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Psalm 105 calls the people to give thanks, seek the Lord, and tell the nations what He has done. It remembers His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; His care for the patriarchs; Joseph’s suffering and release; and the deliverance from Egypt through Moses and Aaron. After the plagues, the Psalm follows the people out with joy, remembers God’s provision in the wilderness, and ends with the gift of the land and a call to keep His law.

The spiritual center is the call to remember the Lord’s mighty acts and to remain faithful to the covenant, because the Lord who remembered His covenant in the past will remember His people in every generation.

Psalm 105 (LXX 104) - Give Thanks to the Lord

Psalm Metadata

Field	Notes
NKJV / Masoretic numbering	Psalm 105
Septuagint / Coptic numbering	Psalm 104
Accepted author	No human author is named in the superscription, which reads Alleluia.
Period in author’s life	No precise life event is given; the Psalm is a liturgical call to remember salvation history.
Christ prophecy status	Typological and ecclesial. The call to give thanks and remember the Lord’s covenant and wonderful works points toward Christ, in whom the covenant is fulfilled and the mighty acts of God are declared to the nations.
Coptic lectionary/service use	Documented Matins on Tuesday of the first week of the Holy Fifty Days prints Psalm 105:1-3, stopping at glory in His holy name; its Gospel is Matthew 28:16-20.
Numbering issue	The embedded text is Brenton LXX Psalm 104. The documented service prints Psalm 105:1-3 and selects the substance of Brenton 104:1-2 and 104:3a, omitting the Alleluia superscription and the rejoicing clause of 104:3.

Historical and Scriptural Context

Psalm 105 is a historical Psalm that praises the Lord’s mighty acts from the promise to Abraham to the gift of the land. It is closely related to Psalm 106 (LXX 105), which retells portions of that history with attention to the people’s rebellion. Together they invite thanksgiving and repentance, but their emphases should not be confused.

The Psalm draws on the patriarchal narratives, the Exodus story, and the wilderness wanderings. Deuteronomy 32 and 1 Corinthians 10 offer further scriptural comparisons; Paul’s lessons from the wilderness are not a summary of the events narrated in this Psalm.

Geographical Significance ⛰️

The Psalm begins with the promise of Canaan, where the patriarchs lived as sojourners. It then moves to Egypt, called the land of Cham, through the departure and God’s provision in the wilderness, and finally to the land given as an inheritance. These places trace a movement from promise to gift, rather than a complete travel itinerary.

The Characters 👥

The Lord. The God who remembers His covenant, protects the sojourners, delivers His people, and provides for them on the way.

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron. The patriarchs who received the promise, Joseph who was sold and later raised to authority, and the servants sent to bring God’s signs to Egypt.

The seed of Abraham / children of Jacob / Israel. The people addressed in the call to remember, and the heirs of God’s covenant and mighty acts.

The heathen / the nations. The peoples who are to hear of God’s works, as well as the peoples encountered in the history, including the Egyptians and those whose land Israel receives.

🕯️ Light from the Word

Psalm 104:1-6, Give thanks to the Lord, and call upon his name

104:1 Alleluia. Give thanks to the Lord, and call upon his name; declare his works among the heathen. 104:2 Sing to him, yea, sing praises to him: tell forth all his wonderful works. 104:3 Glory in his holy name: let the heart of them that seek the Lord rejoice. 104:4 Seek ye the Lord, and be strengthened; seek his face continually. 104:5 Remember his wonderful works that he has done; his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth; 104:6 ye seed of Abraam, his servants, ye children of Jacob, his chosen ones.

The Psalm’s first words turn the people toward God in thanksgiving and outward toward the nations in witness. They are to sing to Him and tell others of His works. Remembering is more than recalling an old account: it gives the people something true to bring into their praise and to share with their neighbors.

St Augustine hears the call to declare God’s works as addressed to the evangelists. Theodoret connects the remembrance of God’s benefits with the imitation of the forebears’ virtue, and he reads the call to seek as an invitation to ask for God’s help throughout life (Commentary on Psalm 105, §§1, 3).

