1 Give glory to the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
Jerome · AD 420 Confess to the Lord and call upon his name. Confess and say: because we are sinners, but you are merciful, and you have mercy on us. And call upon his name. So that we may not fashion idols in our hearts, but we will call upon our Lord, and he himself will be our redemption. Proclaim his works among the nations.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 This Psalm is the first of those to which is prefixed the word Allelujah; the meaning of which word, or rather two words, is, Praise the Lord.
2 Who shall declare the powers of the Lord? who shall set forth all his praises?
Jerome · AD 420 Sing to him and make music to him. He who understands the holy Scriptures, and meditates continually on the law of the Lord, and whose mind contemplates heavenly things, this man sings to God. But he who has within himself all the virtues — that is, is a worker of good work — this man, composing as it were a lyre out of the virtues, makes music to the Lord.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "O sing unto Him, and play on instruments unto Him" [Psalm 105:2]. Praise Him both by word and deed; for we sing with the voice, while we play with an instrument, that is, with our hands. "Let your talking be of all His wondrous works. Be praise in His holy Name" [Psalm 105:3].
3 Blessed are they that keep judgment, and do justice at all times.
Jerome · AD 420 Be praised in his holy name. This is a prophecy concerning the people of the gentiles: that is, that we should be and be called Christians from the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let the heart of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Let the monks be glad, for the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. If of those who seek, how much more of those who find him?
4 Remember us, O Lord, in the favour of thy people: visit us with thy salvation.
Eusebius of Caesarea · AD 339 In Psalm 104 [LXX], David, when referring to the stories of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the very men who were his godly ancestors, who lived before Moses' day, calls them Christs, only because they all received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "Seek the Lord, and be strengthened" [Psalm 105:4]. This is very literally construed from the Greek, though it may seem not a Latin word: whence other copies have, "be ye confirmed;" others, "be ye corroborated."...While these words, then, "Come unto Him, and be enlightened," apply to seeing; those in the text relate to doing: "Seek the Lord, and be strengthened."...But what me…
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 For holy desires grow by delay. But if they fail by delay, they were not desires. With this love burned whoever was able to reach the truth.
5 That we may see the good of thy chosen, that we may rejoice in the joy of thy nation: that thou mayst be praised with thy inheritance.
Jerome · AD 420 Remember his wonders which he did. In Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the desert.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "Remember," he says, "His marvellous works that He has done, His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth" [Psalm 105:5]. This passage seems like that, "You shall say unto the children of Israel, I Am has sent me unto you:" an expression which, in ever so small part, scarce a mind takes in.
6 We have sinned with our fathers: we have acted unjustly, we have wrought iniquity.
Jerome · AD 420 The seed of Abraham, his servants: the sons of Jacob, his chosen ones. If someone is seed, he is not yet also a son, according to what is written in the gospel: 'If you were the sons of Abraham, you would do the works of your father.' Therefore, that in which they glory, they are not; and if they are seed, they are servants set under fear, not having the perfect love which cast…
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 ...that they who by the great powers of love knew how to seek His face for evermore, might according to their capacity comprehend, I Am that I Am. Unto whom is it said, "O ye seed of Abraham His servant, ye children of Jacob, His chosen"? [Psalm 105:6]...
7 Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt: they remembered not the multitude of thy mercies: And they provoked to wrath going up to the sea, even the Red Sea.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 He next addeth, "He is the Lord our God: His judgments are in all the world" [Psalm 105:7]. Is He the God of the Jews only? [Romans 3:29] God forbid! "He is the Lord our God:" because the Church, where His judgments are preached, is in all the world....
8 And he saved them for his own name's sake: that he might make his power known.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "He hath been alway mindful of His covenant" (ver. 8). Other copies read, "for evermore;" and this arises from the ambiguity of the Greek. But if we are to understand "alway" of this world and not of eternity, why, when he explaineth what covenant He was mindful of, doth he add, "The word that He made to a thousand generations"?
9 And he rebuked the Red Sea and it was dried up: and he led them through the depths, as in a wilderness.
10 And he saved them from the hand of them that hated them: and he redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.
11 And the water covered them that afflicted them: there was not one of them left.
12 And they believed his words: and they sang his praises.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 He next follows out the history well known in the truth of the holy Scriptures. "When they were in small numbers, very few, and they strangers in the land" [Psalm 105:12]; that is, in the land of Canaan....But some copies have the words "very few, and they strangers," in the accusative case, the translator having turned the Greek phrase too literally into Latin.
