Exodus 1:7(v38)The children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with…
Psalms 114:8(v35)who turned the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of waters.
Genesis 12:2(v38)I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing.
Genesis 17:20(v38)As for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He will become…
Isaiah 35:6-7(v35)Then the lame man will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will sing; for waters will break out in the wilderness, and streams in…
Show all 69 cross-references
Deuteronomy 7:14(v38)You will be blessed above all peoples. There won’t be male or female barren among you, or among your livestock.
Deuteronomy 30:9(v38)Yahweh your God will make you prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your livestock, and in…
Psalms 128:1-6(v38)Blessed is everyone who fears Yahweh, who walks in his ways. For you will eat the labor of your hands. You will be happy, and it will be…
Isaiah 41:17-19(v35)The poor and needy seek water, and there is none. Their tongue fails for thirst. I, Yahweh, will answer them. I, the God of Israel, will…
Isaiah 44:3-5(v35)For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and streams on the dry ground. I will pour my Spirit on your descendants, and my blessing on…
Genesis 17:16(v38)I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. Yes, I will bless her, and she will be a mother of nations. Kings of peoples…
Deuteronomy 28:11(v38)Yahweh will grant you abundant prosperity in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground, in…
Psalms 144:13-14(v38)Our barns are full, filled with all kinds of provision. Our sheep produce thousands and ten thousands in our fields. Our oxen will pull…
Genesis 1:28(v38)God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the…
Genesis 30:43(v38)The man increased exceedingly, and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys.
Deuteronomy 28:4(v38)You shall be blessed in the fruit of your body, the fruit of your ground, the fruit of your animals, the increase of your livestock, and…
Proverbs 10:22(v38)Yahweh’s blessing brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it.
Jeremiah 30:19(v38)Thanksgiving will proceed out of them with the voice of those who make merry. I will multiply them, and they will not be few; I will also…
1 Corinthians 3:7(v37)So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.
Genesis 31:9(v38)Thus God has taken away your father’s livestock, and given them to me.
Exodus 9:3-7(v38)behold, Yahweh’s hand is on your livestock which are in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the herds, and on the…
Psalms 107:7(v36)he led them also by a straight way, that they might go to a city to live in.
Ezekiel 37:26(v38)Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them. It will be an everlasting covenant with them. I will place them, multiply them, and…
2 Corinthians 9:10(v37)Now may he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, supply and multiply your seed for sowing, and increase the fruits of your…
Genesis 9:1(v38)God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, and replenish the earth.
Genesis 13:10(v34)Lot lifted up his eyes, and saw all the plain of the Jordan, that it was well-watered everywhere, before Yahweh destroyed Sodom and…
Genesis 14:3(v34)All these joined together in the valley of Siddim (also called the Salt Sea).
Isaiah 42:15(v33)I will destroy mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs. I will make the rivers islands, and will dry up the pools.
Isaiah 50:2(v33)Why, when I came, was there no one? When I called, why was there no one to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it can’t redeem? Or…
Luke 1:53(v36)He has filled the hungry with good things. He has sent the rich away empty.
Exodus 12:38(v38)A mixed multitude went up also with them, with flocks, herds, and even very much livestock.
2 Kings 3:16-20(v35)He said, “Yahweh says, ‘Make this valley full of trenches.’ For Yahweh says, ‘You will not see wind, neither will you see rain, yet that…
Isaiah 37:30(v37)“ ‘This shall be the sign to you. You will eat this year that which grows of itself, and in the second year that which springs from it; and…
Jeremiah 29:5(v37)“Build houses and dwell in them. Plant gardens and eat their fruit.
Zechariah 8:12(v37)“For the seed of peace and the vine will yield its fruit, and the ground will give its increase, and the heavens will give their dew; and I…
Acts 17:26(v36)He made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the surface of the earth, having determined appointed seasons, and the…
Genesis 26:12(v37)Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year one hundred times what he planted. Yahweh blessed him.
Numbers 21:16-18(v35)From there they traveled to Beer; that is the well of which Yahweh said to Moses, “Gather the people together, and I will give them water.”…
Deuteronomy 29:23-28(v34)that all of its land is sulfur, salt, and burning, that it is not sown, doesn’t produce, nor does any grass grow in it, like the overthrow…
Psalms 146:7(v36)who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. Yahweh frees the prisoners.
Ezekiel 28:26(v37)They will dwell in it securely. Yes, they will build houses, plant vineyards, and will dwell securely, when I have executed judgments on…
Ezekiel 47:6-12(v35)He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen?” Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the bank of the river. Now when I had returned,…
Ezekiel 47:11(v34)But the miry places of it, and its marshes, will not be healed. They will be given up to salt.
Amos 4:7-8(v33)“I also have withheld the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest; and I caused it to rain on one city, and caused…
Haggai 1:10-11(v37)Therefore for your sake the heavens withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit. I called for a drought on the land, on the…
Genesis 13:13(v34)Now the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinners against Yahweh.
Genesis 19:24-25(v34)Then Yahweh rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah sulfur and fire from Yahweh out of the sky. He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the…
1 Kings 17:1-7(v33)Elijah the Tishbite, who was one of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there…
1 Kings 18:5(v33)Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go through the land, to all the springs of water, and to all the brooks. Perhaps we may find grass and save the…
Psalms 65:9-13(v37)You visit the earth, and water it. You greatly enrich it. The river of God is full of water. You provide them grain, for so you have…
Psalms 74:15(v33)You opened up spring and stream. You dried up mighty rivers.
Isaiah 13:19-21(v33)Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride, will be like when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It will never be…
Isaiah 19:5-10(v33)The waters will fail from the sea, and the river will be wasted and become dry. The rivers will become foul. The streams of Egypt will be…
Isaiah 32:13-15(v34)Thorns and briers will come up on my people’s land; yes, on all the houses of joy in the joyous city. For the palace will be forsaken. The…
Isaiah 34:9-10(v33)Its streams will be turned into pitch, its dust into sulfur, And its land will become burning pitch. It won’t be quenched night nor day.…
Isaiah 44:27(v33)who says to the deep, ‘Be dry,’ and ‘I will dry up your rivers;’
Isaiah 65:21(v37)They will build houses and inhabit them. They will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
Jeremiah 14:3(v33)Their nobles send their little ones to the waters. They come to the cisterns, and find no water. They return with their vessels empty. They…
Jeremiah 31:5(v37)Again you will plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria. The planters will plant, and will enjoy its fruit.
Ezekiel 30:12(v33)I will make the rivers dry, and will sell the land into the hand of evil men. I will make the land desolate, and all that is therein, by…
Joel 1:10-12(v37)The field is laid waste. The land mourns, for the grain is destroyed, The new wine has dried up, and the oil languishes. Be confounded, you…
Joel 1:20(v33)Yes, the animals of the field pant to you, for the water brooks have dried up, And the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.
Nahum 1:4(v33)He rebukes the sea, and makes it dry, and dries up all the rivers. Bashan languishes, and Carmel; and the flower of Lebanon languishes.
Zephaniah 2:9(v33)Therefore as I live, says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, surely Moab will be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, a…
Zephaniah 2:13(v33)He will stretch out his hand against the north, destroy Assyria, and will make Nineveh a desolation, as dry as the wilderness.