What does it mean to seek God continually? Augustine writes, “faith hath already found Him, but hope still seeketh Him.”¹ The person who trusts God can continue to seek His face, not because He is absent, but because love desires to know Him more fully. In Christ, the Church gives thanks for God’s saving works and makes them known among the nations.

Lesson Guide

• Key phrases: “Give thanks to the Lord, and call upon his name”; “declare his works among the heathen.”
• Emphasize: thanksgiving leads to witness; the people who remember what God has done are called to declare it to the nations.
• Avoid: keeping the wonderful works to oneself. The Psalm is a call to public praise and proclamation.

Psalm 104:7-15, He is the Lord our God

104:7 He is the Lord our God; his judgments are in all the earth. 104:8 He has remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded for a thousand generations: 104:9 which he established as a covenant to Abraam, and he remembered his oath to Isaac. 104:10 And he established it to Jacob for an ordinance, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant; 104:11 saying, To thee will I give the land of Chanaan, the line of your inheritance: 104:12 when they were few in number, very few, and sojourners in it. 104:13 And they went from nation to nation, and from one kingdom to another people. 104:14 He suffered no man to wrong them; and he rebuked kings for their sakes: 104:15 saying, Touch not my anointed ones; and do my prophets no harm.

The Lord whose judgments reach all the earth has bound Himself by promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Psalm places the promise beside their vulnerability: they were very few, living as sojourners and moving among other peoples. Their small number did not make God’s word small.

Augustine identifies the protected few as the patriarchs and reads their faith in relation to Christ (Exposition on Psalm 105, §§8–9). Theodoret sees the promise made to these few sojourners as a display of the power and faithfulness of the One who promised (Commentary, §§4–6). Christians receive the promise in Christ and trust the Lord’s faithful care.

This care is not a promise that believers cannot be hurt. The words addressed to the kings about the patriarchs must not be used to silence someone reporting abuse or to place a religious leader beyond accountability. God’s faithfulness calls us to protect the vulnerable, not to excuse harm.

Lesson Guide

• Key phrases: “He has remembered his covenant for ever”; “Touch not my anointed ones.”
• Emphasize: the Lord’s faithfulness to His covenant is the ground of the people’s confidence.
• Avoid: thinking that small numbers or vulnerability mean the Lord has forgotten His word.

Psalm 104:16-24, Moreover he called for a famine upon the land

104:16 Moreover he called for a famine upon the land; he broke the whole support of bread. 104:17 He sent a man before them; Joseph was sold for a slave. 104:18 They hurt his feet with fetters; his soul passed into iron, 104:19 until the time that his cause came on; the word of the Lord tried him as fire. 104:20 The king sent and loosed him; even the prince of the people, and let him go free. 104:21 He made him lord over his house, and ruler of all his substance; 104:22 to chastise his rulers at his pleasure, and to teach his elders wisdom. 104:23 Israel also came into Egypt, and Jacob sojourned in the land of Cham. 104:24 And he increased his people greatly, and made them stronger than their enemies.

The Psalm puts two truths close together: God sent Joseph ahead, and Joseph was sold as a slave. It does not pass quickly over the injury. His feet were hurt and his soul passed into iron before he was released and given authority. God’s providence is at work in this history without making his brothers’ wrongdoing good.

Augustine reflects on God’s ability to bring good from human evil (Exposition on Psalm 105, §11). Theodoret likewise speaks of God’s providence amid the brothers’ malice; he understands Joseph’s trial as displaying his virtue to others, not as teaching God a character He did not know (Commentary, §§7–8). Notice that the Lord’s word tries Joseph: the verse does not say that the word itself is being tested.

Joseph’s rejection and subsequent elevation invite a Christian comparison with Christ, rejected and risen to give life. This is an interpretation, not a claim that every detail of Joseph’s story is a prediction. God’s power to bring good from evil does not make abuse necessary or require a person to remain in danger. Someone being harmed should seek safety and help from trustworthy people and appropriate authorities.

Lesson Guide

• Key phrases: “He sent a man before them; Joseph was sold for a slave”; “the word of the Lord tried him as fire.”
• Emphasize: the Lord’s providence can work even through human wrongdoing; the Lord’s word tried Joseph.
• Avoid: calling suffering good or assuming that it means God has abandoned His people.

