Psalms 115:1-8

Heathen Idols Contrasted with the LORD.

1 ¹Not to us, O LORD, not to us, But ²to Your name give glory Because of Your lovingkindness, because of Your truth.

2 ³Why should the nations say, "⁴Where, now, is their God?"

3 But our ⁵God is in the heavens; He ⁶does whatever * He pleases.

4 Their ⁷idols are silver and gold, The ⁸work of man's hands.

5 They have mouths, but they ⁹cannot speak; They have eyes, but they cannot see;

6 They have ears, but they cannot hear; They have noses, but they cannot smell;

7 They have hands, but they cannot feel; They have feet, but they cannot walk; They cannot make a sound with their throat.

8 ¹⁰Those who make them will become like them, Everyone who trusts in them.

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Psalms 115:1-8 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 115

This psalm is by the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions, joined to the former, and makes one psalm with it: and Kimchi says, that in some books the psalm does not begin here; but in the best and correct copies of the Hebrew, and in the Targum, it stands a distinct psalm; and the different subject matter or argument shows it to be so. It is ascribed to various persons; by some to Moses and the Israelites, when pursued by Pharaoh: by others to the three companions of Daniel, cast into the fiery furnace: by others to Mordecai and Esther, when Haman distressed the Jews: by others to the heroes at the times of Antiochus and the Maccabees; so Theodoret: by some to Jehoshaphat, when a numerous army came against him; and by others to David, which is more probable; though on what occasion is not easy to say: some have thought it was written by him, when insulted by the Jebusites, 2Sa 5:6. The occasion of it seems to be some distress the church of God was in from the Heathens; and the design of it is to encourage trust and confidence in the Lord; and to excite the saints to give him the glory of all their mercies, and to expose the vanity of idols.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 10

1. Isaiah 48:11; Ezekiel 36:22
2. Psalms 29:2; Psalms 96:8
3. Psalms 79:10
4. Psalms 42:3, 10
5. Psalms 103:19
6. Psalms 135:6; Daniel 4:35
7. Psalms 115:4-8; Psalms 135:15-18; Jeremiah 10:4
8. Deuteronomy 4:28; 2 Kings 19:18; Isaiah 37:19; Isaiah 44:10, 20; Jeremiah 10:3
9. Jeremiah 10:5
10. Psalms 135:18; Isaiah 44:9-11

Footnotes 4

[a]. Or "faithfulness"
[b]. Lit "Their hands"
[c]. Lit "Their feet"
[d]. Or "are like them"