Haggai 1:5-6(v37)Now therefore this is what Yahweh of Armies says: Consider your ways. You have sown much, and bring in little. You eat, but you don’t have…
Haggai 2:16-19(v37)Through all that time, when one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were only ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw out fifty,…
Acts 14:17(v37)Yet he didn’t leave himself without witness, in that he did good and gave you rains from the sky and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts…
Amos 9:13-15(v37)“Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the one treading grapes him who sows seed; and sweet…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (19 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
John Calvin1540 · Public DomainOn vv33, 3533. He turneth rivers into a wilderness Here then…
33. He turneth rivers into a wilderness Here then is an account of changes which it would be the height of folly to attribute to chance. Fruitful lands become unfruitful, and barren lands assume the new aspect of freshness and fruitfulness. And how happens it that one district becomes sterile, and another becomes fat and fertile, contrary to what they were wont to be, but because that God pours out his wrath upon the inhabitants of the one, by taking his blessing from them, and renders the other fruitful to feed the hungry? It may be ascribed to the thinness of the population, that many parts of Asia and Greece, once exceedingly fruitful, now lie uncultivated and unproductive; but we must ascribe to the providence of God, which the prophet praises, the well authenticated fact, that in some places the earth that was fruitful has now become barren and parched, while others are beginning to be fertile.
It is, however, not sufficient merely to observe, that these wonderful revolutions of the surface of the earth are the result of God’s overruling purpose, unless we also observe, in the second place, what the prophet does not omit, that the earth is cursed by him on account of the iniquity of its inhabitants, who prove themselves to be undeserving of being so amply sustained by his bountiful hand. He has put pools and springs of water for fields or countries where there is an abundance of water; because moisture is required to nourish the plants by which fruit is produced. The term saltness is employed metaphorically, inasmuch as there is nothing more sterile than salt; hence that saying of Christ’s,
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“If the salt have lost its saltness, what further purpose will it serve?” Mark 9:50
not even indeed for barrenness. And, consequently, when men designed to doom any place to remain unproductive, they usually sowed it with salt. And probably it is in allusion to this ancient custom, that the prophet says that the land was covered with salt.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv34, 35, 37Or, saltness.
Or, saltness.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv33–38Psa 107:33 He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and…
Psa 107:33 He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the watersprings into dry ground;
Ver. 33. He turneth rivers into a wilderness] Hitherto the psalmist hath set forth God’s good providence in delivering men from several deaths and dangers; now he declareth the same in his just and powerful transmutations in nature, while according to the good pleasure of his will he changeth men’s condition, either from good to evil, or from evil to good, beyond all expectation; it is even he that doeth it, whatsoever a company of dizzy headed men dream to the contrary, as one phraseth it. It is God who drieth up those rivers, whereby the land was made fat and fertile, Isa 41:17.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv33–38Rivers; either,
Rivers; either,
1. Properly so called; which he can divert or dry up when he pleaseth, as sometimes he hath done. Or rather,
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2. Those grounds which are well watered, and therefore very fruitful, as the next verse explains this. And so
the water-springs, here and Psa 107:35, and the standing water, Psa 107 35, are taken.
Into a wilderness; into a dry ground, as it follows, which is like a parched and barren wilderness.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry1710 · Public DomainOn v33The psalmist, having given God the glory of the…
The psalmist, having given God the glory of the providential reliefs granted to persons in distress, here gives him the glory of the revolutions of providence, and the surprising changes it sometimes makes in the affairs of the children of men.
I. He gives some instances of these revolutions.
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1. Fruitful countries are made barren and barren countries are made fruitful. Much of the comfort of this life depends upon the soil in which our lot is cast. Now, (1.) The sin of man has often marred the fruitfulness of the soil and made it unserviceable, Psa 107:33, Psa 107:34. Land watered with rivers is sometimes turned into a wilderness, and that which had been full of water-springs now has not so much as water-streams; it is turned into dry and sandy ground, that has not consistency and moisture enough to produce any thing valuable. Many a fruitful land is turned into saltness, not so much from natural causes as from the just judgment of God, who thus punished the wickedness of those that dwell therein; as the vale of Sodom became a salt sea. Note, If the land be bad, it is because the inhabitants are so. Justly is the ground made unfruitful to those that bring not forth fruit unto God, but serve Baal with their corn and wine. (2.) The goodness of God has often mended the barrenness of the soil, and turned a wilderness, a land o drought, into water-springs, Psa 107:35. The land of Canaan, which was once the glory of all lands for fruitfulness, is said to be, at this day, a fruitless, useless, worthless spot of ground, as was foretold, Deu 29:23. This land of ours, which formerly was much of it an uncultivated desert, is now full of all good things, and more abundant honour is given to that part which lacked. Let the plantations in America, and the colonies settled there, compared with the desolations of many countries in Asia and Europe, that formerly were famous, expound this.
2. Necessitous families are raised and enriched, while prosperous families are impoverished and go to decay. If we look broad in the world, (1.) We see many greatly increasing whose beginning was small, and whose ancestors were mean and made no figure, Psa 107:36-38. Those that were hungry are made to dwell in fruitful lands; there they take root, and gain a settlement, and prepare a city for habitation for themselves and theirs after them. Providence puts good land under their hands, and they build upon it. Cities took rise from rising families. But as lands, will not serve for men without lodgings, and therefore they must prepare a city of habitation, so lodgings, though ever so convenient, will not serve without lands, and therefore they must sow the fields, and plant vineyards (Psa 107:37), for the king himself is served of the field. And yet the fields, though favoured with water-springs, will not yield fruits of increase, unless they be sown, nor will vineyards be had, unless they be planted; man's industry must attend God's blessing, and then God's blessing will crown man's industry. The fruitfulness of the soil should engage, for it does encourage, diligence; and, ordinarily, the hand of the diligent, by the blessing of God, makes rich, Psa 107:38. He blesses them also, so that they are, in a little time, multiplied greatly, and he diminishes not their cattle. As in the beginning, so still it is, by the blessing of God, that the earth and all the creatures increase and multiply (Gen 1:22), and we depend upon God for the increase of the cattle as well as for the increase of the ground. Cattle would decrease many ways if God should permit it, and men would soon suffer by it. (2.) We see many that have thus suddenly risen as suddenly sunk and brought to nothing (Psa 107:39): Again they are diminished and brought low by adverse providences, and end their days as low as they began them; or their families after them lose as fast a they got, and scatter what they heaped together. Note, Worldly wealth is an uncertain thing, and often those that are filled with it, ere they are aware, grow so secure and sensual with it that, ere they are aware, they lose it again. Hence it is called deceitful riches and the mammon of unrighteousness. God has many ways of making men poor; he can do it by oppression, affliction, and sorrow, as he tempted Job and brought him low.
3. Those that were high and great in the world are abased, and those that were mean and despicable are advanced to honour, Psa 107:40, Psa 107:41. We have seen, (1.) Princes dethroned and reduced to straits. He pours contempt upon them, even among those that have idolized them. Those that exalt themselves God will abase, and, in order thereunto, will infatuate: He makes them to wander in the wilderness, where there is no way. He baffles those counsels by which they thought to support themselves, and their own power and pomp, and drives them headlong, so that they know not what course to steer, nor what measures to take. We met with this before, Job 12:24, Job 12:25. (2.) Those of low degree advanced to the posts of honour (Psa 107:41): Yet setteth he the poor on high, raiseth from the dust to the throne of glory, Sa1 2:8; Psa 113:7, Psa 113:8. Those that were afflicted and trampled on are not only delivered, but set on high out of the reach of their troubles, above their enemies, and have dominion over those to whom they had been in subjection. That which adds to their honour, and strengthens them in their elevation, is the multitude of their children: He maketh him families like a flock of sheep, so numerous, so useful, so sociable with one another, and so meek and peaceable. He that sent them meat sent them mouths. Happy is the man that has his quiver filled with arrows, for he shall boldly speak with the enemy in the gate, Psa 127:5. God is to be acknowledged both in setting up families and in building them up. Let not princes be envied, nor the poor despised, for God has many ways of changing the condition of both.
