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Psalms 145

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A Vow of Eternal Praise 1–3

1
I will extol thee, my God, O King; And I will bless thy name for ever and ever. ​
2
Every day will I bless thee; And I will praise thy name for ever and ever.
3
Great is Jehovah, and greatly to be praised; And his greatness is unsearchable. ​

Declaring God's Mighty Acts 4–7

4
One generation shall laud thy works to another, And shall declare thy mighty acts. ​
5
Of the glorious majesty of thine honor, And of thy wondrous works, will I meditate.
6
And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts; And I will declare thy greatness.
7
They shall utter the memory of thy great goodness, And shall sing of thy righteousness.

The Lord's Gracious Character and Kingdom 8–13

8
Jehovah is gracious, and merciful; Slow to anger, and of great lovingkindness. ​
9
Jehovah is good to all; And his tender mercies are over all his works. ​
10
All thy works shall give thanks unto thee, O Jehovah; And thy saints shall bless thee.
11
They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, And talk of thy power;
12
To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, And the glory of the majesty of his kingdom.
13
Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And thy dominion endureth throughout all generations. ​

God Sustains and Answers the Faithful 14–21

14
Jehovah upholdeth all that fall, And raiseth up all those that are bowed down. ​
15
The eyes of all wait for thee; And thou givest them their food in due season. ​
16
Thou openest thy hand, And satisfiest the desire of every living thing. ​
17
Jehovah is righteous in all his ways, And gracious in all his works.
18
Jehovah is nigh unto all them that call upon him, To all that call upon him in truth. ​
19
He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him; He also will hear their cry and will save them.
20
Jehovah preserveth all them that love him; But all the wicked will he destroy. ​
21
My mouth shall speak the praise of Jehovah; And let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Psalms 145

Verse 1

I will extol thee, my God, O king — 'Extol' is rum, to lift up. The heading calls the psalm tehillah, 'praise', the word that returns in its last verse (v.21). 'For ever and ever' (olam va'ed) opens the psalm and is repeated in v.2 and v.21, so the vow of the first verse is the vow of the last.

Verse 3

his greatness is unsearchable — Cheqer, a searching out, as in 'there is no searching of his understanding' (Isa 40:28) and 'great things and unsearchable' (Job 5:9). Paul closes his argument in Romans with the same wonder: 'how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!' (Rom 11:33).

Verse 4

One generation shall praise thy works to another — 'Praise' is shabach, to address aloud; 'declare' is nagad, to tell openly, and the 'mighty acts' (gevurah) are those of Ps 150:2. Israel was told to teach 'diligently unto thy children' (Deut 6:7) and 'the generation to come' (Ps 78:4).

Verse 8

gracious, and full of compassion — The words are the LORD's own proclamation to Moses: 'merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth' (Ex 34:6). 'Slow to anger' is literally 'long of nostrils' (erek aph). Jonah quotes it (Jonah 4:2); so does Ps 103:8.

Verse 9

his tender mercies — Racham, in the plural, from the word for the womb and its yearning. The LORD's goodness reaches 'all his works', and not Israel alone, as the Lord says of the Father who 'maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good' (Matt 5:45).

Verse 13

an everlasting kingdom — Malkut, kingdom, four times in vv.11–13, and memshalah, dominion. Daniel sees the same given to the Son of man: 'his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away' (Dan 7:14). The seventh trumpet announces it fulfilled (Rev 11:15).

Verse 14

upholdeth all that fall — Samak, to prop up. 'Raiseth up' (zaqaph) and 'bowed down' (kaphaph) occur together only here and in Ps 146:8, 'the LORD raiseth them that are bowed down'. Ps 37:24 gives the same support to the one who falls: 'the LORD upholdeth him with his hand'.

Verse 15

The eyes of all wait upon thee — Sabar, to look and hope, used also in Ps 104:27, 'These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season', a psalm that goes on to the creatures fed. Paul tells Athens that God 'giveth to all life, and breath, and all things' (Acts 17:25).

Verse 16

Thou openest thine hand — The open hand of Ps 104:28, 'thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good'. 'Satisfiest' is saba, to fill to the full. 'Desire' is ratson, the word also for favour and good pleasure: every living thing is filled by the LORD's goodwill.

Verse 18

nigh unto all them that call upon him — Qarov, near. Moses asks, 'what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them' (Deut 4:7); Ps 34:18 gives the nearness to 'a broken heart'. 'In truth' is emet, faithfulness, and John 4:23–24 joins truth to worship, 'in spirit and in truth'.

Verse 20

preserveth all them that love him — Shamar, to guard, as in Ps 97:10, 'he preserveth the souls of his saints', and Ps 31:23, 'the LORD preserveth the faithful'. Love is the mark, as in the commandment 'them that love me' (Ex 20:6). 'Destroy' is shamad, to lay waste utterly.

Verse 21

let all flesh bless his holy name — Basar, flesh, is all living creatures, as the psalm has just said (v.16, 'every living thing'). The vow of v.1, to 'bless thy name for ever and ever', now becomes the call to all; Ps 150:6 ends the book the same way, 'Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD'.