Psalms 115:9-16

9 O ¹Israel,^[a]2trust in the LORD! He is their ³help and their shield.

10 O ⁴house of Aaron, trust in the LORD! He is their help and ⁵their shield.

11 You ⁶who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield.

12 The LORD has remembered us; he will bless us; he will bless ⁷the house of Israel; he will bless ⁸the house of Aaron;

13 he will ⁹bless those who fear the LORD, ¹⁰both the small and the great.

14 May the LORD ¹¹give you increase, you and your children!

15 May ¹²you be blessed by the LORD, ¹³who made heaven and earth!

16 The heavens are the LORD's heavens, but the earth he has given to the children of man.

Psalms 115:9-16 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.

Cross References

• 1. [Psalms 118:2-4; Psalms 135:19, 20]
• 2. Psalms 37:3; Psalms 62:8
• 3. Psalms 33:20
• 4. [See ver. 9 above]
• 5. See Psalms 3:3
• 6. Psalms 22:23; Psalms 103:11, 13, 17
• 7. [Psalms 118:2-4; Psalms 135:19, 20]
• 8. [Psalms 118:2-4; Psalms 135:19, 20]
• 9. See Psalms 112:1
• 10. Jeremiah 16:6; Jeremiah 31:34
• 11. Deuteronomy 1:11
• 12. See Ruth 2:20
• 13. Psalms 121:2; Psalms 124:8; Psalms 134:3; Psalms 146:6; Acts 14:15; Revelation 14:7; [Genesis 1:1; Genesis 14:19; Jeremiah 10:11]

Footnotes

• [a]. Masoretic Text; many Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Syriac O house of Israel