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Psalm 145[a]

A psalm of praise; by David.

145 I will extol you, my God, O King.
I will praise your name continually.[b]
Every day I will praise you.
I will praise your name continually.[c]
The Lord is great and certainly worthy of praise.
No one can fathom his greatness.[d]
One generation will praise your deeds to another,
and tell about your mighty acts.[e]
I will focus on your honor and majestic splendor,
and your amazing deeds.[f]
They will proclaim[g] the power of your awesome acts.
I will declare your great deeds.
They will talk about the fame of your great kindness,[h]
and sing about your justice.[i]
The Lord is merciful and compassionate;
he is patient[j] and demonstrates great loyal love.[k]
The Lord is good to all,
and has compassion on all he has made.[l]
10 All your works will give thanks to you, Lord.
Your loyal followers will praise you.
11 They will proclaim the splendor of your kingdom;
they will tell about your power,
12 so that mankind[m] might acknowledge your mighty acts,
and the majestic splendor of your kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an eternal kingdom,[n]
and your dominion endures through all generations.
14 [o] The Lord supports all who fall,
and lifts up all who are bent over.[p]
15 Everything looks to you in anticipation,[q]
and you provide them with food on a regular basis.[r]
16 You open your hand,
and fill every living thing with the food it desires.[s]
17 The Lord is just in all his actions,[t]
and exhibits love in all he does.[u]
18 The Lord is near all who cry out to him,
all who cry out to him sincerely.[v]
19 He satisfies the desire[w] of his loyal followers;[x]
he hears their cry for help and delivers them.
20 The Lord protects all those who love him,
but he destroys all the wicked.
21 My mouth will praise the Lord.[y]
Let all who live[z] praise his holy name forever.

Psalm 146[aa]

146 Praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord, O my soul.
I will praise the Lord as long as I live.
I will sing praises to my God as long as I exist.
Do not trust in princes,
or in human beings, who cannot deliver.[ab]
Their life’s breath departs, they return to the ground.
On that day their plans die.[ac]
How blessed is the one whose helper is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord his God,
the one who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them,
who remains forever faithful,[ad]
vindicates the oppressed,[ae]
and gives food to the hungry.
The Lord releases the imprisoned.
The Lord gives sight to the blind.
The Lord lifts up all who are bent over.[af]
The Lord loves the godly.
The Lord protects the resident foreigner.
He lifts up the fatherless and the widow,[ag]
but he opposes the wicked.[ah]
10 The Lord rules forever,
your God, O Zion, throughout the generations to come.[ai]
Praise the Lord!

Psalm 147[aj]

147 Praise the Lord,
for it is good to sing praises to our God.
Yes,[ak] praise is pleasant and appropriate.
The Lord rebuilds Jerusalem,
and gathers the exiles of Israel.
He heals[al] the brokenhearted,
and bandages their wounds.
He counts the number of the stars;
he names all of them.
Our Lord is great and has awesome power;[am]
there is no limit to his wisdom.[an]
The Lord lifts up the oppressed,
but knocks[ao] the wicked to the ground.
Offer to the Lord a song of thanks.[ap]
Sing praises to our God to the accompaniment of a harp.
He covers[aq] the sky with clouds,
provides the earth with rain,
and causes grass to grow on the hillsides.[ar]
He gives food to the animals,
and to the young ravens when they chirp.[as]
10 He is not enamored with the strength of a horse,
nor is he impressed by the warrior’s strong legs.[at]
11 The Lord takes delight in his faithful followers,[au]
and in those who wait for his loyal love.
12 Extol the Lord, O Jerusalem.
Praise your God, O Zion.
13 For he makes the bars of your gates strong.
He blesses your children[av] within you.
14 He[aw] brings peace to your territory.[ax]
He abundantly provides for you[ay] the best grain.
15 He[az] sends his command through the earth;[ba]
swiftly his order reaches its destination.[bb]
16 He sends the snow that is white like wool;
he spreads the frost that is white like ashes.[bc]
17 He throws his hailstones[bd] like crumbs.
Who can withstand the cold wind he sends?[be]
18 He then orders it all to melt;[bf]
he breathes on it,[bg] and the water flows.
19 He proclaims his word to Jacob,
his statutes and regulations to Israel.
20 He has not done so with any other nation;
they are not aware of his regulations.
Praise the Lord!