II. He makes some improvement of these remarks; such surprising turns as these are of use, 1. For the solacing of saints. They observe these dispensations with pleasure (Psa 107:42): The righteous shall see it and rejoice in the glorifying of God's attributes and the manifesting of his dominion over the children of men. It is a great comfort to a good man to see how God manages the children of men, as the potter does the clay, so as to serve his own purposes by them, to see despised virtue advanced and impious pride brought low to the dust, to see it evinced beyond dispute that verily there is a God that judges in the earth. 2. For the silencing of sinners: All iniquity shall stop her mouth; it shall be a full conviction of the folly of atheists, and of those that deny the divine providence; and, forasmuch as practical atheism is at the bottom of all sin, it shall in effect stop the mouth of all iniquity. When sinners see how their punishment answers to their sin, and how justly God deals with them in taking away from them those gifts of his which they had abused, they shall not have one word to say for themselves; for God will be justified, he will be clear. 3. For the satisfying of all concerning the divine goodness (Psa 107:43): Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, these various dispensations of divine providence, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the Lord. Here is, (1.) A desirable end proposed, and that is, rightly to understand the lovingkindness of the Lord. It is of great use to us, in religion, to be fully assured of God's goodness, to be experimentally acquainted and duly affected with it, that his lovingkindness may be before our eyes, Psa 26:3. (2.) A proper means prescribed for attaining this end, and that is a due observance of God's providence. We must lay up these things, mind them, and keep them in mind, Luk 2:19. (3.) A commendation of the use of this means as an instance of true wisdom: Whoso is wise, let him by this both prove his wisdom and improve it. A prudent observance of the providences of God will contribute very much to the accomplishing of a good Christian.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv33–38And there he maketh the hungry to dwell,.... In…
And there he maketh the hungry to dwell,.... In those fruitful places which they find agreeable to them, and so fix upon them as the places of their abode, and build houses, and dwell there; having all the conveniences of life, which they wanted elsewhere: so such as hunger and thirst after righteousness make to such places where the waters are, the word is preached, and ordinances administered; and here they take up their dwelling, their bread being given them, and their waters sure unto them.
That they may prepare a city for habitation; those poor necessitous persons, as they were when they first came; building houses, and others continually coming to them, by degrees form a well regulated city, which are a large number of inhabitants: which may be considered as an emblem of the church of God, often compared to a city; and is an habitation for God, and where saints desire and delight to dwell.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv33–36Rivers - Those grounds which are well watered, and…
Rivers - Those grounds which are well watered, and therefore fruitful. And so the water-springs, here, and the standing water, ver. 35 are taken. Into - Into a dry ground, which is like a parched and barren wilderness.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv33, 36Verse 33. He turneth rivers into a wilderness] After…
Verse 33. He turneth rivers into a wilderness] After having, as above, illustrated the state of the Jews in their captivity, and the deliverance which God wrought for them, he now turns to the general conduct of God in reference to the poor and needy; and his gracious interpositions in their behalf, the providential supply of their wants, and his opposition to their oppressors. On account of the wickedness of men, he sometimes changes a fruitful land into a desert. See the general state of Egypt in the present time: once a fertile land; now an arid, sandy wilderness. Again, by his blessing on honest industry, he has changed deserts into highly fertile ground. And, as for the wickedness of their inhabitants, many lands are cursed and rendered barren; so, when a people acknowledge him in all their ways, he blesses their toil, gives them rain and fruitful seasons, and fills their hearts with joy and gladness.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn v33Psa 107:33-38. He turneth rivers — Land watered with…
Psa 107:33-38. He turneth rivers — Land watered with rivers; into a wilderness — Into dry ground, as it follows, like a parched and barren wilderness, that has not moisture enough to produce any thing valuable; a fruitful land into barrenness — Hebrew, למלחה, limleechah, into saltness, which causes barrenness; for the wickedness of them that dwell therein — He doth not inflict these judgments without cause, but for the punishment of sin in some, and the prevention of it in others. “Thus the plain of Jordan, which, before the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, was well watered everywhere, like the garden of Jehovah, (Gen 13:10,) hath, since that overthrow, been a land of salt, and sulphur, and perpetual sterility. Nay, even the fruitful Palestine itself, that flowed with milk and honey, is at this day a region of utter desolation, so that the very possibility of its ever having sufficed to maintain the people who formerly possessed it is now called in question. And, indeed, while the rain of heaven shall continue to be in the hand of God, how easy is it for him, by withholding it during a few months, to blast all the most promising hopes of man; and, instead of plenty, joy, and health, to visit him with famine, pestilence, and death.” On the other hand, (Psa 107:35,) he turneth the wilderness — The barren and desolate wilderness; into a standing water — Into a well-watered and fruitful land. “When the ways of a people please God, the rain shall descend from above, the springs shall rise from beneath, the earth shall yield her increase, the cattle shall feed in large pastures, the seasons shall be kindly, the earth salutary, and the smiling face of nature shall attest the loving-kindness of the Lord. Thus, in the dispensations of grace, hath he dealt with Jews and Gentiles. The synagogue of the former, once rich in faith, watered with the benedictions of heaven, fruitful in prophets and saints, adorned with the services of religion, and the presence of Jehovah, hath been, since the murder of the Son of God, cursed with infidelity, parched like the withered tops of the mountains of Gilboah, barren and desolate as the land of their ancient residence, whose naked rocks seem to declare to all the world the hard-heartedness and unprofitableness of its old possessors. When the fruitful field thus became a forest, the wilderness, at the same time, became a fruitful field. A church was planted in the Gentile world, and the Spirit was poured out upon it from on high. In that wilderness did waters break out, and streams in that desert. There was faith sown, and holiness was the universal product. The wilderness and the solitary place was glad, and the desert rejoiced and blossomed as the rose. It blossomed abundantly, and rejoiced even with joy and singing; the glory of Lebanon was given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon. The privileges and honours of the synagogue were conferred upon the church; and the nations now saw the glory of Jehovah, and the excellency of our God, Isa 32:15; Isa 35:1-2.” — Horne.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv33–38He turneth rivers into a wilderness - He makes…
He turneth rivers into a wilderness - He makes great changes in the earth; he shows that he has absolute dominion over it. See the notes at Isa 44:26-27. On the word “wilderness,” see the notes at Psa 107:4. The point here is, that God had such control over nature that he could make the bed of a river dry and barren as the rocky or sandy desert. He could effectually dry up the stream, and make it so dry and parched that nothing would grow but the most stunted shrubs, such as were found in the waste and sandy desert.
And the water-springs into dry ground - The very fountains of the rivers: not only drying up the river itself by leading it off into burning wastes where it would be evaporated by the heat, or lost in the sand - but so directly affecting the “sources” of the streams as to make them dry.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn v3333-42. These verses comprehend the last two strophes, the…
33-42. These verses comprehend the last two strophes, the first ending with Psa_107:38, and the latter with Psa_107:42. The whole comprises a description of what God can do in his sovereign grace and judgment with a nation. Their depression and exaltation proceed alike from him. Psa_107:33-34 are a description of the land of Judah after the desolating wars and conquests of Nebuchadnezzar, answering to Jeremiah’s vision of the country at the same date. Jer_4:20; Jer_4:23. Psa_107:35-38 are a reversed view after the return of the exiles and the appearance of their first harvest, when the land responded to tillage, and God’s blessing had returned upon the husbandman.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv33–3833. He turneth] He hath turned. The verbs in…
33. He turneth] He hath turned. The verbs in Psa_107:33-41 should be translated by the past tense, as referring to facts of experience, not merely to general truths. The Targ. refers Psa_107:33-34 to the drought in the time of Joel.
into dry ground] R.V. into a thirsty ground. Psa_107:33 a is from Isa_50:2; with 33 b cp. Isa_35:7 : Psa_107:35 is from Isa_41:18.
