What does Psalms 107:18 mean?

Psalm 107:18 describes people in a state of extreme physical and spiritual distress. In plain language, the verse says that those being described have lost all appetite for food — their soul "abhors" or loathes it, meaning they cannot even bring themselves to eat — and as a result they are approaching the very doors of death. This is vivid, physical language depicting someone wasting away, near the point of dying, whether from illness, suffering, or the consequences of their own choices.

Psalm 107 is a communal thanksgiving psalm, likely written for use in Israel's worship after some experience of deliverance, possibly connected to the return from exile in Babylon. The psalm is structured around four scenarios of people in desperate trouble — wanderers lost in the wilderness, prisoners in chains, the sick near death, and sailors caught in a storm — each followed by their cry to God and his rescue of them. Verse 18 falls within the third scenario (verses 17–22), which describes people who suffer affliction because of their own sin and foolish choices ("Some were fools because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities were afflicted," v. 17). Their suffering is not random; it is the natural consequence of their own rebellion, yet God does not abandon them to it.

Theologically, this verse highlights both human vulnerability and divine mercy. It shows that sin and folly can lead to real, tangible suffering — not merely spiritual guilt, but physical decline, sickness, and the nearness of death. Yet the psalm's larger message, continued in verses 19–20, is