Psalm 104:25-36, And he turned their heart to hate his people

104:25 And he turned their heart to hate his people, to deal craftily with his servants. 104:26 He sent forth Moses his servant, and Aaron whom he had chosen. 104:27 He established among them his signs, and his wonders in the land of Cham. 104:28 He sent forth darkness, and made it dark; yet they rebelled against his words. 104:29 He turned their waters into blood, and slew their fish. 104:30 Their land produced frogs abundantly, in the chambers of their kings. 104:31 He spoke, and the dog-fly came, and lice in all their coasts. 104:32 He turned their rain into hail, and sent flaming fire in their land. 104:33 And he smote their vines and their fig-trees; and broke every tree of their coast. 104:34 He spoke, and the locust came, and caterpillars innumerable, 104:35 and devoured all the grass in their land, and devoured the fruit of their ground. 104:36 He smote also every first-born of their land, the first-fruits of all their labour.

Verse 25 attributes the turning of the Egyptians’ hearts to God. This difficult wording does not make God the author of sin or remove their responsibility for hatred and oppression. Augustine understands their envy as a response to God’s generous increase of His people; Theodoret stresses that God allowed the Egyptians to act freely (Augustine, Exposition, §16; Theodoret, Commentary, §9). God’s providence does not turn their evil into virtue.

In verse 28, those who rebelled most naturally refer in this setting to the Egyptians resisting God, though the pronoun requires interpretation. The wording of the lemma printed with Theodoret’s commentary differs from Brenton’s, while his comment describes Moses and Aaron as obedient (§10). His explanation is not a reason to change Brenton’s verse or to import Israel’s later rebellion into it.

The signs confront Egypt’s oppression, and the account ends with the death of the firstborn. That loss is grievous. The Psalm’s account of judgment is not permission to treat children or whole nations today as guilty targets, or to harm them. Augustine observes that the Psalm selects and orders the plagues for praise rather than giving a complete chronological account (Exposition, §26). In a Christian reading, Moses also points beyond himself to Christ, who delivers His people from sin and death; this does not erase Israel’s historical deliverance.

Lesson Guide

• Key phrases: “He sent forth Moses his servant, and Aaron whom he had chosen”; “He established among them his signs, and his wonders.”
• Emphasize: the Lord raises up deliverers and works signs and wonders for the salvation of His people.
• Avoid: treating the signs as ends in themselves or using judgment as a warrant for harm.

Psalm 104:37-45, And he brought them out with silver and gold

104:37 And he brought them out with silver and gold; and there was not a feeble one among their tribes. 104:38 Egypt rejoiced at their departing; for the fear of them fell upon them. 104:39 He spread out a cloud for a covering to them, and fire to give them light by night. 104:40 They asked, and the quail came, and he satisfied them with the bread of heaven. 104:41 He clave the rock, and the waters flowed; rivers ran in dry places. 104:42 For he remembered his holy word, which he promised to Abraam his servant. 104:43 And he brought out his people with exultation, and his chosen with joy; 104:44 and gave them the lands of the heathen; and they inherited the labours of the people; 104:45 that they might keep his ordinances, and diligently seek his law.

The people leave with silver and gold. The cloud covers them, fire gives light by night, and God supplies quail, bread, and water in dry places. The statement that no one was feeble describes this departure; it is not a promise that believers will be spared illness. The Psalm gives room for joy at deliverance and for wonder at the care that sustains the people afterward.

The word “For” in verse 42 takes the reader back to Abraham: God’s provision belongs to the story of His remembered promise. His remembrance is faithful action, not recovery from forgetfulness. Augustine notices that this Psalm emphasizes praise and faith rather than retelling the people’s provocations (Exposition, §§30, 33). Theodoret connects the gifts and deliverance with the fulfillment of the promise and the call to live according to God’s law (Commentary, §§14–16).

The gift includes lands and labors belonging to other peoples. The Psalm’s account is not a warrant for anyone today to displace or harm another people, or to claim inherent superiority. Its final word points instead to the purpose of the gift: the people are to keep God’s ordinances and seek His law. Obedience is the response to grace already given, not the price that caused the deliverance.