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33–38. Fertile lands are smitten with barrenness for the wickedness of their inhabitants: barren lands are transformed into a fruitful home for the poor and needy.
33–43. The style of the Psalm changes, and its subject becomes more general. The refrain disappears, and instead of examples of God’s goodness in delivering various classes of men, we have proofs of His providential government of the world in the vicissitudes of countries and peoples.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv33–35(33) The change in character and style of the…
(33) The change in character and style of the psalm at this point is so marked as to suggest an addition by another hand. It is not only that the artistic form is dropped, and the series of vivid pictures, each closed by a refrain, succeeded by changed aspects of thought, but the language becomes harsher, and the poet, if the same, suddenly proclaims that he has exhausted his imagination.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv33–38Vers. 33-42. Professor Cheyne finds in this passage which…
Vers. 33-42. Professor Cheyne finds in this passage which he views as an "appendix" to the psalm a falling off from the earlier portion of the psalm, and a set of "sentences strung together without much reflection." But to others the transition from special deliverances to God"s general dealings with mankind seems an enlargement and an advance in the thought, although the language may be less graphic and more commonplace than in the former portion of the composition.
He turneth rivers into a wilderness. God can, and does, by the operation of his providence, turn lands naturally fertile lands abounding with streams into arid wastes, either by such a physical catastrophe as that which blasted the cities of the plain, (Gen_19:24, Gen_19:25) or by such moral changes as have turned Babylonia from a garden into a desert, a miserable howling wilderness. (comp. Psa_1:2 Jer_1:13-15 Jer_51:13, Jer_51:37-43, etc.) And the water springs into dry ground. The phrase is varied, but the meaning is the same. God has full control over nature, and can either take back his blessings, or render them of no avail.
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Vers. 33-43. Divine revolution.
The wheel of providence "goes full circle," lifting up the lowly and abasing the proud. God turns the rivers into a wilderness, and the wilderness into standing water, etc. (vers. 33, 35).
I THE DIVINE OVERTHROW. He cast out the guilty inhabitants of Canaan, and planted in their place the children of Israel; but when these rebelled against him, he rejected them, and sent them forth into a strange land. Thus has God humbled nations age after age; thus has he humiliated Churches both great ecclesiastical organizations, and such Churches as those we read of in the Apocalypse. (Re 2 Re 3) And thus may we expect that he will bring down all communities that forget their Creator, that are false to their Redeemer, that are unfaithful to their mission.
II THE DIVINE UPBUILDING. (Vers. 35-38, 41) A people, a Church, a society, may be very low, there may be but a spark of life in it; yet it need not despair. There is a hand which can kindle the faintest spark into a noble flame; there is One who can turn the sterile desert into the fruitful field. Far above all means and measures is the consideration Is G ods favor gained? Our expectation is from him. "Let Israel hope in the Lord." There are three things which avail to secure his good pleasure and his restoring power.
1. Penitence for past misdeeds and present unworthiness.
2. The faith which leads to earnest prayer for his blessing.
3. The appropriate, devoted action to which he calls us.
Under these conditions we may look for a Divine revolution evil and sorrow overturned, righteousness and prosperity restored.
Vers. 33-39. God"s commonplace mercies.
The difference in the style and contents of the latter part of this psalm has been noticed by almost every writer. The pictures, with their closing refrain, cease; and in a hurried way instances of God"s providential government are given. It has been thought that the psalm was completed by another poet; but in that case the structure of the psalm would have been closely imitated. The peculiarity of this portion may be explained by showing that the psalmist had spoken of God"s gracious relation to special forms of trouble; and he might leave the impression that God was only in them. And men might be feeling very deeply how commonplace their life was. Without such special experiences they might take up the notion that they were out of the spheres of special Divine mercies; and so the didactic psalmist puts in a word for these: in a few skilful sentences he sketches ordinary, commonplace life, and shows God"s relation to it. The things briefly mentioned suggest
I THE COMMONPLACE ADVERSITIES OF LIFE. Such are the difficulties of the seasons, the rains, the floods, the drought, in their relation to agricultural life.
II THE COMMONPLACE ENTERPRISES OF LIFE. Working for a living, tillage, building, planting, tending cattle, etc.
III THE COMMONPLACE DISASTERS OF LIFE. Accidents, diseases, plagues, etc.
IV THE COMMONPLACE ENMITIES OF LIFE. For few men pass through many years without suffering from the mischief-making schemes of those who, by reason of envy or masterfulness, make themselves their enemies. The psalmist urges that God is quits as truly in the commonplace as in the unusual. He is working through our everyday life experience some high and gracious moral end. And therefore every man should be quick to observe the "loving-kindness of the Lord," and ever ready to "praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon1885 · Public DomainOn vv33–38Ver. 33. He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and…
Ver. 33. He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the watersprings into dry ground. When the Lord deals with rebellious men he can soon deprive them of those blessings of which they feel most assured: their rivers and perennial springs they look upon as certain never to be taken from them, but the Lord at a word can deprive them even of these. In hot climates after long droughts streams of water utterly fail, and even springs cease to flow, and this also has happened in other parts of the world when great convulsions of the earth's surface have occurred. In providence this physical catastrophe finds its counterpart when business ceases to yield profit and sources of wealth are made to fail; as also when health and strength are taken away, when friendly aids are withdrawn, and comfortable associations are broken up. So, too, in soul matters, the most prosperous ministries may become dry, the most delightful meditations cease to benefit us, and the most fruitful religious exercises grow void of the refreshment of grace which they formerly yielded. Since
"It is God who lifts our comforts high,
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Or sinks them in the grave",
it behooves us to walk before him with reverential gratitude, and so to live that it may not become imperative upon him to afflict us.
Ver. 33. He turneth rivers into a wilderness, etc. God is the father of the rain. If he withholds that refreshment for a long time, all nature droops, and every green thing dies. The imagery is drawn from Palestine where there were but two annual rainy seasons, and if either of them was long deferred, the effect was frightful. The channels of considerable rivers were dried up. William S. Plumer.
Ver. 33. Rivers...Watersprings. A church enriched with the graces of heaven is compared by the prophets to a well watered garden (Isa 63:11 Jer 31:12), to the paradise of God, watered with its four fruitful rivers: for as everything useful and ornamental in the vegetable world is raised up by water, so is everything in the spiritual world raised up by the Holy Spirit. William Romaine.
Ver. 33-34. The scene which here opens with a landscape of beauty and fertility is suddenly changed into a dry and barren wilderness. The rivers are dried up, the springs cease to flow among the hills, and the verdant fields are scorched and bare. The reason assigned for this is "the wickedness of them that dwell therein." This picture needs no interpretation to the people of God. It is precisely what happens within them when they have fallen into sin. G.R.
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn v33He turneth rivers into a wilderness.
Psa_107:33-43
He turneth rivers into a wilderness.
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Gods management of man upon the earth
I. It involves great revolutions.
1. In the secular department (Psa_107:33-38). Sodoms fertile soil was smitten with barrenness. Canaan, at one time one of the most fruitful spots under heaven, is now one of the most worthless. How does God do this generally?
