Psalm 107 - Thanksgiving for Deliverance

Psalm 107 text: hodu l'YHWH ki tov

Psalm 107 opens Book V of the Psalter with the same doxological formula that closes Book IV: hodu l'YHWH ki tov, ki l'olam hasdo — "give thanks to YHWH for he is good, for his hesed endures forever" (Ps 107:1 MT). Verse 2 summons the witnesses: yomru go'alei YHWH, asher g'elam miyad tzar — "let the redeemed of YHWH say so, those he redeemed from the hand of the adversary" (Ps 107:2 MT). The term go'alei (redeemed, from the root ga'al — "to redeem") belongs to the sphere of family law: the go'el is the kinsman-redeemer who pays to free his relative. Applied to YHWH, the term declares that God has constituted himself as go'el of Israel — family redeemer — in the four situations of mortal risk that Psalm 107 text enumerates.

These four categories of the redeemed are gathered mimizrach umima'arav, mitzafon umiyam — "from the east and from the west, from the north and from the sea" (Ps 107:3 MT) — the four cardinal points indicate the universality of the gathering. The quadripartite structure of Psalm 107 follows a fixed pattern: distress → cry (vayitz'aqû el YHWH batzar lahem, vv.6.13.19.28) → response of YHWH → refrains of praise (yoduhu l'YHWH hasdo v'nifle'otav livnei adam, vv.8.15.21.31). The refrain "let them give thanks to YHWH for his hesed and for his wonders toward the sons of men" is the liturgical heart of the psalm: each strophe closes with an invitation to the public praise of the nifle'ot (wonders) of YHWH. The rabbinic tradition recognized in this structure the halakhic foundation of the birkhat hagomel — the public thanksgiving blessing recited before the community by those who survive the four situations enumerated in the psalm.