Psalm 106: Mercy That Will Not Let Go

Core Theme: For when you’re weighed down by guilt — and wondering whether God’s patience could possibly stretch far enough to reach you

Background

Psalm 106 does not name its author. Its closing prayer, “gather us from among the heathen,” reads like the cry of a people scattered far from home. It also closes Book Four of the Psalms with a doxology [a short burst of praise], which is why it ends the way it does.

Psalm 105 tells the story of Israel’s history by pointing to what God did for His people. Psalm 106 walks the same road and looks at the other side of it: what the people did in return. It is one of the most honest pages in Scripture. Nothing is polished, and Israel’s failures are laid out one after another. Yet the psalm opens and closes in praise, because the same story that exposes the people’s sin also shows God’s mercy running ahead of it every time.

Psalm 106 (KJV)

1 Praise ye the LORD. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

2 Who can utter the mighty acts of the LORD? who can shew forth all his praise?

3 Blessed are they that keep judgment, and he that doeth righteousness at all times.

4 Remember me, O LORD, with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people: O visit me with thy salvation;

5 That I may see the good of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that I may glory with thine inheritance.

6 We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.

7 Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt; they remembered not the multitude of thy mercies; but provoked him at the sea, even at the Red sea.

8 Nevertheless he saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known.

9 He rebuked the Red sea also, and it was dried up: so he led them through the depths, as through the wilderness.

10 And he saved them from the hand of him that hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.

11 And the waters covered their enemies: there was not one of them left.

12 Then believed they his words; they sang his praise.

13 They soon forgat his works; they waited not for his counsel:

14 But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert.

15 And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul.

16 They envied Moses also in the camp, and Aaron the saint of the LORD.

17 The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the company of Abiram.

18 And a fire was kindled in their company; the flame burned up the wicked.

19 They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image.

20 Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass.

21 They forgat God their saviour, which had done great things in Egypt;

22 Wondrous works in the land of Ham, and terrible things by the Red sea.

23 Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them.

24 Yea, they despised the pleasant land, they believed not his word:

25 But murmured in their tents, and hearkened not unto the voice of the LORD.

26 Therefore he lifted up his hand against them, to overthrow them in the wilderness:

27 To overthrow their seed also among the nations, and to scatter them in the lands.

28 They joined themselves also unto Baalpeor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead.

29 Thus they provoked him to anger with their inventions: and the plague brake in upon them.

30 Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment: and so the plague was stayed.

31 And that was counted unto him for righteousness unto all generations for evermore.

32 They angered him also at the waters of strife, so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes:

33 Because they provoked his spirit, so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips.

34 They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the LORD commanded them:

35 But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works.

36 And they served their idols: which were a snare unto them.

37 Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils,

38 And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood.

39 Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a whoring with their own inventions.

40 Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people, insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance.

41 And he gave them into the hand of the heathen; and they that hated them ruled over them.

42 Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under their hand.

43 Many times did he deliver them; but they provoked him with their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity.

44 Nevertheless he regarded their affliction, when he heard their cry:

45 And he remembered for them his covenant, and repented according to the multitude of his mercies.

46 He made them also to be pitied of all those that carried them captives.

47 Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from among the heathen, to give thanks unto thy holy name, and to triumph in thy praise.

48 Blessed be the LORD God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting: and let all the people say, Amen. Praise ye the LORD.

The heart of it

This psalm is a long, unflinching look at sin, and it is also a long look at God’s patience. Almost every section follows the same rhythm: God saves, the people forget, they sin, judgment comes, they cry out, and God shows mercy again. Then the whole pattern starts over. Reading it straight through can feel heavy, because the people’s failures pile up so quickly.

What holds the psalm together is a single word, remember. The people “remembered not” (verse 7). They “forgat” (verses 13 and 21). The psalmist pleads, “Remember me” (verse 4). And at the turning point, God “remembered for them his covenant” (verse 45). Sin, at its root, is often forgetfulness: forgetting who God is and what He has done. Repentance begins when a person remembers. Mercy begins with a God who never forgot in the first place.

