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Psalms

About this book
Psalm 106

1 Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, and his loyal love endures. 2 Who can adequately recount the Lord’s mighty acts or relate all his praiseworthy deeds? 3 How blessed are those who promote justice and do what is right all the time.⁠ 4 Remember me, O Lord, when you show favor to your people. Pay attention to me, when you deliver, 5 so I may see the prosperity of your chosen ones, rejoice along with your nation, and boast along with the people who belong to you. 6 We have sinned like our ancestors; we have done wrong, we have done evil.⁠ 7 Our ancestors in Egypt failed to appreciate your miraculous deeds. They failed to remember your many acts of loyal love, and they rebelled at the sea, by the Red Sea. 8 Yet he delivered them for the sake of his reputation that he might reveal his power.⁠ 9 He shouted at the Red Sea and it dried up;⁠ he led them through the deep water as if it were a desert.⁠ 10 He delivered them from the power of the one who hated them and rescued them from the power of the enemy. 11 The water covered their enemies; not even one of them survived. 12 They believed his promises; they sang praises to him. 13 They quickly forgot what he had done; they did not wait for his instructions. 14 In the wilderness they had an insatiable craving for meat; they challenged God in the wastelands. 15 He granted their request, then struck them with a disease. 16 In the camp they resented Moses and Aaron the Lord’s holy priest. 17 The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan; it engulfed the group led by Abiram. 18 Fire burned their group; the flames scorched the wicked. 19 They made an image of a calf at Horeb and worshiped a metal idol.⁠ 20 They traded their majestic God for the image of an ox that eats grass.⁠ 21 They rejected the God who delivered them, the one who performed great deeds in Egypt, 22 amazing feats in the land of Ham, mighty acts by the Red Sea. 23 He threatened to destroy them, but Moses, his chosen one, interceded with him and turned back his destructive anger. 24 They rejected the fruitful land; they did not believe his promise. 25 They grumbled in their tents; they did not obey the Lord. 26 So he made a solemn vow that he would make them die in the wilderness, 27 make their descendants die among the nations, and scatter them among foreign lands. 28 They worshiped Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices offered to the dead.⁠ 29 They made the Lord angry by their actions, and a plague broke out among them. 30 Phinehas took a stand and intervened, and the plague subsided. 31 This was credited to Phinehas as a righteous act⁠ for all generations to come.⁠ 32 They made him angry by the waters of Meribah, and Moses suffered because of them, 33 for they aroused his temper, and he spoke rashly. 34 They did not destroy the nations, as the Lord had commanded them to do. 35 They mixed in with the nations and learned their ways. 36 They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them. 37 They sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons. 38 They shed innocent blood—the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan. The land was polluted by bloodshed. 39 They were defiled by their deeds and unfaithful in their actions. 40 So the Lord was angry with his people and despised the people who belonged to him. 41 He handed them over to the nations, and those who hated them ruled over them. 42 Their enemies oppressed them; they were subject to their authority. 43 Many times he delivered them, but they had a rebellious attitude and degraded themselves by their sin. 44 Yet he took notice of their distress, when he heard their cry for help. 45 He remembered his covenant with them and relented because of his great loyal love. 46 He caused all their conquerors to have pity on them. 47 Deliver us, O Lord, our God. Gather us from among the nations. Then we will give thanks to your holy name, and boast about your praiseworthy deeds. 48 The Lord God of Israel deserves praise, in the future and forevermore. Let all the people say, “We agree! Praise the Lord!”⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Psalm 106:28 and Letter of Jeremiah 1:27

Hebrew Bible · Deuterocanon

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Summary

The Letter of Jeremiah describes idolatry and offerings to idols as if they were offerings to the dead, drawing on language from Psalm 106 where Israel is said to have eaten sacrifices to the dead at Baal of Peor.

Passages

Psalm 106:28

Hebrew Bible
26 So he made a solemn vow that he would make them die in the wilderness, 27 make their descendants die among the nations, and scatter them among foreign lands. 28 They worshiped Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices offered to the dead. 29 They made the Lord angry by their actions, and a plague broke out among them. 30 Phinehas took a stand and intervened, and the plague subsided.
600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Psalms

Letter of Jeremiah 1:27

Deuterocanon
25 Things in which there is no breath are bought at any cost. 26 Having no feet, they are carried upon shoulders. By this, they declare to men that they are worth nothing. Those who serve them are also ashamed, 27 for if they fall to the ground at any time, they can’t rise up again by themselves. If they are bowed down, they can’t make themselves straight; but the offerings are set before them, as if they were dead men. 28 And the things that are sacrificed to them, their priests sell and spend. In like manner, their wives also lay up part of it in salt; but to the poor and to the powerless they give none of it. 29 The menstruating woman and the woman in childbirth touch their sacrifices, knowing therefore by these things that they are no gods. Don’t fear them.
300–101 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Letter of Jeremiah

References

"... The phrase of the second prohibition (Jubilees 22:16: “Do not act as they do”) is quite general. Possibly we should connect this phrase with the text a few lines further: “for their actions are something that is impure” (Jubilees 22:16). This is elaborated on as follows: offering to the dead (Jubilees 22:17a) (For the offering to the dead, see Deuteronomy 26:14; Psalm 106:28; Sirach 7:33; Tobit 4:17; Letter of Jeremiah 27, 71; Sibylline Oracles 3:84, 356, 588, 723. see also Wisdom of Solomon 14:15) worship of demons (22:17); eating in tombs; and idolatry (Jubilees 22:18). As we have already mentioned, in his indictment of the nations, the author of Jubilees is referring to idol worship. The prohibition against idolatry corresponds to the requirement to worship God alone. Many texts deal with impurity in relation to the nations, and often this is related to idolatry. When Israel sins and thus acts as the nations do, it becomes morally impure ..."
Jacques T. A. G. M. van Ruiten, Abraham in the Book of Jubilees: The Rewriting of Genesis 11:26–25:10 in the Book of Jubilees 11:14–23:8, JSJSup 161 (Leiden: Brill, 2012), 314.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Psalm 106:28 and Letter of Jeremiah 1:27

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