Psalms 145

Praising God's Greatness

1

A Davidic hymn.

1 I^[a] exalt You, my God^[b] the King, and praise Your name forever and ever.

2 I will praise You every day; I will honor Your name forever and ever.^[c]

3 Yahweh is great and is highly praised;^[d] His greatness is unsearchable.^[e]

4 One generation will declare Your works to the next and will proclaim Your mighty acts.

5 I^[f] will speak of Your glorious splendor^[g] and^[h] Your wonderful works.

6 They will proclaim the power of Your awe-inspiring works, and I will declare Your greatness.^{[i] [j]}

7 They will give a testimony of Your great goodness and will joyfully sing of Your righteousness.

8 The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and great in faithful love.^[k]

9 The Lord is good to everyone; His compassion [rests] on all He has made.^[l]

10 All You have made will praise You, Lord; the^[m] godly will bless You.

11 They will speak of the glory of Your kingdom and will declare Your might,^[n]

12 informing [all] people^[o] of Your mighty acts and of the glorious splendor of Your^[p] kingdom.

13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom; Your rule is for all generations.^[q] The Lord is faithful in all His words and gracious in all His actions.^[r]

14 The Lord helps all who fall; He raises up all who are oppressed.^{[s] [t]}

15 All eyes look to You, and You give them their food in due time.^[u]

16 You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.

17 The Lord is righteous in all His ways^[v] and gracious in all His acts.

18 The Lord is near all who call out to Him,^[w] all who call out to Him with integrity.

19 He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him; He hears their cry for help and saves them.^[x]

20 The Lord guards all those who love Him, but He destroys all the wicked.

21 My mouth will declare the Lord's praise; let every living thing praise His holy name forever and ever.

Psalms 145 Commentary

Chapter 145

David extols the power, goodness, and mercy of the Lord. (1-9) The glory of God's kingdom, and his care of those that love him. (10-21)

Verses 1-9 Those who, under troubles and temptations, abound in fervent prayer, shall in due season abound in grateful praise, which is the true language of holy joy. Especially we should speak of God's wondrous work of redemption, while we declare his greatness. For no deliverance of the Israelites, nor the punishment of sinners, so clearly proclaims the justice of God, as the cross of Christ exhibits it to the enlightened mind. It may be truly said of our Lord Jesus Christ, that his words are words of goodness and grace; his works are works of goodness and grace. He is full of compassion; hence he came into the world to save sinners. When on earth, he showed his compassion both to the bodies and souls of men, by healing the one, and making wise the other. He is of great mercy, a merciful High Priest, through whom God is merciful to sinners.

Verses 10-21 All God's works show forth his praises. He satisfies the desire of every living thing, except the unreasonable children of men, who are satisfied with nothing. He does good to all the children of men; his own people in a special manner. Many children of God, who have been ready to fall into sin, to fall into despair, have tasted his goodness in preventing their falls, or recovering them speedily by his graces and comforts. And with respect to all that are heavy laden under the burden of sin, if they come to Christ by faith, he will ease them, he will raise them. He is very ready to hear and answer the prayers of his people. He is present every where; but in a special way he is nigh to them, as he is not to others. He is in their hearts, and dwells there by faith, and they dwell in him. He is nigh to those that call upon him, to help them in all times of need. He will be nigh to them, that they may have what they ask, and find what they seek, if they call upon him in truth and sincerity. And having taught men to love his name and holy ways, he will save them from the destruction of the wicked. May we then love his name, and walk in his ways, while we desire that all flesh should bless his holy name for ever and ever.

Footnotes

• [a]. The lines of this poem form an acrostic.
• [b]. Ps 30:1; 118:28; Isa 25:1
• [c]. Ps 63:4; 96:2; 100:4
• [d]. Ps 48:1; 96:4; 1 Ch 16:25
• [e]. Jb 5:9; 9:10; Isa 40:28
• [f]. LXX, Syr read They
• [g]. Ps 96:6; 104:1; 1 Ch 16:27; Jb 37:22
• [h]. LXX, Syr read and they will tell of
• [i]. Alt Hb tradition, Jer read great deeds
• [j]. Ps 106:2; Dt 10:21; 1 Ch 17:19-21
• [k]. Ps 86:15; 103:8; Ex 34:6; Nm 14:18
• [l]. Ex 34:6; Neh 9:17; Jnh 4:2
• [m]. Lit Your
• [n]. Ps 21:13; 1 Ch 29:11-12; 2 Ch 20:6
• [o]. Lit informing the sons of man
• [p]. LXX, Syr, Jer; MT reads His
• [q]. Dn 4:3
• [r]. One Hb ms, DSS, LXX, Syr; most Hb mss omit The Lord is faithful in all His words and gracious in all His actions.
• [s]. Lit bowed down
• [t]. Ps 37:24; 119:116; 146:8
• [u]. Ps 104:27
• [v]. Ps 11:7; Dn 9:14; Zph 3:5
• [w]. Ps 34:18; 86:5; Dt 4:7; Jr 23:23
• [x]. Ps 18:6; Ex 2:23-24; 2 Ch 20:9

Chapter Summary

David's [Psalm] of praise. This psalm is rendered by Ainsworth "a hymn of David"; and the whole book of Psalms is from hence called "the Book of Hymns"; see Ephesians 5:19; It seems to have been a psalm David took great delight in, and it may be that he often repeated and sung it, as it was made by him with great care and contrivance, in a very curious manner, as well as he was assisted in it by divine inspiration; for it is wrote in an alphabetical order, each verse: beginning with the letter of the alphabet in course, and goes through the whole, excepting one letter; and very probably it was composed in this form that it might be the more easily committed to memory, and retained in it. The Jews have a very high opinion of it; their Rabbins say, that whoever says this psalm thrice every day may be sure of being a child of the world to come. This is mentioned by Arama and Kimchi; and which the latter explains thus, not he that says it any way, but with his mouth, and with his heart, and with his tongue. It seems to have been written by David after the Lord had granted him all his requests put up in the preceding psalms, and had given him rest from all his enemies; and when he turned his prayers into praises; for this psalm is wholly praise from one end to the other; and so are all the five following ones; they begin and end with "hallelujah": nor is there a single petition in them, as I remember; so that it may in some sense be said, "here the prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended." It no doubt, as Cocceius observes, belongs to the Messiah and his kingdom, which is everlasting, Psalm 145:13.