Psalms 107:5-9 · Bible study
Psalms 107:5-9 Commentary: God Satisfies the Longing Soul
Hebrew · 11 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Explore how God responds to the desperate cry of the hungry and thirsty soul, leading them to safety and satisfaction.
Research Summary
- Meaning: God hears the cry of the desperate and provides guidance, shelter, and full satisfaction of the soul's genuine needs.
- Key words: 'cried out' (tsa‘aq, H6817), a shout for help; 'straight way' (derekh yeshārāh, H1870/H3477), a level, direct path; 'longing soul' (nefesh shoqeqah, H5315/H8264), a throat/self that pants with desire.
- Main debate: Whether the primary setting is the literal return from Babylonian exile (Clarke, Keil & Delitzsch) or a universal spiritual need for salvation (Gill). Most accept both layers.
- Theological theme: God's chesed (covenant loyalty) meets human need in response to humble prayer, leading to doxology.
- Best use: In times of spiritual dryness, disorientation, or deep longing, as a prayer for guidance and a testimony that God satisfies.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
5They were hungry and thirsty; their soul fainted within them.
6Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He delivered them from their distress.
7He led them on a straight path to reach a city where they could live.
8Let them give thanks to the LORD for His loving devotion and His wonders to the sons of men.
9For He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.
WEB World English Bible 2000
5Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them.
6Then they cried to Yahweh in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.
7He led them also by a straight way, that they might go to a city to live in.
8Let them praise Yahweh for his loving kindness, for his wonderful deeds to the children of men!
9For he satisfies the longing soul. He fills the hungry soul with good.
KJV King James Version 1769
5Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them.
6Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.
7And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation.
8Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
9For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
5Hungry and thirsty, Their soul fainted in them.
6Then they cried unto Jehovah in their trouble, And he delivered them out of their distresses,
7He led them also by a straight way, That they might go to a city of habitation.
8Oh that men would praise Jehovah for his lovingkindness, And for his wonderful works to the children of men!
9For he satisfieth the longing soul, And the hungry soul he filleth with good.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
5Hungry--yea--thirsty, Their soul in them becometh feeble,
6And they cry unto Jehovah in their adversity, From their distress He delivereth them,
7And causeth them to tread in a right way, To go unto a city of habitation.
8They confess to Jehovah His kindness, And His wonders to the sons of men.
9For He hath satisfied a longing soul, And a hungry soul hath filled with goodness.
Darby Darby Bible 1890
5Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them:
6Then they cried unto Jehovah in their trouble, [and] he delivered them out of their distresses,
7And he led them forth by a right way, that they might go to a city of habitation.
8Let them give thanks unto Jehovah for his loving-kindness, and for his wondrous works to the children of men;
9For he hath satisfied the longing soul and filled the hungry soul with good.
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
5For thy mercy is great above the heavens: and thy truth even unto the clouds.
6Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens, and thy glory over all the earth:
7That thy beloved may be delivered. Save with thy right hand and hear me.
8God hath spoken in his holiness. I will rejoice, and I will divide Sichem and I will mete out the vale of tabernacles.
9Galaad is mine: and Manasses is mine and Ephraim the protection of my head. Juda is my king:
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · Psalms 107:5
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 this passage moves from desperation to deliverance to doxology. Matthew Henry applies it both to the return from exile and to spiritual redemption. Calvin sees a lesson in divine providence: 'adversity and all the ills which mankind endure are to be regarded as so many tokens of God's displeasure; prosperity ought also to be attributed to his grace.' Gill reads it as the cry of awakened sinners who 'find themselves starving and famishing, and no provision to be had from themselves or the creature.' The Cambridge Bible identifies this as the first of four examples of Yahweh's lovingkindness, depicting 'the deliverance of travellers who had lost their way in the desert and were on the point of perishing.' Keil and Delitzsch note the imperfect verb tit‘aṭṭāph describing the soul 'enveloping itself' in darkness, near extinction. Barnes points to the literal rendering 'Hungry, also thirsty' and the word for 'fainted' meaning 'to cover, as with a garment,' here a garment of calamity. The refrain in verse 8 calls the delivered to give thanks, and verse 9 grounds it: God satisfies the longing soul. All agree the pattern holds: human extremity, desperate prayer, divine rescue, grateful praise.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Low
What is clear: God hears the desperate cry of needy people and responds with guidance, provision, and satisfaction, which calls forth praise.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Identity of the 'longing soul' | Refers to someone in desperate need of basic nourishment. | Physical travelers in the desert (Cambridge, Keil & Delitzsch) vs. awakened sinners longing for salvation (Gill, Matthew Henry). Most hold both as complementary. |
| 'City of habitation' | A place of safety, rest, and settled dwelling. | Literal Jerusalem or Judean towns for returning exiles (Clarke) vs. a symbol of heaven or the church as a spiritual home (classical Christian interpretation). |
| The 'straight way' | God guides people in a correct, efficient path. | Providential direction in travel (Barnes) vs. moral or spiritual instruction in the way of righteousness (Gill) vs. Christ as the way (evangelical readings). |
| Scope of the psalm's audience | The psalm is for God's people, especially the redeemed. | Calvin and Wesley extend it to all humanity, since the psalm describes universal human experiences of trouble. Others limit it to Israel or the faithful. |
Historical & Cultural Context
Psalm 107 opens with the summons, 'Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever.' The psalmist then calls 'the redeemed by Yahweh' to testify, those 'gathered out of the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south' (verses 1-3). This language points to the post-exilic period, when Israelites returned from Babylonian captivity under Cyrus's edict (539 BC). Adam Clarke connects the imagery directly to 'the liberty to return to their own land' under Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah.
