Bible Strands
Psalms 107:7
He led them on a straight path to reach a city where they could live.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses the assembly, recording God’s response to those who cried out in trouble. This declaration occurs immediately after their rescue and directly precedes the command to offer thanksgiving.
The words — The verb דָּרַךְ (darakh) means to tread or lead along a path, combined with יָשָׁר (yashar), which literally means straight or level. These terms describe a direct route toward a permanent dwelling place.
The thread — The motif of guided movement appears in Jeremiah 31:9, where God leads the returning exiles beside waterways, and in Psalms 77:20, which recalls His leadership of Israel through Moses and Aaron. Ezra 8:21 also notes the community seeking divine direction during travel.
Why it lands — The text states that deliverance includes directional provision, moving the group from distress to settlement. It requires the reader to acknowledge this complete journey before responding with the thanksgiving commanded in the following verse.
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
And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 31:9 They will come with weeping, and by their supplication I will lead them; I will make them walk beside streams of waters, on a level path where they will not stumble. For I am Israel’s Father, and Ephraim is My firstborn.”
- Ezra 8:21 And there by the Ahava Canal I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask Him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions.
- Psalms 77:20 You led Your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
- Hebrews 11:9 By faith he dwelt in the promised land as a stranger in a foreign country. He lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.
- Hebrews 12:22 Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to myriads of angels
- Nehemiah 11:3 These are the heads of the provinces who settled in Jerusalem. (In the villages of Judah, however, each lived on his own property in their towns—the Israelites, priests, Levites, temple servants, and descendants of Solomon’s servants—
- Psalms 78:52 He led out His people like sheep and guided them like a flock in the wilderness.
- Psalms 107:4 Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no path to a city in which to dwell.
- Psalms 107:36 He causes the hungry to settle there, that they may establish a city in which to dwell.
- Isaiah 30:21 And whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: “This is the way. Walk in it.”