Christ is the faithful deliverer who leads His people toward the promised inheritance of life with God. The Church remembers His death and Resurrection and seeks to live faithfully in the covenant sealed in His blood.

Lesson Guide

• Key phrases: “he remembered his holy word”; “that they might keep his ordinances”
• Emphasize: God remembers His promise, provides for His people, and calls them to a faithful response.
• Avoid: separating the gifts of deliverance and provision from the life of obedience to which they lead.

The Church’s Voice in Worship 📖

A documented Matins reading on Tuesday of the first week of the Holy Fifty Days prints Psalm 105:1–3. Its selection corresponds in substance to Brenton LXX 104:1–2 and the first part of 104:3. It omits the Alleluia superscription and ends with the call to glory in God’s holy name, before the rejoicing clause.

The Gospel in the same Matins service is Matthew 28:16–20, where the risen Christ sends His disciples to make disciples and baptize all nations. The Psalm’s call to make God’s works known among the nations prepares us to hear that commission as praise becoming witness.

Iconography Connection 🖼️

Psalm 105 connects with icons of the patriarchs, the Exodus, Moses and Aaron, and the covenant. The icon of the hospitality of Abraham and the icon of Moses receiving the law remind the faithful that the Lord remembers His covenant from generation to generation.

Spiritual Fruit 🍇

1. Give thanks and call upon His name. Let thanksgiving lead you to prayer and witness.

2. Remember the wonderful works. Make a practice of recalling what the Lord has done in your life and in the life of the Church.

3. Seek His face continually. Strength comes from seeking the Lord; return to Him even when your prayer is simple or weary.

4. Trust the Lord’s covenant faithfulness. Even when the people are few and the way is hard, the Lord remembers His word.

5. Let grace lead to faithfulness. Choose an act of obedience and care for a neighbor, not to earn God’s love, but in response to His gifts.

Teacher's Notes

• Timing: 10 minutes for the call to give thanks and remember, 15 minutes for the covenant with Abraham and the protection of the patriarchs, 15 minutes for Joseph and Moses as types of Christ, 10 minutes for the response of faithfulness.
• Where to linger: the covenant and protection of the patriarchs, and Joseph’s trial and release.
• Key phrase to say slowly: “He has remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded for a thousand generations”
• Pastoral warning: do not use the Psalm to promise material prosperity or the absence of suffering. God can bring good from evil without excusing harm or requiring anyone to remain unsafe.

Glossary

• Wonderful works: The mighty acts of God in creation and history, especially the Exodus.
• Covenant: God’s binding promise to Abraham and his descendants, fulfilled in Christ and calling His people to faithful life.
• Anointed ones / prophets: In this passage, the patriarchs whom God protected during their sojourn; the title does not grant impunity.
• Land of Chanaan: The land promised to Abraham. The Psalm recalls Israel’s receiving lands and labor belonging to other peoples as part of the history of that promise.

Translation and Source Notes

Embedded Scripture is from Brenton’s English Septuagint (LXX). The study title uses Psalm 105 in NKJV/Masoretic numbering and Psalm 104 in LXX numbering. The Matins reading is described above with its printed reference and actual endpoint.

Sources

Primary sources: Brenton Septuagint, Psalm 104; Genesis 12–50; Exodus 1–15; St Augustine, Exposition on Psalm 105 (Lat. CIV), §§1, 3, 8–9, 11, 16, 26, 30, 33, in Philip Schaff, ed., Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, first series, vol. 8; Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on Psalm 105, §§1, 3–10, 14–16, translated by Robert C. Hill, The Fathers of the Church, vol. 102.

Coptic Orthodox / liturgical sources: CopticChurch.net readings for 21 April 2020, Matins; UK Midlands Holy Pentecost readings, Tuesday of the first week, Matins, PDF pages 48–49 (printed pages 26–27).

Footnotes

1. St Augustine, Exposition on Psalm 105 (Lat. CIV), §3, in Philip Schaff, ed., Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, first series, vol. 8, CCEL collection. ↩