Psalm 107:4
<< Psalm 107:4 >>
New International Version (©1984)
Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle.

New Living Translation (©2007)
Some wandered in the wilderness, lost and homeless.

English Standard Version (©2001)
Some wandered in desert wastes, finding no way to a city to dwell in;

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
They wandered in the wilderness in a desert region; They did not find a way to an inhabited city.

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English (©2010)
And they were lost in the wilderness of the deserts and they did not find the road of an inhabited city.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
They wandered around the desert on a deserted road without finding an inhabited city.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in.

American King James Version
They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in.

American Standard Version
They wandered in the wilderness in a desert way; They found no city of habitation.

Douay-Rheims Bible
They wandered in a wilderness, in a place without water: they found not the way of a city for their habitation.

Darby Bible Translation
They wandered in the wilderness in a desert way, they found no city of habitation;

English Revised Version
They wandered in the wilderness in a desert way; they found no city of habitation.

Webster's Bible Translation
They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in.

World English Bible
They wandered in the wilderness in a desert way. They found no city to live in.

Young's Literal Translation
They wandered in a wilderness, in a desert by the way, A city of habitation they have not found.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

They wandered in the wilderness - On their return from Babylon; or, when God was conducting them again to their own land. The word "wilderness" in the Scriptures means a desolate, barren, uninhabited region, usually destitute of trees, of springs, and of water-courses. It does not denote, as it does with us, a region of extensive "forests." Compare the notes at Matthew 4:1.

In a solitary way - Rather, in a "waste" way; a land that was desolate and uncultivated.

They found no city to dwell in - In their journeyings. This was true of the region between Babylon and Palestine; a wide, barren, desolate waste.


Clarke's Commentary on the Bible

They wandered in the wilderness - Here begins the Finest comparison: the Israelites in captivity are compared to a traveler in a dreary, uninhabited, and barren desert, spent with hunger and thirst, as well as by the fatigues of the journey, Psalm 107:5.


Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way,.... Not the people of Israel, as the Targum. These seem not to be particularly intended, whatever allusion there may be to their passage through the wilderness to Canaan's land; but rather, in general, travellers through waste places, especially the wild deserts of Arabia; where the wind blowing the sand, covers the roads with it, so that frequently travellers lose their way, and wander about, till directed to it by one providence or another. Some compare this with the case of the Old Testament saints, mentioned in Hebrews 11:37 others with the church in the wilderness, and the witnesses prophesying in sackcloth, Revelation 11:2. But it is certain that the redeemed and gathered are here meant; and this fitly describes their case, before and at effectual calling: they are in the wilderness of the people, Ezekiel 20:35, from whence they are gathered; are in a state of error and ignorance; are like straying sheep, gone out of the right way; and are as lost sheep, they have lost their way; and though there may be many ways that present unto them, and which they think bid fair to be the right way; yet the true way of peace, life, and salvation by Christ, they know not, while in a state of nature and unregeneracy; and when they come to be effectually called, they see themselves to be in a bewildered state and condition.

They found no city to dwell in; nor even to call at or lodge in, for miles together; which is the case of travellers in some parts, particularly in the deserts of Arabia. Spiritual travellers find no settlement, rest, peace, joy, and comfort, but in Christ; nor any indeed in this world, and the things of it; here they have no continuing city, Hebrews 13:14.


The Treasury of David

4 They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in.

5 Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them.

6 Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.

7 And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation.

8 Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

9 For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.

Psalm 107:4

"They wandered in the wilderness." They wandered, for the track was lost, no vestige of a road remained; worse still, they wandered in a wilderness, where all around was burning sand. They were lost in the worst possible place, even as the sinner is who is lost in sin; they wandered up and down in vain searches and researches as a sinner does when he is awakened and sees his lost estate; but it ended in nothing, for they still continued in the wilderness, though they had hoped to escape from it. "In a solitary way." No dwelling of man was near, and no other company of travellers passed within hail. Solitude is a great intensifier of misery. The loneliness of a desert has a most depressing influence upon the man who is lost in the boundless waste. The traveller's way in the wilderness is a waste way, and when he leaves even that poor, barren trail, to get utterly beyond the path of man, he is in a wretched plight indeed. A soul without sympathy is on the borders of hell: a solitary way is the way of despair. "They found no city to dwell in." How could they? There was none. Israel in the wilderness abode under canvas, and enjoyed none of the comforts of settled life; wanderers in the Sahara find no town or village. Men when under distress of soul find nothing to rest upon, no comfort and no peace; their efforts after salvation are many, weary, and disappointing, and the dread solitude of their hearts fills them with dire distress.

