Psalms 147

God Restores Jerusalem

1 Hallelujah! How good it is to sing to our God, for praise is pleasant and lovely.^[a]

2 The Lord rebuilds Jerusalem;^[b] He gathers Israel's exiled people.^[c]

3 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.^[d]

4 He counts the number of the stars; He gives names to all of them.

5 Our Lord is great, vast in power; His understanding is infinite.^{[e] [f]}

6 The Lord helps the afflicted but brings the wicked to the ground.

7 Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; play the lyre to our God,^[g]

8 who covers the sky with clouds, prepares rain for the earth, and causes grass to grow on the hills.

9 He provides the animals with their food, and the young ravens, what they cry for.

10 He is not impressed by the strength of a horse; He does not value the power^[h] of a man.

11 The Lord values those who fear Him, those who put their hope in His faithful love.^[i]

12 Exalt the Lord, Jerusalem; praise your God, Zion!

13 For He strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses your children within you.

14 He endows your territory with prosperity;^[j] He satisfies you with the finest wheat.^[k]

15 He sends His command throughout the earth; His word runs swiftly.

16 He spreads snow like wool; He scatters frost like ashes;

17 He throws His hailstones like crumbs. Who can withstand His cold?

18 He sends His word and melts them; He unleashes His winds,^[l] and the waters flow.

19 He declares His word to Jacob, His statutes and judgments to Israel.

20 He has not done this for any nation; they do not know^[m] [His] judgments. 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Ps 33:1; 135:3
• [b]. Ps 51:18; Ezr 6:3; Neh 2:17; Dn 9:25
• [c]. Dt 30:4; Neh 1:9; Isa 11:12
• [d]. Ps 34:18; Isa 61:1
• [e]. Lit understanding has no number
• [f]. Jb 12:13; Isa 40:14,28
• [g]. Ps 149:3
• [h]. Lit legs
• [i]. Ps 33:18; 149:4; Dt 5:29
• [j]. Or peace
• [k]. Ps 81:16
• [l]. Or breath
• [m]. DSS, LXX, Syr, Tg read He has not made known to them

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.