Psalms 106:39 Commentary: The Stain of Spiritual Adultery

Psalm 106 recounts Israel’s history from Egypt to the exile. Verses 34, 39 focus on the period after entering Canaan. God had commanded the destruction of the Canaanite nations to prevent Israel from adopting their religious practices (Exodus 23:32, 33; Deuteronomy 7:2, 4). Instead, as the Psalm says, they “mixed themselves with the nations, and learned their works” (v. 35). Intermarriage led to participation in Baal worship and its accompanying rites, which often included cultic prostitution. And the worst of it, as Keil and Delitzsch emphasize, was child sacrifice offered to the gods of Canaan (v. 37, 38). The land became polluted with blood, and the people became unclean through these acts (Numbers 35:33, 34). Matthew Henry observes that they were “provoking” God by preferring their own inventions to His commands. The language of “going a whoring” is deliberately strong: it pictures Israel as an unfaithful bride who has abandoned her husband for lovers who can only destroy her (Hosea 2:2, 13). The psalmist’s aim, as Calvin notes, is not merely to condemn but to lead the congregation in confession, acknowledging that the nation’s suffering under the judges and eventually the exile was the just fruit of their spiritual adultery. Yet even here, the psalm turns toward hope: after the catalogue of failure, verses 44, 46 show God remembering His covenant and showing compassion.

The Masoretic Text of Psalm 106:39 is stable and well-attested by the majority of manuscripts and ancient versions (Syriac, Targum, Vulgate). The Septuagint and the Old Latin tradition (reflected in the Douay-Rheims: “Then they were brought to be few…”) present a substantially different reading, possibly based on a different Hebrew Vorlage or a paraphrastic translation. The consulted sources (the supplied translations and commentary excerpts) do not discuss this variant, but the difference is notable and has been acknowledged by text critics. For the purposes of this study, the reading found in the WEB, KJV, ASV, and other standard English versions is the one engaged by the majority of the commentaries cited.

Psalm 106:39 has been used in both Jewish and Christian traditions as a scriptural warrant for the marriage metaphor for God’s covenant. Early church fathers such as Augustine drew on this imagery to urge the Church to remain faithful to her divine Husband. In the Reformation, Calvin and Matthew Henry read the verse as a call to repentance, emphasizing that human works cannot remove defilement. The verse has also been incorporated into penitential liturgies, especially in Lenten contexts, as a confession of spiritual unfaithfulness. More recently, the strong language of the verse has been a touchstone for Christian teaching on the seriousness of idolatry and the exclusivity of devotion to God.

Three-point outline

1. Defilement by Our Own Deeds. Sin does not merely break a rule; it stains the person. Israel’s works, especially the worship of idols and child sacrifice, made them ceremonially and morally unclean, as Gill and Barnes stress. Our own good efforts cannot cleanse us; they only add to the defilement.
2. Spiritual Adultery Exposed. The marriage metaphor (Hosea, Ezekiel, Jeremiah) makes God’s relationship with His people intensely personal. Idolatry is not a minor slip but a betrayal of intimate covenant love. The language “play the prostitute” shocks us awake to the seriousness of divided loyalty.
3. Mercy after Adultery. The verses immediately following (40, 46) show God’s anger, but also His turning when the people cry out. He remembers His covenant. The gospel answer to this verse is that Christ took the defilement of our spiritual adultery on Himself, offering cleansing that our own works could never provide.

Five-point outline

1. The sin of misdirected devotion, Israel’s “works” were not neutral; they chose the practices of the nations over the commands of God.
2. The progression of defilement, from mixing with the nations (v. 35) to serving idols (v. 36) to sacrificing children (v. 37, 38). Small compromises lead to great horrors.
3. The language of prostitution, zanah here carries the full force of covenant unfaithfulness. It is the violation of a sacred bond.
4. The self-referential nature of sin, “their own inventions” (KJV, Geneva) shows that human attempts to manufacture worship apart from God always end in corruption.
5. The cry that brings deliverance, though the verse ends with defilement, the psalmist continues: God heard their cry and pitied them (v. 44, 46). Confession opens the door to grace.

Illustration hooks

• A marriage betrayed. The pain of adultery helps illustrate why God uses such raw language, it is not exaggerated but the only fitting analogy for covenant-breaking.
• “I can clean myself up.” A person who tries to scrub a permanent stain with water only spreads it. Only a new garment can cover us.
• Compromise with the neighborhood. Many Christians face pressure to adopt the values and practices of the surrounding culture. This verse warns that small concessions can entangle us in ways we never intended.

Questions your congregation is asking

• Is God really this angry about sin, or is this just Old Testament harshness?
• What counts as “spiritual adultery” in my life today?
• How can I be cleansed if even my best works are defiled?

This verse sits at the climax of Israel’s confession of sin in Psalm 106. The group can feel the weight of the language, but should also see that the psalmist includes himself among the guilty (“We have sinned with our fathers,” v. 6). The goal is neither despair nor casual dismissiveness, but honest recognition that unfaithfulness has real consequences, and that God’s mercy is deeper.

Discussion questions

1. Read Psalm 106:34, 39. What specific actions does the psalmist list? How do they escalate?
2. Why does the Bible use the word “prostitute” for idolatry? What does that tell us about how God views the covenant relationship?
3. The verse says they were defiled “with their own works.” In what ways do our own efforts and choices sometimes defile us, rather than make us pure?
4. According to the cross-references (Exodus 34:16; Leviticus 17:7; Numbers 15:39), what did God warn would happen if Israel followed other gods? How did those warnings come true?
5. How is the defilement from sin different from merely feeling guilty? What does it mean that God can cleanse it?
6. If someone today feels “defiled” by past mistakes or religious hypocrisy, what hope does the rest of Psalm 106 (vv. 44, 46) offer?
7. What are some “inventions” or practices that Christians in your context are tempted to adopt from the surrounding culture? How can the church guard against them together?