Psalms 147

1 ¹Praise the LORD! For ²it is good to sing praises to our God; for ³it is pleasant,^[a] and ⁴a song of praise is fitting.

2 The LORD ⁵builds up Jerusalem; he ⁶gathers the outcasts of Israel.

3 He heals ⁷the brokenhearted and ⁸binds up their wounds.

4 He ⁹determines the number of the stars; he ¹⁰gives to all of them their names.

5 ¹¹Great is our Lord, and ¹²abundant in power; ¹³his understanding is beyond measure.

6 The LORD ¹⁴lifts up the humble;^[b] he casts the wicked to the ground.

7 ¹⁵Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; make melody to our God on ¹⁶the lyre!

8 He covers the heavens with clouds; he prepares ¹⁷rain for the earth; he makes ¹⁸grass grow on the hills.

9 He ¹⁹gives to the beasts their food, and to ²⁰the young ravens that cry.

10 His delight is not in ²¹the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of a man,

11 but the LORD ²²takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who ²³hope in his steadfast love.

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

13 For he strengthens ²⁴the bars of your gates; he blesses your children within you.

14 He ²⁵makes peace in your borders; he ²⁶fills you with the ²⁷finest of the wheat.

15 He ²⁸sends out his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly.

16 He gives ²⁹snow like wool; he scatters ³⁰hoarfrost like ashes.

17 He hurls down his crystals of ³¹ice like crumbs; who can stand before his ³²cold?

18 He ³³sends out his word, and melts them; he makes his wind blow and the waters flow.

19 He declares his word to Jacob, his ³⁴statutes and rules^[c] to Israel.

20 He ³⁵has not dealt thus with any other nation; they do not know his rules.^{[d] 36}Praise the LORD!

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.

Cross References

• 1. See Psalms 135:1
• 2. Psalms 92:1
• 3. Psalms 135:3
• 4. Psalms 33:1
• 5. Psalms 51:18; Psalms 102:16
• 6. Deuteronomy 30:3; Isaiah 11:12; Isaiah 27:13; Isaiah 56:8; Ezekiel 39:28
• 7. Psalms 34:18
• 8. Ezekiel 34:16
• 9. [Genesis 15:5]
• 10. Isaiah 40:26
• 11. Psalms 48:1
• 12. Nahum 1:3
• 13. Isaiah 40:28; [Job 5:9]
• 14. [Psalms 146:8, 9]
• 15. Exodus 15:21; [Psalms 95:1, 2]
• 16. See 1 Chronicles 15:16
• 17. See Job 5:10
• 18. Psalms 104:14; Job 38:27
• 19. Psalms 104:27, 28
• 20. See Job 38:41
• 21. Psalms 33:17
• 22. Psalms 149:4
• 23. Psalms 33:18
• 24. Nehemiah 7:3
• 25. Exodus 34:24; Proverbs 16:7; Isaiah 60:17, 18
• 26. Psalms 132:15
• 27. Psalms 81:16; Deuteronomy 32:14
• 28. [Psalms 148:8]
• 29. Job 37:6
• 30. [Job 38:29]
• 31. Job 37:10
• 32. Job 37:9
• 33. ver. 15; [Job 37:12]; See Psalms 33:9; Psalms 107:20
• 34. Malachi 4:4; [Psalms 78:5]; See Deuteronomy 33:2-4
• 35. Deuteronomy 4:7; See Deuteronomy 4:32-34
• 36. See Psalms 135:1

Footnotes

• [a]. Or for he is beautiful
• [b]. Or afflicted
• [c]. Or and just decrees
• [d]. Or his just decrees

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.