(1) He does it by man. To man He has given the power to change the character of the soil, to make orchards out of wildernesses, and gardens out of deserts, and thus cause the wilderness to blossom as the rose.
(2) He does it by man, with a due regard to mans character. By the moral, the wise, the industrious man, He makes the barren places fruitful; and by the corrupt, the indolent, the foolish man, He turns a fruitful land into barrenness.
2. In the social department.
(1) In families. Providence has been compared to a wheel; as the wheel goes round, those who are up to-day will be down to-morrow, and the reverse.
(2) In nations.
II. It repays the study of the wisest men. There is no subject for human study of such transcendent interest and importance as that of Gods management of mankind. The study of this subject will serve three purposes.
1. To rejoice the good. The righteous shall see it and rejoice. The righteous will see in the subject how wisely, how beneficently, how universally all things are managed, how all things work together for good to them that love God, how even evil is overruled to answer benevolent ends.
2. To confound the wicked. All iniquity shall stop her mouth. It shall be, says an old author, a full conviction of the folly of atheists, of those that deny the Divine providence, and forasmuch as practical atheism is at the bottom of all sin, it shall in effect stop the mouth of all iniquity. When sinners see how this punishment answers to their sin, and how justly God deals with them in taking away from them those gifts of His which they had abused, they shall not have one word to say for themselves. God will be justified, He will be clear.
3. To reveal Gods infinite lovingkindness to all.
(1) Human suffering, however great., is never equal in amount to that of human enjoyment. This is obvious from the circumstance that men, even in the greatest affliction and trial, earnestly desire the perpetuation of their life and struggle for it.
(2) Human suffering is generally, if not always, ascribable to human conduct. Either their ancestors or themselves have broken those organic, moral, and social laws, the observance of which is the condition of happiness.
(3) Human suffering may, and should, contribute to lasting enjoyment. Sufferings are disciplinary, they are only storms to purify the moral atmosphere of the world, medicated ingredients in the cup of life which, though bitter, are designed and suited to heal the diseases of the soul, and to make it happy and hale. (Homilist.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann1924 · Public DomainOn v33A further section describes the life of the tillers…
A further section describes the life of the tillers of the soil when they are deprived of the needed moisture in their fields, as well as when they receive an abundance of rain.
v. 33. He turneth rivers into a wilderness, the earth’s productiveness being changed to sterility by His withholding the sources of fertility, and the water-springs into dry ground;
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v. 34. a fruitful land into barrenness, into alkali deserts, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein, punishing the inhabitants for their sins. There are many examples of this fact in many parts of the world. On the other hand, the Lord sends bountiful blessings upon men.
v. 35. He turneth the wilderness, the bare and apparently Unfruitful desert, into a standing water, so that pools of water will be found there, and dry ground into water-springs.
v. 36. And there He maketh the hungry to dwell, giving them dwellings, homes, in the former wilderness, that they may prepare a city for habitation, since the country proved rich enough to sustain a large population,
v. 37. and sow the fields and plant vineyards, which may yield fruits of increase, the husbandman getting rich returns for his labors.
v. 38. He blesseth them also, so that they are multiplied greatly, all the conditions surrounding them being favorable to such an increase; and suffereth not their cattle to decrease. Such are the blessings of the Lord which should be acknowledged by men with due thanks, both in proclaiming His goodness and in serving Him according to His will.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv33, 36He turns
He turns
"Yahweh makes"
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because of the wickedness of its people
"because the people that live there are wicked"
He turns the wilderness into a pool of water and dry land into springs of water
Both of these phrases have similar meaning and emphasize how Yahweh makes water appear in the wilderness. AT: "He make springs and lakes in land that used to be desert" (See: Parallelism)
GEBible — Godless Engineer's Bible App
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv33, 35 33. He turneth rivers into a wilderness Here then…
33. He turneth rivers into a wilderness Here then is an account of changes which it would be the height of folly to attribute to chance. Fruitful lands become unfruitful, and barren lands assume the new aspect of freshness and fruitfulness. And how happens it that one district becomes sterile, and another becomes fat and fertile, contrary to what they were wont to be, but because that God pours out his wrath upon the inhabitants of the one, by taking his blessing from them, and renders the other fruitful to feed the hungry? It may be ascribed to the thinness of the population, that many parts of Asia and Greece, once exceedingly fruitful, now lie uncultivated and unproductive; but we must ascribe to the providence of God, which the prophet praises, the well authenticated fact, that in some places the earth that was fruitful has now become barren and parched, while others are beginning to be fertile.
It is, however, not sufficient merely to observe, that these wonderful revolutions of the surface of the earth are the result of God’s overruling purpose, unless we also observe, in the second place, what the prophet does not omit, that the earth is cursed by him on account of the iniquity of its inhabitants, who prove themselves to be undeserving of being so amply sustained by his bountiful hand. He has put pools and springs of water for fields or countries where there is an abundance of water; because moisture is required to nourish the plants by which fruit is produced. The term saltness is employed metaphorically, inasmuch as there is nothing more sterile than salt; hence that saying of Christ’s,
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“If the salt have lost its saltness, what further purpose will it serve?” Mark 9:50
not even indeed for barrenness. And, consequently, when men designed to doom any place to remain unproductive, they usually sowed it with salt. And probably it is in allusion to this ancient custom, that the prophet says that the land was covered with salt.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv34, 35, 37 Or, saltness.
Or, saltness.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv33–38 Psa 107:33 He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and…
Psa 107:33 He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the watersprings into dry ground;
Ver. 33. He turneth rivers into a wilderness] Hitherto the psalmist hath set forth God’s good providence in delivering men from several deaths and dangers; now he declareth the same in his just and powerful transmutations in nature, while according to the good pleasure of his will he changeth men’s condition, either from good to evil, or from evil to good, beyond all expectation; it is even he that doeth it, whatsoever a company of dizzy headed men dream to the contrary, as one phraseth it. It is God who drieth up those rivers, whereby the land was made fat and fertile, Isa 41:17.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv33–38 Rivers; either,
Rivers; either,
1. Properly so called; which he can divert or dry up when he pleaseth, as sometimes he hath done. Or rather,
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2. Those grounds which are well watered, and therefore very fruitful, as the next verse explains this. And so
the water-springs, here and Psa 107:35, and the standing water, Psa 107 35, are taken.
Into a wilderness; into a dry ground, as it follows, which is like a parched and barren wilderness.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v33 The psalmist, having given God the glory of the…
The psalmist, having given God the glory of the providential reliefs granted to persons in distress, here gives him the glory of the revolutions of providence, and the surprising changes it sometimes makes in the affairs of the children of men.
I. He gives some instances of these revolutions.
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1. Fruitful countries are made barren and barren countries are made fruitful. Much of the comfort of this life depends upon the soil in which our lot is cast. Now, (1.) The sin of man has often marred the fruitfulness of the soil and made it unserviceable, Psa 107:33, Psa 107:34. Land watered with rivers is sometimes turned into a wilderness, and that which had been full of water-springs now has not so much as water-streams; it is turned into dry and sandy ground, that has not consistency and moisture enough to produce any thing valuable. Many a fruitful land is turned into saltness, not so much from natural causes as from the just judgment of God, who thus punished the wickedness of those that dwell therein; as the vale of Sodom became a salt sea. Note, If the land be bad, it is because the inhabitants are so. Justly is the ground made unfruitful to those that bring not forth fruit unto God, but serve Baal with their corn and wine. (2.) The goodness of God has often mended the barrenness of the soil, and turned a wilderness, a land o drought, into water-springs, Psa 107:35. The land of Canaan, which was once the glory of all lands for fruitfulness, is said to be, at this day, a fruitless, useless, worthless spot of ground, as was foretold, Deu 29:23. This land of ours, which formerly was much of it an uncultivated desert, is now full of all good things, and more abundant honour is given to that part which lacked. Let the plantations in America, and the colonies settled there, compared with the desolations of many countries in Asia and Europe, that formerly were famous, expound this.
