Psalms 107:20 · Bible study
Psalms 107:20 Commentary: The Word That Heals and Delivers
Hebrew · 10 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
What is the 'word' God sends to heal and deliver? Explore three views: divine command, the Logos, or the Gospel message.
Research Summary
- Meaning: God heals and rescues the sick from death by sending his word, his powerful command or presence.
- Key words: 'Word' (H1697, דָּבָר), speech, command, thing; 'heal' (H7495, רָפָא); 'deliver' (H4422, מָלַט), to escape; 'destructions' (H7825, שְׁחִית), pits, the grave.
- Main debate: Whether the 'word' is God's spoken command, the personified Logos (Christ), or the gospel message.
- Theological theme: God's sovereignty over sickness and death; the power of his word to restore; the call to thanksgiving.
- Best use: Preaching on God's healing power, teaching on the pattern of repentance and restoration, or connecting to Christ as the Word.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
He sent forth His word and healed them; He rescued them from the Pit.
WEB World English Bible 2000
He sends his word, and heals them, and delivers them from their graves.
KJV King James Version 1769
He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
He sendeth his word, and healeth them, And delivereth them from their destructions.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
He sendeth His word and healeth them, And delivereth from their destructions.
Darby Darby Bible 1890
He sendeth his word, and healeth them, and delivereth them from their destructions.
Translations in other languages (9 available)
Envió su palabra, y curólos, y librólos de su ruina.
Ele enviou sua palavra, e os sarou; e ele os livrou de suas covas.
Il envoya sa parole et les guérit,
er sandte sein Wort und machte sie gesund und errettete sie, daß sie nicht starben:
Hij zond Zijn woord uit, en heelde hen, en rukte hen uit hun kuilen.
Mandò la sua parola e li guarì, e li scampò dalla fossa.
Posyła słowo swe, i uzdrawia ich,a wybawia ich z grobu.
他發 命 醫治他們，救 他們脫離死亡。
He sent his word and made them well, and kept them safe from the underworld.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · Psalms 107:20
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators across traditions agree that Psalm 107:20 describes God's powerful intervention to heal and deliver the sick. The verse follows a pattern: the afflicted cry out, and God responds by sending his 'word' (דָּבָר). Adam Clarke, Barnes, and Gill each emphasize that God heals by a mere command, diseases depart at his order. The Cambridge Bible notes that God's word is 'almost personified as a delivering angel,' a messenger that performs his will. Keil and Delitzsch point to the Septuagint translation (ἀπέστειλεν τὸν λόγον αὐτοῦ) and argue that this verse 'announces the fundamental fact of the New Testament,' anticipating the personal Logos. Yet the immediate context suggests the word is God's spoken decree, since the parallel verses describe God speaking. The consensus holds that whether understood as command, personified presence, or gospel proclamation, the agency belongs entirely to God. The healing and deliverance are his work, accomplished through his word.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Medium
Main views:
- Divine Command: God's spoken word (as in creation, Psa 33:6) directly heals and delivers; the verse is parallel to God commanding disease to depart. Supported by Clarke, Barnes, Matthew Henry.
- Personified Word / Logos: The word is nearly personified as a delivering angel (Cambridge Bible); the Septuagint and Targums point to a hypostasis that prepares for John 1:1. Supported by Keil & Delitzsch, Theodoret.
- The Gospel Message: Gill argues the 'word' also refers to the gospel, which heals the wounds of sin and delivers from eternal destruction. This view sees both physical and spiritual healing.
