Psalm 145:4-14

4 Generation to generation praiseth Thy works, And Thy mighty acts they declare.

5 The honour -- the glory of Thy majesty, And the matters of Thy wonders I declare.

6 And the strength of Thy fearful acts they tell, And Thy greatness I recount.

7 The memorial of the abundance of Thy goodness they send forth. And Thy righteousness they sing.

8 Gracious and merciful [is] Jehovah, Slow to anger, and great in kindness.

9 Good [is] Jehovah to all, And His mercies [are] over all His works.

10 Confess Thee O Jehovah, do all Thy works, And Thy saints do bless Thee.

11 The honour of Thy kingdom they tell, And [of] Thy might they speak,

12 To make known to sons of men His mighty acts, The honour of the majesty of His kingdom.

13 Thy kingdom [is] a kingdom of all ages, And Thy dominion [is] in all generations.

14 Jehovah is supporting all who are falling, And raising up all who are bowed down.

Psalm 145:4-14 Meaning and Commentary

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.