The setting of verses 5-9, hungry and thirsty travelers fainting in the wilderness, would have been painfully familiar. The desert routes from Mesopotamia to Judah were hazardous; caravans risked losing their way, exhausting water and food. 'They found no city to live in' (verse 4) captures the desperation of those seeking settled habitation. The 'city of habitation' (‘ir môshāv) meant a place with walls, wells, and community, a refuge. Keil and Delitzsch describe the poet's style: 'a waste of a way' (midbar derekh), a wilderness that offered no direction.
The psalm's structure is liturgical, with alternating refrains suggesting antiphonal singing. Calvin remarks that it 'was obviously intended to be sung in responses.' The first refrain (verses 6, 13, 19, 28) records the cry; the second (verses 8, 15, 21, 31) the call for thanksgiving. This pattern trains God's people in lament and gratitude. Cross-references like Judges 15:18-19 (Samson's thirst relieved) and 1 Samuel 30:11-12 (David's men reviving an Egyptian with food and water) show that physical desperation followed by divine provision was a recurring biblical theme. The main interpretive question, how physical need pictures the soul's need, is woven into the psalm's very fabric: human beings, lost and empty, cry out, and God answers.
Textual Notes
The consulted sources note no significant textual variants for Psalm 107:5-9. The passage is stable across the Masoretic Text, the Septuagint, and the Vulgate. The Hebrew text is well-preserved. The main translational differences arise from how to render the participles and verbal forms: for example, 'fainted' (tit‘aṭṭāph imperfect) denotes an ongoing, progressive fading, and 'satisfies' (hisbîa‘) is a perfect indicating a completed action of provision. No manuscript variations affect the interpretation.
Reception History
In early Christian tradition, this passage was read Christologically: Jesus' compassion on the hungry multitude (Mark 8:2) echoes the same divine satisfaction. The Septuagint's rendering of 'longing soul' (psuchēn kenēn) shaped monastic prayers for spiritual fulfillment. Reformation commentators like Calvin emphasized the universal providence on display, 'human affairs are not regulated by the wheel of fortune' but by God's hand. Matthew Henry and Wesley applied the verses to both national restoration and personal conversion. The refrain 'Let them praise the LORD for his lovingkindness' has been used in countless hymns of thanksgiving, particularly at harvest festivals and in services for travelers. In modern worship, verse 9 is often quoted in songs about God's faithfulness to satisfy the deepest human longings.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- The extremity of human need. Verse 5 piles up hunger, thirst, and a fainting soul. The Hebrew ‘āṭaph (fainted) means to be covered over, as with a garment of darkness (Barnes). The soul is not merely tired, it is being overwhelmed.
- The turning point of the cry. Verse 6: 'Then they cried to Yahweh in their trouble.' The distress (tzar) is narrow, constricted space; the cry is a plea for room to breathe. And God delivered (nitzal) them, snatched them from that tight place.
- The two-fold answer: guidance and satisfaction. God leads by a straight way to a city (v. 7) and satisfies the longing soul with good (v. 9). The response is not just rescue but reorientation, a home and a full heart.
Five-point outline
- Hunger and thirst, the raw physical need that mirrors spiritual emptiness.
- The fainting soul, total weakness, at the end of self-sufficiency.
- Their cry to Yahweh, the pivot; when pride fails, prayer begins.
- He led them by a straight way, divine guidance to a settled place.
- He satisfies and fills, the soul receives exactly what it craves: goodness from God’s hand.
Illustration hooks
- A hiker who misjudges the trail and runs out of water. The desperate search for a stream, then the relief of drinking.
- A person moving to a new city, lost without GPS, finally finding the address, the relief of arrival.
- The feeling of spiritual emptiness after achieving a long-sought goal: success without satisfaction.
Questions your congregation is asking
- Why does God sometimes let us hit bottom before He helps?
- How can I tell the difference between ordinary physical hunger and a deeper spiritual longing?