What is clear: God is the source of healing and deliverance, and he accomplishes it through his word—whether spoken, incarnate, or proclaimed.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Nature of God's word | God's word is the agent of healing and deliverance; it carries his authority and power. | Some see it as a spoken command (divine fiat), others as a personification that anticipates the Logos (Christ), and others as the gospel proclamation. |
| Scope of healing | The verse affirms physical healing from illness, as seen in the context of 'gates of death.' | Debate exists over whether the healing also includes spiritual healing (forgiveness, salvation from hell). Gill applies it to the physician of souls; others keep it primarily bodily. |
| Meaning of 'destructions' (pits) | The word refers to the grave or the brink of death; deliverance is from imminent death. | Some traditions (e.g., Gill) extend it to 'everlasting destruction' in hell; others (Barnes, Clarke) keep it to physical death and decay. |
| Relation to Jesus Christ | The verse is often seen as preparing for the fuller revelation of God's word in Christ. | Catholic and some Protestant interpreters read it as a direct prophecy of Christ the Logos; others see it typologically or not at all. |
Historical & Cultural Context
Psalm 107 is a liturgical thanksgiving psalm, likely sung in the temple. It opens with a call to praise God's 'loving kindness' (verse 1) and then presents four strophes: desert wanderers (vv.4, 9), prisoners (vv.10, 16), the sick (vv.17, 22), and sailors (vv.23, 32). Each strophe follows the same structure: a description of distress, a cry to the Lord, deliverance, and a call to praise. Verse 20 is the deliverance verse in the third strophe.
The surrounding verses (17, 19) label the sick as 'fools' who suffer because of their transgressions, a common wisdom theme that sin leads to suffering. Their illness is so severe that they 'draw near to the gates of death' (v.18). In response, they cry out, and God saves them.
The key Hebrew word for 'word' (דָּבָר) appears throughout the Old Testament for God's spoken command, often with creative or redemptive power (see Psalm 33:6, Isaiah 55:11). The word for 'destructions' (שְׁחִיתוֹת) is plural for 'pits', a metaphor for the grave or the realm of death. Similar language occurs in Job 33:23, 30, where an 'angel' (or 'interpreter') intercedes to save a man from the pit. The entire psalm emphasizes that God is not distant; he hears the cry of the desperate and acts decisively through his word.
The liturgical structure underscores a pattern of repentance and restoration, teaching the congregation that God's deliverance is both a past reality and a continuing hope.
Textual Notes
The supplied sources note no significant textual variants for Psalm 107:20. The Hebrew verb יִשְׁלַח ('sends') is an imperfect, which can be rendered as present or past tense (thus WEB 'sends' vs KJV 'sent'). The plural 'destructions' (שְׁחִיתוֹת) is translated as 'the Pit' (singular) in BSB, reflecting the collective sense of the grave. These are legitimate translational choices, not textual variants.
Reception History
Early Christian interpreters such as Theodoret (5th century) read this verse as a prophecy of Christ the Word, who healed bodies and liberated souls. The Septuagint's rendering 'He sent his word and healed them' was understood as a direct reference to the Logos. In the Reformation, Calvin and Matthew Henry focused on the power of God's spoken command, while also applying the verse to the gospel's healing of the conscience. Matthew Henry, for example, notes that 'He sent his word, and healed them' includes both the command that heals the body and the word of pardon that heals the soul. Modern scholarship generally sees the verse as part of the psalm's wisdom framework, affirming God's sovereignty over sickness, while acknowledging that its language of a personified word anticipates the New Testament revelation of the incarnate Word.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- The diagnosis: Sin leads to sickness and draws us to the gates of death (vv.17, 18). The psalm calls the afflicted 'fools', not to shame, but to show that our own choices often bring suffering.
- The cure: God sends his word and heals (v.20). The word is powerful enough to command disease to leave and to pull us back from the brink of the grave.
- The response: Praise and thanksgiving (vv.21, 22). Those who have been delivered are called to offer sacrifices of thanksgiving and to declare God's works with singing.
Five-point outline
- The condition: Fools are afflicted because of their transgression (v.17).
- The crisis: They abhor food and draw near to the gates of death (v.18).
- The cry: They cry to Yahweh in their trouble (v.19).
- The cure: He sends his word, heals them, and delivers them from their pits (v.20).
- The call: Let them praise the Lord for his goodness (v.21).
Illustration hooks
- A doctor who speaks a single diagnosis that changes everything, except here the word itself brings the cure.
- A parent who calls out to a child wandering toward a cliff; the word stops the disaster.
- A pardon read to a condemned prisoner; the words set them free.
Questions your congregation is asking
- Is my sickness a direct punishment from God?
- If God can heal with a word, why doesn't he always heal me?
- How does God's word heal us today, through Scripture, prayer, or the sacraments?
Leading a Discussion
This verse shows God's power to heal and deliver through his word. It invites us to consider how we experience God's word as life-giving and rescuing, especially in times of physical or spiritual distress.
