Psalms 107

1Give thanks to the LORD — because the LORD is good! The LORD's faithful never ending love lasts forever!

2Let the people whom the LORD has set free say so! Those whom the LORD paid the price to rescue from the enemy's power — speak up!

3And the LORD gathered and collected those people back from every direction — from the east and from the west — from the north and from the south.

4They staggered and went through the desert wilderness with no direction — no path to follow. They could find no city — no place to settle down and live.

5They were very hungry and thirsty. Their souls were giving out and shutting down inside them.

6Then they cried out loud to the LORD in their trouble. And the LORD saved them out of their situation and set them free.

7And the LORD led them forward on a straight path — to a real city where they would be living.

8Oh — let people praise the LORD for the LORD is good! And for the amazing things the LORD does for people!

9Because the LORD fills the desperately craving soul! The LORD fills the hungry and empty soul with good things!

10The LORD sees those who sit in darkness of prisoners — in the shadow of death itself — chained up in misery and iron chains.

11This happened because the people had rebelled against God's word and these people refused to do what the Most High God told them to do.

12That is why God humbled their hearts by crushing labor. These people collapsed from weakness, and no one was there to help them.

13Then these people cried out to the LORD in these people's trouble, and the LORD saved these people out of these people's troubles.

14God rescued these people from the pitch-black prison that felt like death. God took their heavy iron chains and snapped them completely in half.

15Oh, how I wish all people would lift their hands and thank God for God's deep, loyal love! I wish all people would praise God for the amazing miracles God does for humanity!

16Because the LORD smashed through the bronze gates! And the LORD cut the iron bars completely in two!

17Fools suffer because of the wrong things they chose to do. Because of their own sins, they brought suffering on themselves.

18Their inner being — their soul — felt sick and deeply disgusted by all food. They couldn't eat. They were getting close to the very gates of death.

19Then the people cried out to the LORD in their trouble. And the LORD saved them and rescued them out of those troubles.

20The LORD sent out God's own word — and that word healed them! God's Word restored the sick people to health and pulled the helpless people out of the deep pit of death.

21Let ALL PEOPLE praise the LORD for the LORD's FAITHFUL LOVE! Let ALL PEOPLE praise the LORD for the breathtaking miracles the LORD does for all people everywhere

22Let them bring offerings of thanksgiving to the LORD. And let them shout out loud with joy — announcing and declaring everything the LORD has done!

23There are people who go out to sea in ships — who work and do their trade on the great wide dangerous ocean.

24Those people see the works of the LORD with their own eyes! They see the breathtaking wonders and miracles the LORD does in the deep ocean.

25Because the LORD speaks the command — and a violent stormy wind rises up! The LORD's word lifts the ocean waves up high and wild!

26The waves throw the sailors up to the sky — then plunge them down to the depths! Their inner being — their soul — completely melts and dissolves inside them because of sheer terror.

27The sailors reel back and forth — staggering around like drunk people — completely unable to control themselves. All their skill and wisdom is swallowed up — completely gone. They have nothing left.

28Then they cry out to the LORD in their trouble. And the LORD brings them out of those crushing distresses — pulls them free!

29The LORD turns the raging storm into a complete calm — total silence and stillness! The waves that were crashing and wild become completely still and quiet.

30Then the sailors are filled with gladness and relief because the sea is quiet and still. And the LORD brings them safely into the very harbor they had been hoping and longing for!

31Oh — let people praise the LORD for the LORD's faithful never ending love! And for the breathtaking miracles the LORD does for all people everywhere!

32Let them lift the LORD up high in the gathered congregation of people! Let them praise the LORD in the assembly where the elders and leaders sit together!

33The LORD turns flowing rivers into a dry wasteland! The LORD turns gushing springs of water into cracked, dry, dead ground!

34The LORD turns a land that was rich and fruitful into a salty, barren wasteland — because of the wickedness of the people living there.

35But the LORD also turns a dry wasteland into a pool of standing water! And the LORD turns cracked dry ground into fresh flowing springs!

36And the LORD settles hungry, desperate people there — in that refreshed land — so they can build a city and have a real home to live in.

37They plant seeds in the fields and plant vineyards — and those fields and vineyards produce a rich and overflowing harvest of fruit and increase!

38The LORD pours blessing on those people — and they grow and multiply greatly in number! And the LORD does not let their livestock decrease or shrink.

39But then — they are reduced and brought down low again — through being pressed down and crushed by oppression, suffering, and deep sorrow.

40The LORD pours contempt and shame down on powerful princes and rulers. The LORD causes those rulers to wander lost in a trackless wilderness — where there is no road and no direction to follow.

41But the LORD lifts the poor person up out of their suffering — raises them up to a high place! And the LORD gives poor families children as many as a flock of sheep!

42The righteous people will see all of this — and they will rejoice with great joy! And all wickedness and evil will be shut up completely — unable to say a single word.

43Whoever is truly wise — let that person carefully pay attention to all of these things. Those who pay attention and think deeply about them will truly understand the faithful never ending love of the LORD.