Psalm 107:5

"Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them." The spirits sink when the bodily frame becomes exhausted by long privations. Who can keep his courage up when he is ready to fall to the ground at every step through utter exhaustion? The supply of food is all eaten, the water is spent in the bottles, and there are neither fields nor streams in the desert, the heart therefore sinks in dire despair. Such is the condition of an awakened conscience before it knows the Lord Jesus; it is full of unsatisfied cravings, painful needs, and heavy fears. It is utterly spent and without strength, and there is nothing in the whole creation which can minister to its refreshment.

Psalm 107:6

"Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble." Not till they were in extremities did they pray, but the mercy is that they prayed then, and prayed in the right manner, with a cry, and to the right person, even to the Lord. Nothing else remained for them to do; they could not help themselves, or find help in others, and therefore they cried to God. Supplications which are forced out of us by stern necessity are none the less acceptable with God; but, indeed, they have all the more prevalence, since they are evidently sincere, and make a powerful appeal to the divine pity. Some men will never pray till they are half-starved, and for their best interests it is far better for them to be empty and faint than to be full and stout-hearted. If hunger brings us to our knees it is more useful to us than feasting; if thirst drives us to the fountain it is better than the deepest draughts of worldly joy; and if fainting leads to crying it is better than the strength of the mighty. "And he delivered them out of their distresses." Deliverance follows prayer most surely. The cry must have been very feeble, for they were faint, and their faith was as weak as their cry; but yet they were heard, and heard at once. A little delay would have been their death; but there was none, for the Lord was ready to save them. The Lord delights to come in when no one else can be of the slightest avail. The case was hopeless till Jehovah interposed, and then all was changed immediately; the people were shut up, straitened, and almost pressed to death, but enlargement came to them at once when they began to remember their God, and look to him in prayer. Those deserve to die of hunger who will not so much as ask for bread, and he who being lost in a desert will not beg the aid of a guide cannot be pitied even if he perish in the wilds and feed the vultures with his flesh.

Psalm 107:7

"And he led them forth by the right way." There are many wrong ways, but only one right one, and into this none can lead us but God himself. When the Lord is leader the way is sure to be right; we never need question that. Forth from the pathless mazes of the desert he conducted the lost ones; he found the way, made the way, and enabled them to walk along it, faint and hungry as they were. "That they might go to a city of habitation." The end was worthy of the way, he did not lead them from one desert to another, but he gave the wanderers an abode, the weary ones a place of rest. They found no city to dwell in, but he found one readily enough. What we can do and what God can do are two very different things. What a difference it made to them to leave their solitude for a city, their trackless path for well-frequented streets, and their faintness of heart for the refreshment of a home! Far greater are the changes which divine love works in the condition of sinners when God answers their prayers and brings them to Jesus. Shall not the Lord be magnified for such special mercies? Can we who have enjoyed them sit down in ungrateful silence?

continued...


Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

It has actually come to pass, the first strophe tells us, that they wandered in a strange land through deserts and wastes, and seemed likely to have to succumb to death from hunger. According to Psalm 107:40 and Isaiah 43:19, it appears that Psalm 107:4 ought to be read לא־דרך (Olshausen, Baur, and Thenius); but the line is thereby lengthened inelegantly. The two words, joined by Munach, stand in the construct state, like פּרא אדם, Genesis 16:12 : a waste of a way equals ἔρημος ὁδός, Acts 8:26 (Ewald, Hitzig), which is better suited to the poetical style than that דּרך, as in משׁנה־כּסףp, and the like, should be an accusative of nearer definition (Hengstenberg). In connection with עיר מושׁב the poet, who is fond of this combination (Psalm 107:7, Psalm 107:36, cf. בּית־מושׁב, Leviticus 25:29), means any city whatever which might afford the homeless ones a habitable, hospitable reception. With the perfects, which describe what has been experienced, alternates in Psalm 107:5 the imperfect, which shifts to the way in which anything comes about: their soul in them enveloped itself (vid., Psalm 61:3), i.e., was nigh upon extinction. With the fut. consec. then follows in Psalm 107:6 the fact which gave the turn to the change in their misfortune. Their cry for help, as the imperfect יצּילם implies, was accompanied by their deliverance, the fact of which is expressed by the following fut. consec. ויּדריכם. Those who have experienced such things are to confess to the Lord, with thanksgiving, His loving-kindness and His wonderful works to the children of men. It is not to be rendered: His wonders (supply אשׁר עשׂה) towards the children of men (Luther, Olshausen, and others). The two ל coincide: their thankful confession of the divine loving-kindness and wondrous acts is not to be addressed alone to Jahve Himself, but also to men, in order that out of what they have experienced a wholesome fruit may spring forth for the multitude. נפשׁ שׁוקקה (part. Polel, the ē of which is retained as a pre-tonic vowel in pause, cf. Psalm 68:26 and on Job 20:27, Ew. 188, b) is, as in Isaiah 29:9, the thirsting soul (from שׁוּק, Arab. sâq, to urge forward, of the impulse and drawing of the emotions, in Hebrew to desire ardently). The preterites are here an expression of that which has been experienced, and therefore of that which has become a fact of experience. In superabundant measure does God uphold the languishing soul that is in imminent danger of languishing away.


Geneva Study Bible

They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in.


Wesley's Notes

107:4 No city - Or rather, no town inhabited, where they might refresh themselves.


Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

4-7. A graphic picture is given of the sufferings of those who from distant lands returned to Jerusalem; or,

city of habitation-may mean the land of Palestine.


Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

107:1-9 In these verses there is reference to the deliverance from Egypt, and perhaps that from Babylon: but the circumstances of travellers in those countries are also noted. It is scarcely possible to conceive the horrors suffered by the hapless traveller, when crossing the trackless sands, exposed to the burning rays of the sum. The words describe their case whom the Lord has redeemed from the bondage of Satan; who pass through the world as a dangerous and dreary wilderness, often ready to faint through troubles, fears, and temptations. Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, after God, and communion with him, shall be filled with the goodness of his house, both in grace and glory.


Numbers 14:33 Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the desert.
Numbers 32:13 The LORD's anger burned against Israel and he made them wander in the desert forty years, until the whole generation of those who had done evil in his sight was gone.
Deuteronomy 2:7 The LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast desert. These forty years the LORD your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything.
Deuteronomy 32:10 In a desert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye,
Joshua 5:6 The Israelites had moved about in the desert forty years until all the men who were of military age when they left Egypt had died, since they had not obeyed the LORD. For the LORD had sworn to them that they would not see the land that he had solemnly promised their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.
Joshua 14:10 "Now then, just as the LORD promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the desert. So here I am today, eighty-five years old!
Psalm 68:6 God sets the lonely in families, he leads forth the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.
Psalm 107:7 He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle.
Psalm 107:36 there he brought the hungry to live, and they founded a city where they could settle.

City Desert Dwell Find Finding Found Habitation Inhabited Live Places Region Resting-Place Settle Solitary Wandered Wandering Waste Wastelands Wastes Way Wilderness


They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in.

wandered Ps 107:40 Ge 21:14-16 Nu 14:33 De 8:15 32:10 Job 12:24 Eze 34:6,12 Heb 11:38 Re 12:6

they found. This is the first similitude; in which the Israelites in captivity are compared to travellers in a dreary, uninhabited, and barren desert, spent with hunger and thirst, as well as by the fatigues of the journey.

Psalms Chapter 107 Verse 4

Alphabetical: a an city could desert did find finding in inhabited no not region settle Some the they to wandered wastelands way where wilderness

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