13 They had quickly done, they forgot his works: and they waited not for his counsel.
Jerome · AD 420 And they passed from nation to nation. Many think that he speaks of the captivity of the Jews. It is not so. For he speaks of Abraham. He went out from the land of the Chaldeans, and came into Mesopotamia, and from Mesopotamia into the land of promise, and again into Egypt. And from a kingdom to another people.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "What time as they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people" [Psalm 105:13]. This is a repetition of what he had said, "from one nation to another." "He suffered no man to do them harm: but reproved even kings for their sakes" [Psalm 105:14]. "Touch not," He said, "Mine anointed, and do My prophets no harm" [Psalm 105:15].
14 And they coveted their desire in the desert: and they tempted God in the place without water.
Jerome · AD 420 He did not permit man to harm them. Pharaoh, that he should harm Abraham in the person of Sarah, nor Abimelech Isaac in the person of Rebecca. And he rebuked kings for their sake. He says the same thing, Pharaoh and Abimelech.
15 And he gave them their request: and sent fulness into their souls.
Archelaus of Carrhae · AD 278 But after Moses had made his appearance, and had given the law to the children of Israel, and had brought into their memory all the requirements of the law, and all that it behoved men to observe and do under it, and when he delivered over to death only those who should transgress the law, then death was cut off from reigning over all men; for it reigned then over sinners alone…
Jerome · AD 420 Touch not my anointed ones, and do no malice among my prophets. He speaks of the patriarchs themselves. Let the Jews therefore blush, who say that unless someone is anointed with royal ointment, he cannot be called anointed (christ). For they say this, that our Lord is not the Christ, because he is not anointed with royal ointment.
Cyril of Alexandria · AD 444 You are right to conclude that he [Jesus] is called Christ only because of the anointing, just as an apostle is so called because of his apostolic function and an angel from his office as messenger. Names like these clearly indicate certain functions rather than individual realities or specific persons.
16 And they provoked Moses in the camp, Aaron the holy one of the Lord.
Jerome · AD 420 And he called famine upon the land. Very often it happens that those things which are thought to be adverse, these are brought about by the providence of God for our benefit. For unless the brothers of Joseph had been jealous of him, and had sold him, how would he have gone down into Egypt?
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 He then beginneth to relate how it happened that they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people. "He calleth," he saith, "for a famine upon the land: and brake all the staff of bread" (ver. 16). Thus it happened that they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people.
17 The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan: and covered the congregation of Abiron.
Ambrose of Milan · AD 397 Not nature but foolishness makes the slave. Not manumission but learning makes a person free. Esau was born free, but he became a slave; Joseph was sold into slavery, but he was raised to power8 so that he might rule those who had purchased him.
Jerome · AD 420 He sent a man before them. He speaks of Joseph himself. Joseph was sold as a slave. A well-born and holy man is sold.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "But He had sent a man before them" [Psalm 105:17]. What man? "Even Joseph." How did He send him? "Joseph was sold to be a bond-servant." When this happened, it was the sin of his brethren, and, nevertheless, God sent Joseph into Egypt.
18 And a fire was kindled in their congregation: the flame burned the wicked.
Jerome · AD 420 They humbled his feet in fetters. Because he refused to consent to the Egyptian mistress. They humbled his feet in fetters: but they could not humble his righteousness.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 Next he doth relate the story, mentioning what Joseph suffered in his low estate, and how he was raised on high. "His feet they hurt in the stocks: the iron entered into his soul, until his word came" (ver. 18). That Joseph was put in irons, we do not indeed read; but we ought no ways to doubt that it was so.
19 They made also a calf in Horeb: and they adored the graven thing.
Jerome · AD 420 Until his word should come. He speaks of the word of the Lord himself, who set him free. The utterance of the Lord inflamed him. For unless he had been inflamed by the Holy Spirit, he could not have conquered lust. For the Spirit of the Lord inflamed him, and extinguished the fire of lust.
20 And they changed their glory into the likeness of a calf that eateth grass.
Jerome · AD 420 The king sent, and loosed him. According to the letter, Pharaoh sent, and loosed him. In another sense: if anyone is tempted by lust, unless the Lord appears and looses him, he cannot escape sin.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "The king sent and loosed him, the prince of the peoples, and let him go free" [Psalm 105:20]. The "king" is the same as "the prince of the peoples:" he "loosed" him from his bonds "and let him go free" from his prison.