2. Necessitous families are raised and enriched, while prosperous families are impoverished and go to decay. If we look broad in the world, (1.) We see many greatly increasing whose beginning was small, and whose ancestors were mean and made no figure, Psa 107:36-38. Those that were hungry are made to dwell in fruitful lands; there they take root, and gain a settlement, and prepare a city for habitation for themselves and theirs after them. Providence puts good land under their hands, and they build upon it. Cities took rise from rising families. But as lands, will not serve for men without lodgings, and therefore they must prepare a city of habitation, so lodgings, though ever so convenient, will not serve without lands, and therefore they must sow the fields, and plant vineyards (Psa 107:37), for the king himself is served of the field. And yet the fields, though favoured with water-springs, will not yield fruits of increase, unless they be sown, nor will vineyards be had, unless they be planted; man's industry must attend God's blessing, and then God's blessing will crown man's industry. The fruitfulness of the soil should engage, for it does encourage, diligence; and, ordinarily, the hand of the diligent, by the blessing of God, makes rich, Psa 107:38. He blesses them also, so that they are, in a little time, multiplied greatly, and he diminishes not their cattle. As in the beginning, so still it is, by the blessing of God, that the earth and all the creatures increase and multiply (Gen 1:22), and we depend upon God for the increase of the cattle as well as for the increase of the ground. Cattle would decrease many ways if God should permit it, and men would soon suffer by it. (2.) We see many that have thus suddenly risen as suddenly sunk and brought to nothing (Psa 107:39): Again they are diminished and brought low by adverse providences, and end their days as low as they began them; or their families after them lose as fast a they got, and scatter what they heaped together. Note, Worldly wealth is an uncertain thing, and often those that are filled with it, ere they are aware, grow so secure and sensual with it that, ere they are aware, they lose it again. Hence it is called deceitful riches and the mammon of unrighteousness. God has many ways of making men poor; he can do it by oppression, affliction, and sorrow, as he tempted Job and brought him low.
3. Those that were high and great in the world are abased, and those that were mean and despicable are advanced to honour, Psa 107:40, Psa 107:41. We have seen, (1.) Princes dethroned and reduced to straits. He pours contempt upon them, even among those that have idolized them. Those that exalt themselves God will abase, and, in order thereunto, will infatuate: He makes them to wander in the wilderness, where there is no way. He baffles those counsels by which they thought to support themselves, and their own power and pomp, and drives them headlong, so that they know not what course to steer, nor what measures to take. We met with this before, Job 12:24, Job 12:25. (2.) Those of low degree advanced to the posts of honour (Psa 107:41): Yet setteth he the poor on high, raiseth from the dust to the throne of glory, Sa1 2:8; Psa 113:7, Psa 113:8. Those that were afflicted and trampled on are not only delivered, but set on high out of the reach of their troubles, above their enemies, and have dominion over those to whom they had been in subjection. That which adds to their honour, and strengthens them in their elevation, is the multitude of their children: He maketh him families like a flock of sheep, so numerous, so useful, so sociable with one another, and so meek and peaceable. He that sent them meat sent them mouths. Happy is the man that has his quiver filled with arrows, for he shall boldly speak with the enemy in the gate, Psa 127:5. God is to be acknowledged both in setting up families and in building them up. Let not princes be envied, nor the poor despised, for God has many ways of changing the condition of both.
II. He makes some improvement of these remarks; such surprising turns as these are of use, 1. For the solacing of saints. They observe these dispensations with pleasure (Psa 107:42): The righteous shall see it and rejoice in the glorifying of God's attributes and the manifesting of his dominion over the children of men. It is a great comfort to a good man to see how God manages the children of men, as the potter does the clay, so as to serve his own purposes by them, to see despised virtue advanced and impious pride brought low to the dust, to see it evinced beyond dispute that verily there is a God that judges in the earth. 2. For the silencing of sinners: All iniquity shall stop her mouth; it shall be a full conviction of the folly of atheists, and of those that deny the divine providence; and, forasmuch as practical atheism is at the bottom of all sin, it shall in effect stop the mouth of all iniquity. When sinners see how their punishment answers to their sin, and how justly God deals with them in taking away from them those gifts of his which they had abused, they shall not have one word to say for themselves; for God will be justified, he will be clear. 3. For the satisfying of all concerning the divine goodness (Psa 107:43): Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, these various dispensations of divine providence, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the Lord. Here is, (1.) A desirable end proposed, and that is, rightly to understand the lovingkindness of the Lord. It is of great use to us, in religion, to be fully assured of God's goodness, to be experimentally acquainted and duly affected with it, that his lovingkindness may be before our eyes, Psa 26:3. (2.) A proper means prescribed for attaining this end, and that is a due observance of God's providence. We must lay up these things, mind them, and keep them in mind, Luk 2:19. (3.) A commendation of the use of this means as an instance of true wisdom: Whoso is wise, let him by this both prove his wisdom and improve it. A prudent observance of the providences of God will contribute very much to the accomplishing of a good Christian.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv33–38 And there he maketh the hungry to dwell,.... In…
And there he maketh the hungry to dwell,.... In those fruitful places which they find agreeable to them, and so fix upon them as the places of their abode, and build houses, and dwell there; having all the conveniences of life, which they wanted elsewhere: so such as hunger and thirst after righteousness make to such places where the waters are, the word is preached, and ordinances administered; and here they take up their dwelling, their bread being given them, and their waters sure unto them.