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 145:1 sn Psalm 145. The psalmist praises God because he is a just and merciful king who cares for his people.
  2. Psalm 145:1 tn Or, hyperbolically, “forever.”
  3. Psalm 145:2 tn Or, hyperbolically, “forever.”
  4. Psalm 145:3 tn Heb “and concerning his greatness there is no searching.”
  5. Psalm 145:4 tn The prefixed verbal forms in v. 4 are understood as imperfects, indicating how the psalmist expects his audience to respond to his praise. Another option is to take the forms as jussives, indicating the psalmist’s wish, “may one generation praise…and tell about.”
  6. Psalm 145:5 tn Heb “the splendor of the glory of your majesty, and the matters of your amazing deeds I will ponder.”
  7. Psalm 145:6 tn The prefixed verbal form is understood as an imperfect, indicating how the psalmist expects his audience to respond to his praise. Another option is to take the forms as a jussive, indicating the psalmist’s wish, “may they proclaim.”
  8. Psalm 145:7 tn Heb “the fame of the greatness of your goodness.”
  9. Psalm 145:7 tn The prefixed verbal forms in v. 7 are understood as imperfects, indicating how the psalmist expects his audience to respond to his praise. Another option is to take the forms as jussives, indicating the psalmist’s wish, “may they talk…and sing.”
  10. Psalm 145:8 tn Heb “slow to anger” (see Pss 86:15; 103:8).
  11. Psalm 145:8 tn Heb “and great of loyal love” (see Pss 86:15; 103:8).
  12. Psalm 145:9 tn Heb “and his compassion is over all his works.”
  13. Psalm 145:12 tn Heb “the sons of man.”
  14. Psalm 145:13 tn Heb “a kingdom of all ages.”
  15. Psalm 145:14 tc Psalm 145 is an acrostic psalm, with each successive verse beginning with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. However, in the traditional Hebrew (Masoretic) text of Psalm 145 there is no verse beginning with the letter nun. One would expect such a verse to appear as the fourteenth verse, between the (מ) (mem) and (ס) (samek) verses. Several ancient witnesses, including one medieval Hebrew manuscript, the Qumran scroll from cave 11, the LXX, and the Syriac, supply the missing (נ) (nun) verse, which reads as follows: “The Lord is reliable in all his words, and faithful in all his deeds.” One might paraphrase this as follows: “The Lord’s words are always reliable; his actions are always faithful.” Scholars are divided as to the originality of this verse. L. C. Allen argues for its inclusion on the basis of structural considerations (Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 294-95), but there is no apparent explanation for why, if original, it would have been accidentally omitted. The psalm may be a partial acrostic, as in Pss 25 and 34 (see M. Dahood, Psalms [AB], 3:335). The glaring omission of the nun line would have invited a later redactor to add such a line.
  16. Psalm 145:14 tn Perhaps “discouraged” (see Ps 57:6).
  17. Psalm 145:15 tn Heb “the eyes of all wait for you.”
  18. Psalm 145:15 tn Heb “and you give to them their food in its season” (see Ps 104:27).
  19. Psalm 145:16 tn Heb “[with what they] desire.”
  20. Psalm 145:17 tn Heb “in all his ways.”
  21. Psalm 145:17 tn Heb “and [is] loving in all his deeds.”
  22. Psalm 145:18 tn Heb “in truth.”
  23. Psalm 145:19 tn In this context “desire” refers to the followers’ desire to be delivered from wicked enemies.
  24. Psalm 145:19 tn Heb “the desire of those who fear him, he does.”
  25. Psalm 145:21 tn Heb “the praise of the Lord my mouth will speak.”
  26. Psalm 145:21 tn Heb “all flesh.”
  27. Psalm 146:1 sn Psalm 146. The psalmist urges his audience not to trust in men, but in the Lord, the just king of the world who cares for the needy.
  28. Psalm 146:3 tn Heb “in a son of man, to whom there is no deliverance.”
  29. Psalm 146:4 tn Heb “his spirit goes out, it returns to his ground; in that day his plans die.” The singular refers to the representative man mentioned in v. 3b.
  30. Psalm 146:6 tn Heb “the one who guards faithfulness forever.”
  31. Psalm 146:7 tn Heb “executes justice for the oppressed.”
  32. Psalm 146:8 tn Perhaps “discouraged” (see Ps 57:6).
  33. Psalm 146:9 sn God is depicted here as a just ruler. In the ancient Near Eastern world a king was responsible for promoting justice, including caring for the weak and vulnerable, epitomized by resident foreigners, the fatherless, and widows. Cf. Exod 22:21; Lev 19:33-34; Deut 10:18-19; 24:14, 17; 27:19; Jer 22:3; Zech 7:10; Mal 3:5.
  34. Psalm 146:9 tn Heb “he makes the way of the wicked twisted.” The “way of the wicked” probably refers to their course of life (see Prov 4:19; Jer 12:1). God makes their path tortuous in the sense that he makes them pay the harmful consequences of their actions.
  35. Psalm 146:10 tn Heb “for a generation and a generation.”
  36. Psalm 147:1 sn Psalm 147. The psalmist praises the Lord for he is the sovereign ruler of the world who cares for the needs of his covenant people.
  37. Psalm 147:1 tn Or “for.”
  38. Psalm 147:3 tn Heb “the one who heals.”
  39. Psalm 147:5 tn Heb “and great of strength.”
  40. Psalm 147:5 tn Heb “to his wisdom there is no counting.”
  41. Psalm 147:6 tn Heb “brings down.”
  42. Psalm 147:7 tn Heb “sing to the Lord with thanksgiving.”
  43. Psalm 147:8 tn Heb “the one who covers.”
  44. Psalm 147:8 tn Heb “hills.”
  45. Psalm 147:9 tn Heb “which cry out.”
  46. Psalm 147:10 tn Heb “he does not desire the strength of the horse, he does not take delight in the legs of the man.” Here “the horse” refers to the war horse used by ancient Near Eastern chariot forces, and “the man” refers to the warrior whose muscular legs epitomize his strength.
  47. Psalm 147:11 tn Heb “those who fear him.”
  48. Psalm 147:13 tn Heb “your sons.”
  49. Psalm 147:14 tn Heb “the one who.”
  50. Psalm 147:14 tn Heb “he makes your boundary peace.”
  51. Psalm 147:14 tn Heb “satisfies you with.”
  52. Psalm 147:15 tn Heb “the one who.”
  53. Psalm 147:15 tn Heb “the one who sends his word, the earth.” The Hebrew term אֶרֶץ (ʾerets, “earth”) is an adverbial accusative; one must supply a preposition before it (such as “through” or “to”) in the English translation.
  54. Psalm 147:15 tn Heb “swiftly his word runs.”
  55. Psalm 147:16 tn Heb “the one who gives snow like wool, frost like ashes he scatters.”
  56. Psalm 147:17 tn Heb “his ice.”
  57. Psalm 147:17 tn Heb “Before his cold, who can stand?”
  58. Psalm 147:18 tn Heb “he sends his word and melts them.”
  59. Psalm 147:18 tn Heb “he blows his breath.”