- What does it look like to 'cry to Yahweh' when I feel lost or dry in my faith?
Leading a Discussion
This passage is the first of four scenes in Psalm 107. Each scene shows people in extreme trouble, crying out, and being rescued. This one begins with hunger and thirst, both physical and spiritual. As you discuss, pay attention to the pattern: need, cry, deliverance, praise. Notice what God provides: a straight way, a city, and satisfaction.
Discussion questions
- What details in verse 5 make the travelers' condition feel urgent and desperate? Which word or phrase strikes you most?
- In verse 6, the word for 'trouble' (tzar) means a narrow, tight place. How does that image help you understand the kind of prayer the psalm describes?
- Verse 7 says God led them 'by a straight way.' What does the 'straightness' of the way tell you about God's guidance? What does 'city of habitation' represent, security, community, rest?
- The refrain in verse 8 calls the delivered to praise. Why does the psalm make praise a responsibility, not just a feeling?
- Verse 9 says God satisfies the 'longing soul' (nefesh shoqeqah, a soul that pants or rushes with desire). What kind of longing do you think this is? How does God's satisfaction differ from simply getting what we want?
- How might this passage speak to someone who feels spiritually 'lost in the wilderness' right now? What would it mean for them to 'cry to Yahweh'?
- What is one step you could take this week to practice the pattern of this psalm, turning need into prayer, and prayer into thanks?
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)
| Judges 15:18 | He was very thirsty, and called on Yahweh and said, “You have given this great deliverance by the hand of your servant; and now shall I die of thirst, and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” |
| Judges 15:19 | But God split the hollow place that is in Lehi, and water came out of it. When he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived. Therefore its name was called En Hakkore, which is in Lehi, to this day. |
| I Samuel 30:11 | They found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David, and gave him bread, and he ate; and they gave him water to drink. |
| I Samuel 30:12 | They gave him a piece of a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins. When he had eaten, his spirit came again to him; for he had eaten no bread, and drank no water for three days and three nights. |
| Isaiah 44:12 | The blacksmith takes an ax, works in the coals, fashions it with hammers, and works it with his strong arm. He is hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water, and is faint. |
| Jeremiah 14:18 | If I go out into the field, then behold, the slain with the sword! If I enter into the city, then behold, those who are sick with famine! For both the prophet and the priest go about in the land, and have no knowledge.’” |
| Lamentations 2:19 | Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches! Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord. Lift up your hands toward him for the life of your young children, who faint for hunger at the head of every street. |
| Mark 8:2 | “I have compassion on the multitude, because they have stayed with me now three days and have nothing to eat. |
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
9 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Adam Clarke's Commentary Methodist/Wesleyan 1826
Clarke stresses that God delivers when his people pray with one united heart. The wonders he does are miracles of mercy for the undeserving children of a rebel father. Praise is due because God satisfies the soul that pushes forward in eager desire for salvation.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible Protestant 1832
Barnes draws attention to the Hebrew root behind "their soul fainted," noting it means to be covered as with darkness or a garment, conveying exhaustion and hidden trouble. He sees the psalm's main point as the repeated pattern of God's people crying out and being delivered, then led by a straight path to a settled home.
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.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The Geneva Note traces the rhythm of salvation: desperate souls faint from hunger and thirst, cry out to God, and He not only rescues them but guides them directly to a settled home. Their proper response is public confession of His kindness and wonder. God satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with goodness.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill draws a double application from the travelers' distress: literal wanderers hungry in a desert and awakened sinners starving for Christ. In both cases, the cry to the Lord brings deliverance, as God leads by the right way to a city of habitation. The physical journey becomes a picture of the soul's pilgrimage from conviction to salvation.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871
JFB sees this passage as a vivid portrayal of the extreme hardships faced by exiles returning from distant lands. He highlights that the psalm focuses on severe hunger as the worst privation of a desert journey, making that desperate need the specific reason for praise when God delivers them.
Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary Protestant 1876
Keil and Delitzsch defend the Hebrew phrase "a waste of a way" as a poetic construct, rejecting an emendation. The shift from perfect to imperfect tenses shows the soul near extinction, then the cry for help immediately answered by rescue. The thanksgiving is to be declared both to God and to others so the experience benefits the wider community.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Henry draws a sharp line between the general call for all to give thanks and the special obligation of the redeemed to speak of God's goodness. He reads the psalm as describing both a temporal rescue from enemies and a spiritual salvation through Christ, and notes that extreme trouble drives even quiet pray-ers to cry aloud, at which point God moves to help.
Wesley's Explanatory Notes Methodist/Wesleyan 1754
Wesley observes that the original Hebrew text specifies Jehovah, the true God, not merely a generic Lord. He adds that even many heathens had some knowledge of this true God, so the psalmist deliberately distinguishes the God of Israel from the idols of surrounding nations.