Psalms 107:27

Psa 107:27 They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.

Ver. 27. They reel to and fro, &c.] Natant nautae, et vacillant cerebro et pedibus.

And are at their wit’s end] All their skill and strength faileth them at once; they can do no more for their lives. Heb. All their wisdom is swallowed up; that is, the art of navigation is now to no use with them.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

27. (Psa 107:27) They reel and stagger like a drunken (man), and all their wisdom is confounded. By wisdom we are here to understand reason, common sense, that which makes men rational and raises them above the brutes. This is plain from the comparison with drunkenness, the only point of which must be the loss of reason. The reeling and staggering may relate to the irregular and violent motion of a vessel in a storm, or, as the last clause does, to the mariners themselves. The last verb literally means is swallowed up, or retaining the reflexive form, still more strongly, swallows itself up. But see above, on the last word of Psa 107:26,

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

When their art and means fail them, they are compelled to confess that only God’s providence doth preserve them.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

(27) Reel to and fro.—Or more exactly, spin round and round.

Are at their wit’s end.—An admirable paraphrase of the Hebrew, “all their wisdom swalloweth itself up.” The poet, from the expressions employed, is possibly writing under the influence of Psa_22:14; but he has evidently himself been to sea and experienced the dangers and discomforts he so graphically describes. Ovid (Trist. i. 2) has been quoted in illustration:

“Me miserum, quanti montes volvuntur aquarum

Jamjam tacturos sidera summa putes.

Quantæ diducto subsidunt æquore valles:

Jamjam tacturas Tartura nigra putes

Rector in incerto est, nec quid fugiatve petatve

Invenit: ambiguis ars stupet ipsa malis.”

See on this passage Addison in Spectator, No. 489.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

27. and are at their wit’s end] Lit. all their wisdom is swallowed up, or perhaps as in Psa_55:9, is confounded. Their skill in navigation entirely fails them. Cp. Isa_19:3. A striking parallel to the whole passage is to be found in Ovid, Tristia, l. 2. 19 ff.

Me miserum, quanti montes volvuntur aquarum!

Iam iam tacturos sidera summa putes.

Quantae diducto subsidunt aequore valles!

Iam iam tacturas Tartara nigra putes.

Rector in incerto est, nec quid fugiatve petatve

Invenit. Ambiguis ars stupet ipsa malis.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then are they glad because they be quiet,.... The mariners are glad that the waves are quiet, and they free from danger, and at ease and in repose themselves.

So he bringeth them unto their desired haven; the port, city, border or tract of land (q), they are bound to; which they desire to be at, and eagerly look out for, and rejoice when arrived at it. This is all the Lord's work in providence: mariners too often take it to themselves, as if it was owing to their own skill and management that they have brought home the ship safe to the appointed port; but it is owing to the secret guidance and protection of divine Providence, which should be acknowledged. The late Mr. Hussey (r) thinks, that all this is not to be understood of seamen and naval affairs in common, but is a prophecy of what should befall the disciples of Christ, when on shipboard with him; who are the persons that went "down to the sea of Galilee" in a ship;

whose business in the great waters was fishing; when, by the will of God, there came down a "stormy wind", which "lifted up the waves" of the sea, so that the ship in which they were was filled with them, and in danger of being sunk; when they went up and down, as here described, and reeled as they went along on the deck, to awake their Master their hearts melting, and they at their wit's end through fear, when they saw such wonders, what no common mariner ever did; the Godman and Mediator rising and in a majestic manner rebuked the winds and waves, and caused a calm, and so brought them to the country of the Gadarenes, whither they were bound; see Luk 8:23. But it may be applied, in a more spiritual manner, to the people of God in common who are embarked in the cause of Christ, and in a church state, comparable to a ship, of which Christ is the master, governor, and pilot; and who are sailing through the tempestuous sea of this world, and are tossed with tempests in it; and have business to do here, not only of a civil, but of a spiritual nature and who not only see the wondrous works of creation and providence, but of grace and redemption; the deep things of God, the mysteries of his grace and love: and who sometimes are covered with the billows and waves of affliction, and in the utmost distress; which are all under the direction and at the command of God, to whom they apply for relief; and he commands a calm in their breasts, and causes their afflictions to cease, which produce joy and gladness in them; and at last they are brought safe to heaven, their desired haven, which they are bound unto, are seeking after, and desirous of; and where they are at entire rest, brought hither by the Lord himself.

(q) Vid. Kimchii Sepher Shorash. rad. (r) Warning from the Winds, p. 21-26.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

They reel to and fro - The word used here - חגג châgag - means to dance as in a circle; then, to reel, or be giddy as drunkards are.

And stagger ... - This word means to move to and fro; to waver; to vacillate; and it is then applied to a man who cannot walk steadily - a drunkard. So the vessel, with the mariners on board, seems to stagger and reel in the storm.

And are at their wit’s end - Margin, as in Hebrew, “All their wisdom is swallowed up.” That is, They have no skill to guide the vessel. All that has been done by the wisdom of naval architecture in constructing it, and all that has been derived from experience in navigating the ocean, seems now to be useless. They are at the mercy of the winds and waves; they are dependent wholly on God; they can now only cry to him to save them. Often this occurs in a storm at sea, when the most skillful and experienced seaman feels that he can do no more.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Stagger like a drunken man; not so much from the giddiness of their heads, which is not usual in persons accustomed to the sea, as through the violent and various motions of the sea and the ship.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ver. 27. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man. The violent motion of the vessel prevents their keeping their legs, and their fears drive them out of all power to use their brains, and therefore they look like intoxicated men.

And are at their wit's end. What more can they do? They have used every expedient known to navigation, but the ship is so strained and beaten about that they know not how to keep her afloat.

Here too the spiritual mariner's log agrees with that of the sailor on the sea. We have staggered frightfully! We could stand to nothing and hold by nothing. We knew not what to do, and could have done nothing if we had known it. We were as men distracted, and felt as if destruction itself would be better than our horrible state of suspense. As for wit and wisdom, they were clean washed out of us, we felt ourselves to be at a nonplus altogether.

Ver. 27. The awakened sinner staggered and nonplussed.

Psalms 107:28*

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man. The oldest sailor "loses his sea-legs," and staggers about the deck like a landsman, or like one drunk. And are at their wit"s end; literally, as in the margin, and all theirwisdom is swallowed. But the English idiom of the Authorized Version is a very happy, one, and exactly expresses the writer"s meaning. All the seaman"s intelligence is at fault, and can suggest nothing.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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).”

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.