Bible Strands
Psalms 107:5
They were hungry and thirsty; their soul fainted within them.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The psalmist describes a group of wanderers in a desert wasteland who have found no path to a city for shelter. They are in a state of extreme physical depletion before crying out to God for deliverance.
The words — The Hebrew רְעֵבִ֥ים (re'evim) and צְמֵאִ֑ים (tze'elim) state they were hungry and thirsty, while נַפְשָׁם תִּתְעַטּף (nafsham tit'etaf) literally describes their soul fainting or becoming exhausted within them.
The thread — This physical collapse parallels the crowd Jesus observes in Mark 8:2 who lack food, and Samson’s thirst in Judges 15:18 that prompts a cry to the Lord. The pattern of deprivation followed by restoration also appears when an Egyptian receives food and water in 1 Samuel 30:11.
Why it lands — The text records a state of utter depletion that precedes a cry for help, demanding recognition of human fragility. It asks the reader to acknowledge that physical exhaustion often drives people to seek deliverance beyond themselves.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them.
Cross-references
- Mark 8:2 “I have compassion for this crowd, because they have already been with Me three days and have nothing to eat.
- Judges 15:18 And being very thirsty, Samson cried out to the LORD, “You have accomplished this great deliverance through Your servant. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?”
- 1 Samuel 30:11 Now his men found an Egyptian in the field and brought him to David. They gave the man water to drink and food to eat—
- Isaiah 44:12 The blacksmith takes a tool and labors over the coals; he fashions an idol with hammers and forges it with his strong arms. Yet he grows hungry and loses his strength; he fails to drink water and grows faint.
- Lamentations 2:19 Arise, cry out in the night from the first watch of the night. Pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord. Lift up your hands to Him for the lives of your children who are fainting from hunger on the corner of every street.
- Jeremiah 14:18 If I go out to the country, I see those slain by the sword; if I enter the city, I see those ravaged by famine! For both prophet and priest travel to a land they do not know.’”