For anyone carrying the weight of guilt, this psalm answers a quiet fear: Have I finally run out of chances? The record here says otherwise. “Many times did he deliver them,” verse 43 says, and the text does not hide how many times that was. Notice also that the psalmist stands inside the confession, not outside it: “We have sinned with our fathers.” The one who prays is not pointing a finger. He is kneeling beside them. That is where God’s mercy meets us as well.

Walking through it

Verses 1–3: “Praise ye the LORD. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.”

The psalm opens with praise before it says one word about failure. That order matters. Before we are allowed to look at our sin, we are told who we are looking at: a God who is good, whose mercy has no expiration date. Verses 2 and 3 admit that no one can fully tell His praise, and that blessedness belongs to those who walk in righteousness “at all times.” That is a standard none of us meets, which is exactly why the next verse turns into a prayer.

Verses 4–5: “Remember me, O LORD, with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people: O visit me with thy salvation;”

The psalmist does not come on the strength of his own record. He asks to share in the favour [kindness] God shows to His people, and he asks for salvation as a gift to be received. This is the posture of every person who has ever come to God honestly: empty-handed, asking to be remembered, trusting that God’s favour is larger than our failures.

Verses 6–7: “We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.”

Here is real confession: three plain words stacked together, no excuses attached. The psalmist does not blame his upbringing or his circumstances, and he does not soften anything. Verse 7 then names the root: they did not understand God’s wonders, they did not remember His mercies, and they provoked Him “even at the Red sea,” at the very moment He was rescuing them. Their sin was not because God had failed them. It came right on the heels of His greatest deliverance. As 1 John 1:9 reminds us, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Verses 8–12: “Nevertheless he saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known.”

This is one of the most freeing verses in the psalm. God saved them “for his name’s sake.” Their worthiness was never the reason. His character was. They had just provoked Him, and He saved them anyway, because mercy is who He is. Verses 9–11 tell of the sea parting and the enemy swallowed up, and verse 12 says, “Then believed they his words; they sang his praise.” That is true, and it matters. But watch how quickly the song fades.

Verses 13–15: “They soon forgat his works; they waited not for his counsel:”

“Soon” is the painful word. The song had barely ended. They stopped waiting on God and ran after their own appetites, and verse 15 says something every struggling soul should hear carefully: “he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul.” Leanness [emptiness, a wasting away] is what sin leaves behind even when it gets what it wants. Sin never delivers what it promises. It hands over the desire and drains the soul in the process. If guilt has left you feeling hollow, this verse explains why.

Verses 16–18: “They envied Moses also in the camp, and Aaron the saint of the LORD.”

Envy turned into open rebellion (the story is in Numbers 16). The earth opened and judgment fell on Dathan and Abiram and their company. This passage is a sober reminder that sin is never small to God and that He takes it seriously. But hold that alongside the rest of the psalm: it is the leaders of the rebellion who are swallowed up, and the nation as a whole is still there in verse 19, still being carried by His patience.

Verses 19–23: “They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image.”

Only weeks after hearing God speak from the mountain, they traded Him for a statue (Exodus 32). Verse 20 is a stinging line: they exchanged their glory for “the similitude [likeness] of an ox that eateth grass.” Sin always makes a poor trade. God said He would destroy them, “had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach.” Moses stood in the gap, the broken place in the wall, and pleaded for them. That points us ahead to a better Mediator, because Hebrews 7:25 says of Christ, “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.”

Verses 24–27: “Yea, they despised the pleasant land, they believed not his word:”

Unbelief sits underneath the murmuring [complaining] in their tents. They did not believe His word, so they would not go in, and a generation died in the wilderness (Numbers 14). The consequences of sin are real, and the psalm does not pretend otherwise. But the consequences are not the same thing as abandonment, and the story is not over.

