Psalms 115:1-9

1 Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name let glory be given, because of your mercy and your unchanging faith.

2 Why may the nations say, Where is now their God?

3 But our God is in heaven: he has done whatever was pleasing to him.

4 Their images are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.

5 They have mouths, but no voice; they have eyes, but they see not;

6 They have ears, but no hearing; they have noses, but no sense of smell;

7 They have hands without feeling, and feet without power of walking; and no sound comes from their throat.

8 Those who make them are like them; and so is everyone who puts his faith in them.

9 O Israel, have faith in the Lord: he is their help and their breastplate.

Psalms 115:1-9 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.