21 They forgot God, who saved them, who had done great things in Egypt,
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "He made him lord also of his house: and ruler of all his substance" [Psalm 105:21]. "That he might inform his princes like himself, and teach his old men wisdom" [Psalm 105:22].
22 Wondrous works in the land of Cham: terrible things in the Red Sea.
23 And he said that he would destroy them: had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach: To turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them.
Jerome · AD 420 And Jacob was a sojourner in the land of Ham. For the just man never dwells in the land, but is a sojourner of the earth.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "Joseph also came into Egypt, and Jacob was a stranger in the land of Ham" [Psalm 105:23]. Israel is the same with Jacob, as is Egypt with the land of Ham. Here it is very plainly shown, that the Egyptian race sprang from the seed of Chain, the son of Noah, whose first-born was Canaan. So that in those copies wherein in this passage Canaan is read, we must alter the reading.
24 And they set at nought the desirable land. They believed not his word,
Jerome · AD 420 And he increased his people exceedingly. For they went down into Egypt in seventy-five souls, and six hundred thousand went out of Egypt.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 Next is related what happened in Egypt. "And He increased," he says, "His people exceedingly, and made them stronger than their enemies" [Psalm 105:24]. Even the whole of this is briefly set forth, in order that the manner in which it took place may be afterwards related.
25 And they murmured in their tents: they hearkened not to the voice of the Lord.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "And He turned their heart so, that they hated His people, and dealt untruly with His servants" [Psalm 105:25]. Is it to be in any wise understood or believed, that God turns man's heart to do sin?...For they were not good before they hated His people; but being malignant and ungodly, they were such as would readily envy their prosperous sojourners.
26 And he lifted up his hand over them: to overthrow them in the desert;
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 The following verses, which are sung in praise of Him when Allelujah is chanted, show how He used this hatred of theirs, both for the trial of His own people, and for the glory of His Name, which is profitable for us. "He sent Moses His servant, and Aaron whom He had chosen him" [Psalm 105:26].
27 And to cast down their seed among the nations, and to scatter them in the countries.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "He set forth in them the words of His tokens, and of His wonders in the land of Ham" (ver. 27). We ought not to understand by "the words of His tokens," words literally, words with which the tokens and wonders were worked, that is, which they uttered, that these tokens and wonders might take place.
28 They also were initiated to Beelphegor: and ate the sacrifices of the dead.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "He sent darkness, and made it dark" [Psalm 105:28]. This is also written among the plagues with which the Egyptians were smitten. But what follows, is variously read in different copies.
29 And they provoked him with their inventions: and destruction was multiplied among them.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "He turned their waters into blood, and slew their fish" [Psalm 105:29].
30 Then Phinees stood up, and pacified him: and the slaughter ceased.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "He made their land frogs, yea, even in the king's chambers" [Psalm 105:30]: as if he were to say, He turned their land into frogs. For there was so great a multitude of frogs, that this might well be said by hyperbole.
31 And it was reputed to him unto justice, to generation and generation for evermore.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "He spoke the word, and there came all manner of flies, and lice in all their quarters" [Psalm 105:31]. If it be asked when He spoke, it was in His Word before it took place; and there it was, without time, at what time it should take place: although even then He commanded it to be done, when it was to be done, through Angels, and through his servants Moses and Aaron.
32 They provoked him also at the waters of contradiction: and Moses was afflicted for their sakes:
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "He made their rains hail" (ver. 32). It is a similar expression to the former, "He made their land frogs;" except that the whole land was not actually turned into frogs, though the whole of the rain may have been turned into hail. "A burning fire in their land:" understand, "He sent."
33 Because they exasperated his spirit. And he distinguished with his lips.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "He smote their vines also and fig-trees; and brake every tree of their coasts" (ver. 33). This was done by the violence of the hail, and by lightnings; whence he spoke of the fire as "burning."
34 They did not destroy the nations of which the Lord spoke unto them.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "He spoke the word, and the locust came, and the caterpillar, of which there was no number" [Psalm 105:34]. The locusts and the caterpillars are one plague: of which the one is the parent, the other the offspring.
