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Psalms 107:1–3, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Psalms 107:1–3
Let the redeemed tell four rescue stories: The redeemed gather from every direction
Book V opens by calling the gathered redeemed to speak
O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy, and gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south.
The poem does not begin with a private mood. It begins with a public refrain and a people. Mercy here is steadfast love that holds through trouble. The four directions picture a scattered company now assembled. Book V of the Psalter often sounds like restoration after exile: not a travel diary, but a liturgy that assumes people have been far from home.
The stories are delayed until the speakers are named
The next stanzas will tell four rescue scenes—wilderness, prison, sickness, storm—and then a movement of reversed land and status. This opening only names who must talk and from where they were gathered.
The line is not a proof that every later reader has the same rescue behind them, and it is not a demand that traumatized people perform cheerfulness. Those who have been brought back are summoned to tell it.
How this should shape us
If you have been gathered from some real ruin, say so without turning the story into a performance. Make room for people still scattered. Thanksgiving here is speech in company, not a private mood.
Teach it back
Explain Psalms 107:1–3 in your own words. Name the poetic voice and movement, trace its place in Psalm 107 and Book V, identify one exact source control or uncertainty, and reject one use the passage does not authorize.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Research trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Psalms 107:1–3, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Ps.xml, OSIS 107:1–3
Supports: Verse-level controls for poetic syntax, imagery, older KJV language, textual issues, headings, and alternatives in Psalms 107:1–3.
Official NET Bible Psalm 107 HTML, translator, textual, and study notes attached to Psalms 107:1–3
Supports: Five-book, genre, poetic, historical, theological, liturgical, communal, and reception synthesis with visible limits.
Enter the Bible Psalms course, Introductory Issues: genres, parallelism, and forms; Theological Themes: Torah and human response; applied to Psalms 107:1–3
Supports: Ancient Greek wording, numbering, division, and superscription evidence where it materially clarifies translation or reception.
NETS Psalms, Pietersma introduction pp. 542–543 and exact Greek translation headed Ps 107 for Psalms 107:1–3
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Psalms 107:1–3, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Psalms
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Ps.xml, OSIS 107:1–3
Open the fixed Hebrew Psalms file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible Notes: Psalms 1-150
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, current official online edition
Supports: Verse-level controls for poetic syntax, imagery, older KJV language, textual issues, headings, and alternatives in Psalms 107:1–3.
Exact location: Official NET Bible Psalm 107 HTML, translator, textual, and study notes attached to Psalms 107:1–3
Open the official NET Psalms notes ↗modern scholarly book course
Psalms course: summary, outline, background, introductory issues, theological themes, and Bible in the world
Fred Gaiser; revised by Nicholas Schaser
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, revised May 2024
Supports: Five-book, genre, poetic, historical, theological, liturgical, communal, and reception synthesis with visible limits.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Psalms course, Introductory Issues: genres, parallelism, and forms; Theological Themes: Torah and human response; applied to Psalms 107:1–3
Open the Enter the Bible Psalms course ↗ancient greek text translation and introduction
A New English Translation of the Septuagint: Psalms
Albert Pietersma
International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies; Oxford University Press, 2009
Supports: Ancient Greek wording, numbering, division, and superscription evidence where it materially clarifies translation or reception.
Exact location: NETS Psalms, Pietersma introduction pp. 542–543 and exact Greek translation headed Ps 107 for Psalms 107:1–3
Open NETS Psalms ↗