Rashi on TanakhPsalms 107

Those redeemed by the Lord shall say it when He redeems them from the hands of an oppressor.

They strayed in the desert, on a road of desolation, etc. Those who travel in the deserts must also give thanks because sometimes they stray and suffer from hunger and thirst.

And He led them And He led them; therefore, they shall give thanks to the Lord for His kindness.

Those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death Also those imprisoned in a dungeon are required to give thanks when they emerge from their prison.

For they rebelled against the words of God Trouble does not befall a person except because of his iniquity.

For He broke copper doors that were shut before them.

Fools, because of the way of their transgression and because of their iniquities, are afflicted with the agonies of illnesses. They too are among those who are required to give thanks. There are markers in this chapter (i.e., six inverted “nuns” are written) and they come to be expounded upon instead of “buts” and “onlys” to limit [the power of the verse] meaning that if they [the prisoners] cry out before the verdict has been promulgated, they are answered; after the verdict has been promulgated, they are not answered.

They were frightened Heb. יחוגו. This is an expression of breaking. Similarly (Song 2:14): “in the clefts of (בחגוי) the rock”; and similarly (Isa. l9:17), “And the land of Judah will be to Egypt for a dread (לחגא).”

They rejoiced that they were stilled The waves.

the region Heb. מחוז, an expression of a border, and Menachem (p. 86) associated it with (Isa. 28:18): “and your limit (וחזותכם) with the grave,” your limit, that it should not enter our boundary. Similarly (I Kings 7:4): “an edge (מחזה מול מחזה) opposite an edge,” three times. In Tanchuma, I found [this].

And they shall exalt Him in an assembly of people He must give thanks in the presence of ten.

and in a sitting of elders And two of them must be rabbinical scholars.

He makes rivers into a desert That is to say that He makes the settlements of the nations into ruins.

into a salty waste To be like a salty land insofar as it does not produce fruit.

He makes a desert into a pool of water He makes a ruined settlement into a building and restores it to its original state.

Whereas they were few and they sank down But they, from the beginning, sank down and were few because of dominion, trouble, and sorrow.

and made him families like flocks He made [for] the needy the families of his children as numerous as flocks.

shuts Heb. קפצה, closes up, like (Deut. 15:7): “and not close up (תקפץ) your hand.”