Psalms 147

1 Hallelujah! It is good to sing psalms to our God. It is pleasant to sing [his] praise beautifully.

2 The LORD is the builder of Jerusalem. He is the one who gathers the outcasts of Israel together.

3 He is the healer of the brokenhearted. He is the one who bandages their wounds.

4 He determines the number of stars. He gives each one a name.

5 Our Lord is great, and his power is great. There is no limit to his understanding.

6 The LORD gives relief to those who are oppressed. He brings wicked people down to the ground.

7 Sing to the LORD a song of thanksgiving. Make music to our God with a lyre.

8 He covers the sky with clouds. He provides rain for the ground. He makes grass grow on the mountains.

9 He is the one who gives food to animals and to young ravens when they call out.

10 He finds no joy in strong horses, nor is he pleased by brave soldiers.

11 The LORD is pleased with those who fear him, with those who wait with hope for his mercy.

12 Praise the LORD, Jerusalem! Praise your God, Zion!

13 He makes the bars across your gates strong. He blesses the children within you.

14 He is the one who brings peace to your borders and satisfies your [hunger] with the finest wheat.

15 He is the one who sends his promise throughout the earth. His word travels with great speed.

16 He is the one who sends snow like wool and scatters frost like ashes.

17 He is the one who throws his hailstones like breadcrumbs. Who can withstand his chilling blast?

18 He sends out his word and melts his hailstones. He makes wind blow [and] water flow.

19 He speaks his word to Jacob, his laws and judicial decisions to Israel.

20 He has done nothing like this for any other nation. The other nations do not know the decisions he has handed down. Hallelujah!

Psalms 147 Commentary

Chapter 147

The people of God are exhorted to praise him for his mercies and care. (1-11) For the salvation and prosperity of the church. (12-20)

Verses 1-11 Praising God is work that is its own wages. It is comely; it becomes us as reasonable creatures, much more as people in covenant with God. He gathers outcast sinners by his grace, and will bring them into his holy habitation. To those whom God heals with the consolations of his Spirit, he speaks peace, assures them their sins are pardoned. And for this, let others praise him also. Man's knowledge is soon ended; but God's knowledge is a dept that can never be fathomed. And while he telleth the number of the stars, he condescends to hear the broken-hearted sinner. While he feeds the young ravens, he will not leave his praying people destitute. Clouds look dull and melancholy, yet without them we could have no rain, therefore no fruit. Thus afflictions look black and unpleasant; but from clouds of affliction come showers that make the soul to yield the peaceable fruits of righteousness. The psalmist delights not in things wherein sinners trust and glory; but a serious and suitable regard to God is, in his sight, of very great price. We are not to be in doubt between hope and fear, but to act under the gracious influences of hope and fear united.

Verses 12-20 The church, like Jerusalem of old, built up and preserved by the wisdom, power, and goodness of God, is exhorted to praise him for all the benefits and blessings vouchsafed to her; and these are represented by his favours in the course of nature. The thawing word may represent the gospel of Christ, and the thawing wind the Spirit of Christ; for the Spirit is compared to the wind, ( John 3:8 ) . Converting grace softens the heart that was hard frozen, and melts it into tears of repentance, and makes good reflections to flow, which before were chilled and stopped up. The change which the thaw makes is very evident, yet how it is done no one can say. Such is the change wrought in the conversion of a soul, when God's word and Spirit are sent to melt it and restore it to itself.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 147

This psalm is thought to be written by David, and according to Theodoret predicts the return of the Jews from Babylon, and the rebuilding of Jerusalem by Zerubbabel, which seems to be grounded on Ps 147:2; though the words there agree well enough with the times of David; hence the title in the Septuagint, Ethiopic, Arabic, and Syriac versions, and Apollinarius, is as the preceding; the Syriac adds,

``concerning Zerubbabel and Joshua the priest, and Ezra, who were solicitous and diligent in building Jerusalem.''

Aben Ezra and other Jewish writers think it foretells the future rebuilding of Jerusalem, and the restoration of the Jews from their present captivity, and refer it to the times of the Messiah; and so far it may be right, that it respects Christ and the praise of him, on account of his nature and works; and may take in the conversion of the Jews. It seems to be written by the same person, and on the same account, as the preceding psalm.