle.^[n]

³⁹ But they became few in number, and humiliated
    by continued oppression, agony, and sorrow.
⁴⁰ Having poured contempt on their nobles,
    causing them to err aimlessly in the way.
⁴¹ Yet he lifted the needy from affliction
    and made them families like a flock.

⁴² The upright see it and rejoice,
    but the mouth of an evil person is shut.
⁴³ Let whoever is wise observe these things,
    that they may comprehend the gracious love of the Lord.