Verses 28–31: “They joined themselves also unto Baalpeor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead.”

Next came idolatry at Peor, and a plague broke out among them (Numbers 25). Then Phinehas stood up, acted decisively, and the plague stopped. Verse 31 says it “was counted unto him for righteousness,” language that echoes Genesis 15:6, where Abraham “believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.” Even here, in the middle of a dark chapter, God is looking for faith and finding it.

Verses 32–33: “They angered him also at the waters of strife, so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes:”

Their complaining at Meribah (Numbers 20) pushed even Moses to speak “unadvisedly with his lips.” Our sin rarely stays contained. It spills onto the people around us, which is one reason it weighs so heavily on the conscience.

Verses 34–39: “They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the LORD commanded them:”

This is the darkest stretch. Rather than keeping themselves separate, they mingled, learned the ways of the surrounding nations, and were pulled into their idolatry. Verses 37–38 name the worst of it: sacrificing their own children to false gods, “unto devils” [demons]. The land itself was “polluted with blood.” Verse 39 says they “went a whoring with their own inventions,” the Bible’s way of describing spiritual unfaithfulness to the God who had called them. These are hard verses to read. They show just how far a heart can drift when it keeps turning away, one small compromise at a time. And they make what comes next all the more remarkable.

Verses 40–43: “Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people, insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance.”

Judgment came: they were handed over to their enemies and ruled by those who hated them. This is the discipline of a Father, and Hebrews 12:6 says, “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.” Yet verse 43 sums up the whole history in one breath: “Many times did he deliver them; but they provoked him… and were brought low for their iniquity.” Many times. The psalm is not hiding the pattern. It wants us to see it.

Verses 44–46: “Nevertheless he regarded their affliction, when he heard their cry:”

Here is the turn, and it begins with the word “Nevertheless.” They were suffering under the consequences of their own choices, and God still looked at their affliction and heard their cry. Verse 45 says He “remembered for them his covenant, and repented according to the multitude of his mercies.” When Scripture says God repented here, it means He relented [withdrew the judgment] out of compassion. He did not change His mind about right and wrong. He changed His course toward them because His covenant and His mercies were larger than their sin. Verse 46 adds a tender detail: He even made their captors pity them. Lamentations 3:22–23 says it well: “It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”

Verses 47–48: “Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from among the heathen, to give thanks unto thy holy name, and to triumph in thy praise.”

The psalm ends the way it began, in praise. The final prayer is simple: save us, gather us. It does not argue God’s case or offer a list of improvements. It asks to be brought home so that thanksgiving can fill the mouth again. Verse 48 closes with a doxology, and the whole assembly is invited to say, “Amen.” Praise ye the LORD.

Carrying this forward

If the Lord has already brought you through a season of guilt and you are standing on the other side of it, take the psalm’s warning to heart. Israel’s great failing was not only what they did but how quickly they forgot: they “soon forgat his works.” It is easy, once the weight lifts, to drift back into the old ease and stop remembering what God carried us out of. Paul says of Israel’s history in 1 Corinthians 10:6, “Now these things were our examples.” Keep the remembering alive. Thank Him often, and stay close to the One who forgave.

And if you are in the middle of it right now, with the guilt pressing on you and a quiet voice asking whether you have used up God’s patience, look again at what the psalm actually shows. This was a people who sinned in the very shadow of the Red Sea, who built an idol within weeks of hearing God’s voice, who failed in the wilderness, in the land, and in exile, and each time God’s mercy was still there when they cried out. “Many times did he deliver them.” His forgiveness has never been measured by how little we fail. It rests on “his name’s sake” (verse 8) and on His covenant, and Psalm 103:12 says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” Where sin has been laid open before Him, Romans 5:20 says, “grace did much more abound.” Bring Him what you carry. Admit it plainly, as the psalmist did. The God who regarded their affliction and heard their cry is listening for yours.