Psalm 106 is the 106th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "Praise ye the LORD. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good". The Book of Psalms is part of the third section of the Hebrew Bible, and a book of the Christian Old Testament. In the slightly different numbering system used in the Greek Septuagint and Latin Vulgate translations of the Bible, this psalm is Psalm 105. In Latin, it is known by the incipit, "Confitemini Domino quoniam bonus". Alexander Kirkpatrick observes that the two historical psalms, Psalms 105 and 106, are closely related. Psalm 105 gives thanks for God's faithfulness to the covenant he made with Abraham; Psalm 106 is a psalm of penitence, reciting the history of Israel's faithlessness and disobedience. He also notes that this psalm and Psalm 107 "are closely connected together", arguing that "the division of the fourth and fifth books does not correspond to any difference of source or character, as is the case in the other books". Psalm 106 is used in both Jewish and Christian liturgies. It has been paraphrased in hymns, and set to music.

Text

Hebrew

The following table shows the Hebrew text of the Psalm with vowels alongside an English translation based upon the JPS 1917 translation (now in the public domain).

King James Version

Verse 48

These words correspond to the concluding verses of Psalms 41 and 89, which end Books 1 and 3 of the psalter, but Kirkpatrick observes that "the liturgical direction 'and all the people shall say, Amen, Hallelujah' (or 'Praise the Lord!') seems to imply that the doxology here is not a mere mark of the end of the Fourth Book, but was actually sung at the close of the Psalm."

Uses

Judaism

New Testament

Eastern Orthodox Church

In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Psalm 105 (Psalm 106 in the Masoretic Text) is part of the fifteenth Kathisma division of the Psalter, read at Vespers on Thursday evenings, as well as on Tuesdays and Fridays during Lent, at the Sixth Hour and Matins, respectively.

Musical settings

Verse 1 of Psalm 106 is the text for a round in German, "Danket, danket dem Herrn", with traditional music from the 18th century. Heinrich Schütz wrote a setting of a paraphrase of the psalm in German, "Danket dem Herrn, erzeigt ihm Ehr", SWV 204, for the Becker Psalter, published first in 1628.