Psalm 107:20

Psalm 107:20, in plain English

God's word—His power and promise—heals them completely and rescues them from the grave itself, bringing them back to life.

Why it's here

The psalmist emphasizes that God doesn't just change circumstances; He transforms people from the inside out. His word heals what affliction broke, and His power reaches even into death.

Who's speaking

The psalmist, describing the power of God's word and presence

Where it sits in the story

This points to Jesus, who is called the Word of God, and who literally defeats death through His resurrection. Ultimate healing and rescue come through God's transformative word.

The scholarly reading

God's deliverance operates through His word (dabar)—which effects both healing and rescue from the Pit—establishing that speech itself is God's creative and redemptive instrument.

Language and setting

The verb 'sent forth' (yishlach) with the object 'His word' (davro) invokes the creative power attributed to God's word in Genesis 1 ('Let there be...') and Psalm 33:9 ('He spoke, and it was'). The Pit (bo'r, also Sheol in the paratext) represents the realm of death. By sending His word, God accomplishes healing and extraction—both spiritual and physical restoration. The verse returns to the holistic anthropology of verse 5, where physical and spiritual are integrated.

Voice

The liturgical voice, articulating the divine mode of intervention as fundamentally linguistic and generative.

Significance

This prefigures the Logos theology of the Gospel of John (1:1-3), where Christ as the divine Word is both the agent of creation and redemption. The psalm asserts what becomes explicit in the New Testament: God's salvific action operates through the Word, and in the fullness of time, that Word becomes incarnate in Christ.

18They loathed all food and drew near to the gates of death.

19Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He saved them from their distress.

20He sent forth His word and healed them; He rescued them from the Pit.

21Let them give thanks to the LORD for His loving devotion and His wonders to the sons of men.

22Let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare His works with rejoicing.

Read all of Psalm 107 — Four stories of people in trouble — lost, imprisoned, sick, storm-tossed. Each time they cry out. Each time God delivers. Let the redeemed say so.