35 And they were mingled among the heathens, and learned their works:
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "And did eat up all the grass in their land, and devoured the fruit of the ground" [Psalm 105:35]. Even grass is fruit, as Scripture is wont to speak, which calls even the ripe grain grass; but it wished these two things to harmonize in number with the two which it had spoken of before, that is, the locust and the caterpillar.
36 And served their idols, and it became a stumblingblock to them.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "He smote every first-born in their land: even the first-fruits of all their strength" [Psalm 105:36]. This is the last plague, excepting the death in the Red Sea. "The first-fruits of all their strength," I imagine to be an expression derived from the first-born of cattle.
37 And they sacrificed their sons, and their daughters to devils.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 Now he adds this also to the praises of God, that He led the Israelites out of Egypt enriched with silver and gold; because even they were then in such a condition, that they could not as yet despise the just and due, though temporal, reward of their toils...."He brought them forth also in silver and gold" [Psalm 105:37]: this too is a Scripture idiom; for "in silver and gold"…
38 And they shed innocent blood: the blood of their sons and of their daughters which they sacrificed to the idols of Chanaan. And the land was polluted with blood,
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "Egypt was glad at their departing: for their fear fell upon them" [Psalm 105:38]; that is, the fear of the Hebrews upon the Egyptians. For "their fear" is not that with which the Hebrews feared, but that with which they were feared. Some one will say, how then were the Egyptians unwilling to dismiss them? Why did they let them go as if they expected them to return?
39 And was defiled with their works: and they went aside after their own inventions.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 He now proceeds to the divine blessings which were conferred upon them as they wandered in the desert. "He spread out a cloud to be their covering: and fire to give them light in the night season" [Psalm 105:39]. This is as clear as it is well known.
Bede · AD 735 "And when Moses had gone up, a cloud covered the mountain." Just as the mountain on which Moses received the law designates the height of the perfection that was written down in that law, so does the cloud that covered the mountain suggest the grace of divine protection, which is enjoyed more and more the higher one ascends in order to search out the wonders of God's law, as th…
40 And the Lord was exceedingly angry with his people: and he abhorred his inheritance.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "They asked, and the quail came" [Psalm 105:40]. They did not desire quails, but flesh. But since the quail is flesh, and in this Psalm he speaks not of the provocation of those who did not please God, but of the faith of the elect, the true seed of Abraham; they are to be understood to have desired that that might come which might crush the murmurs of those who provoked.
41 And he delivered them into the hands of the nations: and they that hated them had dominion over them.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "He opened the rock of stone, and the waters flowed out: so that rivers ran in the dry places" [Psalm 105:41]. This fact too is understood as soon as read.
42 And their enemies afflicted them: and they were humbled under their hands:
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 But in all these blessings of His, God does commend in Abraham the merit of faith. For the Psalmist goes on to say, "For why? He remembered His holy promise, which He made to Abraham His servant" [Psalm 105:42].
43 Many times did he deliver them. But they provoked him with their counsel: and they were brought low by their iniquities.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 But in all these blessings of His, God doth commend in Abraham the merit of faith. For the Psalmist goeth on to say, "For why? He remembered His holy promise, which He made to Abraham His servant." "And He brought forth His people with joy, and His chosen with gladness" [Psalm 105:43].
44 And he saw when they were in tribulation: and he heard their prayer.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "And gave them the lands of the heathen: and they took the labours of the people in possession" [Psalm 105:44]. "The lands of the heathen," and "the labours of the people," are the same; and the words, "He gave," are repeated in these, "they took in possession."
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 Hence rightly also it is said through the Psalmist: "He gave them the lands of the nations, and they took possession of the labors of the peoples, that they might keep his statutes and observe his law." So therefore in this passage, Truth speaking to the inexperienced disciples promises that the kingdom of God will be seen on earth, so that it might be more faithfully hoped for…
45 And he was mindful of his covenant: and repented according to the multitude of his mercies.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 ..."That they may keep His statutes, and seek out His law" [Psalm 105:45]. Lastly, since by the seed of Abraham he wished those to be understood here, who were truly the seed of Abraham, such as were not wanting even in that people; as the Apostle Paul clearly showeth, when he saith, "But not in all of them was God well pleased;" [1 Corinthians 10:5] for if He was not pleased w…
46 And he gave them unto mercies, in the sight of all those that had made them captives.
47 Save us, O Lord, our God: and gather us from among the nations: That we may give thanks to thy holy name, and may glory in thy praise.
48 Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting: and let all the people say: So be it, so be it.