That they may prepare a city for habitation; those poor necessitous persons, as they were when they first came; building houses, and others continually coming to them, by degrees form a well regulated city, which are a large number of inhabitants: which may be considered as an emblem of the church of God, often compared to a city; and is an habitation for God, and where saints desire and delight to dwell.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv33–36 Rivers - Those grounds which are well watered, and…
Rivers - Those grounds which are well watered, and therefore fruitful. And so the water-springs, here, and the standing water, ver. 35 are taken. Into - Into a dry ground, which is like a parched and barren wilderness.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv33, 36 Verse 33. He turneth rivers into a wilderness] After…
Verse 33. He turneth rivers into a wilderness] After having, as above, illustrated the state of the Jews in their captivity, and the deliverance which God wrought for them, he now turns to the general conduct of God in reference to the poor and needy; and his gracious interpositions in their behalf, the providential supply of their wants, and his opposition to their oppressors. On account of the wickedness of men, he sometimes changes a fruitful land into a desert. See the general state of Egypt in the present time: once a fertile land; now an arid, sandy wilderness. Again, by his blessing on honest industry, he has changed deserts into highly fertile ground. And, as for the wickedness of their inhabitants, many lands are cursed and rendered barren; so, when a people acknowledge him in all their ways, he blesses their toil, gives them rain and fruitful seasons, and fills their hearts with joy and gladness.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v33 Psa 107:33-38. He turneth rivers — Land watered with…
Psa 107:33-38. He turneth rivers — Land watered with rivers; into a wilderness — Into dry ground, as it follows, like a parched and barren wilderness, that has not moisture enough to produce any thing valuable; a fruitful land into barrenness — Hebrew, למלחה, limleechah, into saltness, which causes barrenness; for the wickedness of them that dwell therein — He doth not inflict these judgments without cause, but for the punishment of sin in some, and the prevention of it in others. “Thus the plain of Jordan, which, before the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, was well watered everywhere, like the garden of Jehovah, (Gen 13:10,) hath, since that overthrow, been a land of salt, and sulphur, and perpetual sterility. Nay, even the fruitful Palestine itself, that flowed with milk and honey, is at this day a region of utter desolation, so that the very possibility of its ever having sufficed to maintain the people who formerly possessed it is now called in question. And, indeed, while the rain of heaven shall continue to be in the hand of God, how easy is it for him, by withholding it during a few months, to blast all the most promising hopes of man; and, instead of plenty, joy, and health, to visit him with famine, pestilence, and death.” On the other hand, (Psa 107:35,) he turneth the wilderness — The barren and desolate wilderness; into a standing water — Into a well-watered and fruitful land. “When the ways of a people please God, the rain shall descend from above, the springs shall rise from beneath, the earth shall yield her increase, the cattle shall feed in large pastures, the seasons shall be kindly, the earth salutary, and the smiling face of nature shall attest the loving-kindness of the Lord. Thus, in the dispensations of grace, hath he dealt with Jews and Gentiles. The synagogue of the former, once rich in faith, watered with the benedictions of heaven, fruitful in prophets and saints, adorned with the services of religion, and the presence of Jehovah, hath been, since the murder of the Son of God, cursed with infidelity, parched like the withered tops of the mountains of Gilboah, barren and desolate as the land of their ancient residence, whose naked rocks seem to declare to all the world the hard-heartedness and unprofitableness of its old possessors. When the fruitful field thus became a forest, the wilderness, at the same time, became a fruitful field. A church was planted in the Gentile world, and the Spirit was poured out upon it from on high. In that wilderness did waters break out, and streams in that desert. There was faith sown, and holiness was the universal product. The wilderness and the solitary place was glad, and the desert rejoiced and blossomed as the rose. It blossomed abundantly, and rejoiced even with joy and singing; the glory of Lebanon was given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon. The privileges and honours of the synagogue were conferred upon the church; and the nations now saw the glory of Jehovah, and the excellency of our God, Isa 32:15; Isa 35:1-2.” — Horne.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv33–38 He turneth rivers into a wilderness - He makes…
He turneth rivers into a wilderness - He makes great changes in the earth; he shows that he has absolute dominion over it. See the notes at Isa 44:26-27. On the word “wilderness,” see the notes at Psa 107:4. The point here is, that God had such control over nature that he could make the bed of a river dry and barren as the rocky or sandy desert. He could effectually dry up the stream, and make it so dry and parched that nothing would grow but the most stunted shrubs, such as were found in the waste and sandy desert.
And the water-springs into dry ground - The very fountains of the rivers: not only drying up the river itself by leading it off into burning wastes where it would be evaporated by the heat, or lost in the sand - but so directly affecting the “sources” of the streams as to make them dry.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On v33 33-42. These verses comprehend the last two strophes, the…
33-42. These verses comprehend the last two strophes, the first ending with Psa_107:38, and the latter with Psa_107:42. The whole comprises a description of what God can do in his sovereign grace and judgment with a nation. Their depression and exaltation proceed alike from him. Psa_107:33-34 are a description of the land of Judah after the desolating wars and conquests of Nebuchadnezzar, answering to Jeremiah’s vision of the country at the same date. Jer_4:20; Jer_4:23. Psa_107:35-38 are a reversed view after the return of the exiles and the appearance of their first harvest, when the land responded to tillage, and God’s blessing had returned upon the husbandman.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv33–38 33. He turneth] He hath turned. The verbs in…
33. He turneth] He hath turned. The verbs in Psa_107:33-41 should be translated by the past tense, as referring to facts of experience, not merely to general truths. The Targ. refers Psa_107:33-34 to the drought in the time of Joel.
into dry ground] R.V. into a thirsty ground. Psa_107:33 a is from Isa_50:2; with 33 b cp. Isa_35:7 : Psa_107:35 is from Isa_41:18.
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33–38. Fertile lands are smitten with barrenness for the wickedness of their inhabitants: barren lands are transformed into a fruitful home for the poor and needy.
33–43. The style of the Psalm changes, and its subject becomes more general. The refrain disappears, and instead of examples of God’s goodness in delivering various classes of men, we have proofs of His providential government of the world in the vicissitudes of countries and peoples.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv33–35 (33) The change in character and style of the…
(33) The change in character and style of the psalm at this point is so marked as to suggest an addition by another hand. It is not only that the artistic form is dropped, and the series of vivid pictures, each closed by a refrain, succeeded by changed aspects of thought, but the language becomes harsher, and the poet, if the same, suddenly proclaims that he has exhausted his imagination.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv33–38 Vers. 33-42. Professor Cheyne finds in this passage which…
Vers. 33-42. Professor Cheyne finds in this passage which he views as an "appendix" to the psalm a falling off from the earlier portion of the psalm, and a set of "sentences strung together without much reflection." But to others the transition from special deliverances to God"s general dealings with mankind seems an enlargement and an advance in the thought, although the language may be less graphic and more commonplace than in the former portion of the composition.
He turneth rivers into a wilderness. God can, and does, by the operation of his providence, turn lands naturally fertile lands abounding with streams into arid wastes, either by such a physical catastrophe as that which blasted the cities of the plain, (Gen_19:24, Gen_19:25) or by such moral changes as have turned Babylonia from a garden into a desert, a miserable howling wilderness. (comp. Psa_1:2 Jer_1:13-15 Jer_51:13, Jer_51:37-43, etc.) And the water springs into dry ground. The phrase is varied, but the meaning is the same. God has full control over nature, and can either take back his blessings, or render them of no avail.
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Vers. 33-43. Divine revolution.
The wheel of providence "goes full circle," lifting up the lowly and abasing the proud. God turns the rivers into a wilderness, and the wilderness into standing water, etc. (vers. 33, 35).
I THE DIVINE OVERTHROW. He cast out the guilty inhabitants of Canaan, and planted in their place the children of Israel; but when these rebelled against him, he rejected them, and sent them forth into a strange land. Thus has God humbled nations age after age; thus has he humiliated Churches both great ecclesiastical organizations, and such Churches as those we read of in the Apocalypse. (Re 2 Re 3) And thus may we expect that he will bring down all communities that forget their Creator, that are false to their Redeemer, that are unfaithful to their mission.
II THE DIVINE UPBUILDING. (Vers. 35-38, 41) A people, a Church, a society, may be very low, there may be but a spark of life in it; yet it need not despair. There is a hand which can kindle the faintest spark into a noble flame; there is One who can turn the sterile desert into the fruitful field. Far above all means and measures is the consideration Is G ods favor gained? Our expectation is from him. "Let Israel hope in the Lord." There are three things which avail to secure his good pleasure and his restoring power.
1. Penitence for past misdeeds and present unworthiness.
2. The faith which leads to earnest prayer for his blessing.
3. The appropriate, devoted action to which he calls us.
Under these conditions we may look for a Divine revolution evil and sorrow overturned, righteousness and prosperity restored.
Vers. 33-39. God"s commonplace mercies.