Discussion questions
- In the context of Psalm 107, why does the psalmist call the afflicted 'fools'? What does this teach about the link between sin and suffering?
- How does the pattern of 'cry then deliverance' appear in your own life or in the life of your community?
- What does it mean that God 'sends his word'? Share a time when you felt God's word brought healing or direction.
- The Hebrew word for 'destructions' (שְׁחִיתוֹת) means 'pits.' How does this metaphor shape your understanding of what God saves us from?
- How do we respond when God does not heal us in the way we ask? Can we still praise him for his goodness?
- What role does thanksgiving play in the life of faith, according to the verses that follow (vv.21, 22)?
- The verse has been read as pointing to Christ, the Word. How does Jesus embody this verse in his ministry of healing and deliverance?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Numbers 21:8 | Yahweh said to Moses, “Make a venomous snake, and set it on a pole. It shall happen that everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” |
| Numbers 21:9 | Moses made a serpent of bronze, and set it on the pole. If a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked at the serpent of bronze, he lived. |
| II Kings 20:4 | Before Isaiah had gone out into the middle part of the city, Yahweh’s word came to him, saying, |
| II Kings 20:5 | “Turn back, and tell Hezekiah the prince of my people, ‘Yahweh, the God of David your father, says, “I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day, you will go up to Yahweh’s house. |
| Job 33:23 | “If there is beside him an angel, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show to man what is right for him, |
| Job 33:26 | He prays to God, and he is favorable to him, so that he sees his face with joy. He restores to man his righteousness. |
| Job 33:28 | He has redeemed my soul from going into the pit. My life will see the light.’ |
| Job 33:30 | to bring back his soul from the pit, that he may be enlightened with the light of the living. |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
10 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Adam Clarke's Commentary Methodist/Wesleyan 1826
He sent his word, and healed them - He spoke: "Be thou clean, be thou whole;" and immediately the disease departed; and thus they were delivered from the destructions that awaited them.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible Protestant 1832
Barnes emphasizes that God healed the sick simply by speaking a word, just as Christ later healed with a single command. He also underscores that all healing, whatever means are used, ultimately comes from God and remains under his authority.
Calvin's Commentaries Reformed 1564
Calvin insists that nothing in life happens by random chance or fortune. Every adversity is God's summons to account for sin, and every prosperity is a display of His grace. Those who fail to see God's hand in such events are guilty of ignoring clear evidence of His providence.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
The commentator highlights that God's word is almost personified here, acting as a delivering angel that heals and rescues. This prepares for the later Jewish concept of "the Word of Jehovah" and ultimately for the revelation of the personal Word, the Logos in John's Gospel. The "destructions" from which God delivers are literally pitfalls or graves that nearly swallowed the sick.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The Geneva note emphasizes that God's spoken word itself is the instrument of both healing and rescue from death's brink. The power is not in a process or medicine but in the command God issues, which instantly accomplishes what it declares. Deliverance from the grave follows directly from that same commanding word.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill understands "his word" in three interconnected ways: God's authoritative command over illness, Christ the eternal Word who healed bodies and souls through his sacrifice, and the Gospel that brings pardon to troubled hearts. He emphasizes that deliverance extends from physical recovery to rescue from the grave and from eternal ruin.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871
JFB explains that "sent his word" means God put forth His power directly, and "their destructions" refers to the threats that endangered them. He adds that the proper response to such deliverance includes both a thank offering and joyful singing.
Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary Protestant 1876
Keil-Delitzsch interpret the "word" God sends as a personal mediator of healing, acting within history rather than merely in nature. They see this as a foreshadowing of the New Testament Logos. They also clarify that the "pits" from which the afflicted are rescued are deep sufferings, not moral corruption.
Lange's Commentary Reformed 1857
Lange reads the psalm's four scenes—wandering, imprisonment, sickness, and storm at sea—as literal examples of everyday human distress, not figurative pictures of the Babylonian exile. He maintains the psalm calls for thanksgiving in the congregation for God's real deliverances
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Henry traces sickness directly back to sin: if we knew no sin, we would know no sickness. He calls sinners fools who damage even their physical health by their own choices, and he views the resulting affliction as both a deserved correction and a remedy for their foolish hearts.