Psalms 145

1 The psalm of David. My God, king, I shall enhance thee; and I shall bless thy name into the world, and into the world of world. (The song of David, to the praising of God. My God and my King, I shall exalt thee; and I shall bless thy name forever and ever.)

2 By all days I shall bless thee; and I shall praise thy name into the world, and into the world of the world. (Every day I shall bless thee; and I shall praise thy name forever and ever.)

3 The Lord is great, and worthy to be praised full much; and none end there is of his greatness. (The Lord is great, and worthy to be greatly praised; and there is no end to his greatness.)

4 Generation and generation shall praise thy works; and they shall pronounce, either tell (a)far, thy power. (One generation shall praise thy works unto the next; and they shall declare, or shall tell of, thy power.)

5 They shall speak (of) the magnificence of the glory of thine holiness; and they shall tell (of all) thy marvels (and they shall declare all thy marvellous deeds).

6 And they shall say (of) the strength of thy fearedful things; and they shall tell (of) thy greatness.

7 They shall bring forth the mind of the abundance of thy sweetness; and they shall tell with full out joying (of) thy rightfulness. (They shall bring forth the remembrance of the abundance of thy goodness; and they shall sing with rejoicing about thy righteousness.)

8 The Lord is a merciful doer and merciful in will (The Lord is a giver of mercy, or of love, and merciful in will); patient, and much merciful.

9 The Lord is sweet in all things; and his merciful doings be above all his works. (The Lord is good to all; and his merciful doings be over, or upon, all his creatures.)

10 Lord, all thy works acknowledge to thee; and thy saints bless thee. (Lord, all thy creatures shall praise thee; and thy saints shall bless thee.)

11 They shall say [of] the glory of thy realm; and they shall speak (of) thy power. (They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom; and they shall tell of thy power.)

12 That they make thy power known to the sons of men (So that they make known thy power to all the people); and the glory of the magnificence of thy realm.

13 Thy realm is the realm of all worlds; and thy lordship is in all generation and into generation (Thy kingdom is a kingdom forever; and thy lordship, or thy rule, is for all generations). The Lord is faithful in all his words; and holy in all his works.

14 The Lord lifteth up all that fall down; and raiseth up all men hurtled down. (The Lord lifteth up all who fall down; and raiseth up all who be hurtled down.)

15 Lord, the eyes of all beasts hope in thee; and thou givest the meat of them in covenable time. (Lord, the eyes of all look with hope to thee; and thou givest them their food at the proper time.)

16 Thou openest thine hand; and thou [ful]fillest each beast with blessing. (Thou openest thy hand; and thou fulfillest each living creature with blessing/with what they need, or desire.)

17 The Lord is just in all his ways; and holy in all his works.

18 The Lord is nigh to all that inwardly call him; to all that inwardly call him in truth. (The Lord is near, or close, to all who call to him; to all who call to him in truth, or with sincerity.)

19 He shall do the will of them, that dread him; and he shall hear the beseeching of them, and he shall make them safe. (He shall fulfill the desires of those who fear him/of those who revere him; he shall hear their pleas, and he shall save them.)

20 The Lord keepeth all men loving him; and he shall lose all sinners. (The Lord keepeth safe all those who love him; but he shall destroy all the sinners.)

21 My mouth shall speak the praising of the Lord; and each man bless his holy name into the world, and into the world of world. (My mouth shall declare the praises of the Lord; let everyone bless 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.

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.