The difference in the style and contents of the latter part of this psalm has been noticed by almost every writer. The pictures, with their closing refrain, cease; and in a hurried way instances of God"s providential government are given. It has been thought that the psalm was completed by another poet; but in that case the structure of the psalm would have been closely imitated. The peculiarity of this portion may be explained by showing that the psalmist had spoken of God"s gracious relation to special forms of trouble; and he might leave the impression that God was only in them. And men might be feeling very deeply how commonplace their life was. Without such special experiences they might take up the notion that they were out of the spheres of special Divine mercies; and so the didactic psalmist puts in a word for these: in a few skilful sentences he sketches ordinary, commonplace life, and shows God"s relation to it. The things briefly mentioned suggest
I THE COMMONPLACE ADVERSITIES OF LIFE. Such are the difficulties of the seasons, the rains, the floods, the drought, in their relation to agricultural life.
II THE COMMONPLACE ENTERPRISES OF LIFE. Working for a living, tillage, building, planting, tending cattle, etc.
III THE COMMONPLACE DISASTERS OF LIFE. Accidents, diseases, plagues, etc.
IV THE COMMONPLACE ENMITIES OF LIFE. For few men pass through many years without suffering from the mischief-making schemes of those who, by reason of envy or masterfulness, make themselves their enemies. The psalmist urges that God is quits as truly in the commonplace as in the unusual. He is working through our everyday life experience some high and gracious moral end. And therefore every man should be quick to observe the "loving-kindness of the Lord," and ever ready to "praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain On vv33–38 Ver. 33. He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and…
Ver. 33. He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the watersprings into dry ground. When the Lord deals with rebellious men he can soon deprive them of those blessings of which they feel most assured: their rivers and perennial springs they look upon as certain never to be taken from them, but the Lord at a word can deprive them even of these. In hot climates after long droughts streams of water utterly fail, and even springs cease to flow, and this also has happened in other parts of the world when great convulsions of the earth's surface have occurred. In providence this physical catastrophe finds its counterpart when business ceases to yield profit and sources of wealth are made to fail; as also when health and strength are taken away, when friendly aids are withdrawn, and comfortable associations are broken up. So, too, in soul matters, the most prosperous ministries may become dry, the most delightful meditations cease to benefit us, and the most fruitful religious exercises grow void of the refreshment of grace which they formerly yielded. Since
"It is God who lifts our comforts high,
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Or sinks them in the grave",
it behooves us to walk before him with reverential gratitude, and so to live that it may not become imperative upon him to afflict us.
Ver. 33. He turneth rivers into a wilderness, etc. God is the father of the rain. If he withholds that refreshment for a long time, all nature droops, and every green thing dies. The imagery is drawn from Palestine where there were but two annual rainy seasons, and if either of them was long deferred, the effect was frightful. The channels of considerable rivers were dried up. William S. Plumer.
Ver. 33. Rivers...Watersprings. A church enriched with the graces of heaven is compared by the prophets to a well watered garden (Isa 63:11 Jer 31:12), to the paradise of God, watered with its four fruitful rivers: for as everything useful and ornamental in the vegetable world is raised up by water, so is everything in the spiritual world raised up by the Holy Spirit. William Romaine.
Ver. 33-34. The scene which here opens with a landscape of beauty and fertility is suddenly changed into a dry and barren wilderness. The rivers are dried up, the springs cease to flow among the hills, and the verdant fields are scorched and bare. The reason assigned for this is "the wickedness of them that dwell therein." This picture needs no interpretation to the people of God. It is precisely what happens within them when they have fallen into sin. G.R.
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v33 He turneth rivers into a wilderness.
Psa_107:33-43
He turneth rivers into a wilderness.
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Gods management of man upon the earth
I. It involves great revolutions.
1. In the secular department (Psa_107:33-38). Sodoms fertile soil was smitten with barrenness. Canaan, at one time one of the most fruitful spots under heaven, is now one of the most worthless. How does God do this generally?
(1) He does it by man. To man He has given the power to change the character of the soil, to make orchards out of wildernesses, and gardens out of deserts, and thus cause the wilderness to blossom as the rose.
(2) He does it by man, with a due regard to mans character. By the moral, the wise, the industrious man, He makes the barren places fruitful; and by the corrupt, the indolent, the foolish man, He turns a fruitful land into barrenness.
2. In the social department.
(1) In families. Providence has been compared to a wheel; as the wheel goes round, those who are up to-day will be down to-morrow, and the reverse.
(2) In nations.
II. It repays the study of the wisest men. There is no subject for human study of such transcendent interest and importance as that of Gods management of mankind. The study of this subject will serve three purposes.
1. To rejoice the good. The righteous shall see it and rejoice. The righteous will see in the subject how wisely, how beneficently, how universally all things are managed, how all things work together for good to them that love God, how even evil is overruled to answer benevolent ends.
2. To confound the wicked. All iniquity shall stop her mouth. It shall be, says an old author, a full conviction of the folly of atheists, of those that deny the Divine providence, and forasmuch as practical atheism is at the bottom of all sin, it shall in effect stop the mouth of all iniquity. When sinners see how this punishment answers to their sin, and how justly God deals with them in taking away from them those gifts of His which they had abused, they shall not have one word to say for themselves. God will be justified, He will be clear.
3. To reveal Gods infinite lovingkindness to all.
(1) Human suffering, however great., is never equal in amount to that of human enjoyment. This is obvious from the circumstance that men, even in the greatest affliction and trial, earnestly desire the perpetuation of their life and struggle for it.
(2) Human suffering is generally, if not always, ascribable to human conduct. Either their ancestors or themselves have broken those organic, moral, and social laws, the observance of which is the condition of happiness.
(3) Human suffering may, and should, contribute to lasting enjoyment. Sufferings are disciplinary, they are only storms to purify the moral atmosphere of the world, medicated ingredients in the cup of life which, though bitter, are designed and suited to heal the diseases of the soul, and to make it happy and hale. (Homilist.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v33 A further section describes the life of the tillers…
A further section describes the life of the tillers of the soil when they are deprived of the needed moisture in their fields, as well as when they receive an abundance of rain.
v. 33. He turneth rivers into a wilderness, the earth’s productiveness being changed to sterility by His withholding the sources of fertility, and the water-springs into dry ground;
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v. 34. a fruitful land into barrenness, into alkali deserts, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein, punishing the inhabitants for their sins. There are many examples of this fact in many parts of the world. On the other hand, the Lord sends bountiful blessings upon men.
v. 35. He turneth the wilderness, the bare and apparently Unfruitful desert, into a standing water, so that pools of water will be found there, and dry ground into water-springs.
v. 36. And there He maketh the hungry to dwell, giving them dwellings, homes, in the former wilderness, that they may prepare a city for habitation, since the country proved rich enough to sustain a large population,
v. 37. and sow the fields and plant vineyards, which may yield fruits of increase, the husbandman getting rich returns for his labors.
v. 38. He blesseth them also, so that they are multiplied greatly, all the conditions surrounding them being favorable to such an increase; and suffereth not their cattle to decrease. Such are the blessings of the Lord which should be acknowledged by men with due thanks, both in proclaiming His goodness and in serving Him according to His will.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv33, 36 He turns
He turns
"Yahweh makes"
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because of the wickedness of its people
"because the people that live there are wicked"
He turns the wilderness into a pool of water and dry land into springs of water
Both of these phrases have similar meaning and emphasize how Yahweh makes water appear in the wilderness. AT: "He make springs and lakes in land that used to be desert" (See: Parallelism)
translationWords
desert
fountain
fruit
barren
evil
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv33, 38 107:33-42 These two sections (107:33-38, 39-42) expand the theme…
107:33-42 These two sections (107:33-38, 39-42) expand the theme of the Lord’s sovereignty over things that humans cannot control.
107:33-35 The Lord can choose to make the earth fertile or barren (74:15; Isa 35:6-7).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.