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Psalms 146

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Call to Praise and Lifelong Commitment 1–2

1
Praise ye Jehovah. Praise Jehovah, O my soul. ​
2
While I live will I praise Jehovah: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being. ​

The Danger of Trusting Mortals 3–4

3
Put not your trust in princes, Nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. ​
4
His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; In that very day his thoughts perish. ​

Happy Is He Whose Hope Is in the LORD 5–10

5
Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, Whose hope is in Jehovah his God: ​
6
Who made heaven and earth, The sea, and all that in them is; Who keepeth truth for ever; ​
7
Who executeth justice for the oppressed; Who giveth food to the hungry. Jehovah looseth the prisoners; ​
8
Jehovah openeth the eyes of the blind; Jehovah raiseth up them that are bowed down; Jehovah loveth the righteous;
9
Jehovah preserveth the sojourners; He upholdeth the fatherless and widow; But the way of the wicked he turneth upside down.
10
Jehovah will reign for ever, Thy God, O Zion, unto all generations. Praise ye Jehovah. ​

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

Study Notes for Psalms 146

Verse 1

Praise ye the LORD — The two words are Hallelu-Yah, 'praise' with the short form of the divine name. Each of the five last psalms (Ps 146–150) begins and ends with this call. 'Praise the LORD, O my soul' addresses the soul (nephesh) as in Ps 103:1 and Ps 104:1, which begin 'Bless the LORD, O my soul'.

Verse 2

While I live will I praise the LORD — The vow runs for the whole of life, 'while I have any being', as in Ps 104:33, 'I will sing unto the LORD as long as I live'. 'Sing praises' is zamar, to make music, the verb of Ps 144:9 and Ps 147:1.

Verse 3

Put not your trust in princes — Nadiv is a noble, a generous one, the great ones who might be expected to give help. 'Help' here is teshuah, deliverance, which they cannot give. The same warning is in Ps 118:9, 'It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes', and Isa 2:22.

Verse 4

he returneth to his earth — Adamah, the ground that man was taken from: 'the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground' (Gen 2:7). The 'breath' (ruach) goes out and he returns to it, as in Eccl 12:7, 'Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was'. 'Thoughts' (eshtonah) is found only here in Scripture.

Verse 5

the God of Jacob — The helper is the God who promised to keep Jacob in all his travels (Gen 28:15). 'Help' is ezer; 'hope' is seber, found elsewhere only in Ps 119:116. The same blessing is on 'the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is' (Jer 17:7).

Verse 6

Which made heaven, and earth, the sea — The words are those of the fourth commandment: 'the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is' (Ex 20:11). The apostles pray the same words (Acts 4:24), and Paul and Barnabas preach them to the idolaters at Lystra (Acts 14:15). 'Keepeth' is shamar, to guard, over truth (emet).

Verse 7

looseth the prisoners — Nathar, to loose, the verb of Ps 105:20, 'The king sent and loosed him', of Joseph. 'Prisoners' is literally 'the bound' (asar). Christ read the same work from Isaiah in the synagogue: 'to preach deliverance to the captives' (Luke 4:18), and 'to set at liberty them that are bruised'.

Verse 10

The LORD shall reign for ever — The song of Moses at the sea ends with these words: 'The LORD shall reign for ever and ever' (Ex 15:18). Here they are said to Zion, as in Isa 52:7, where the herald 'saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!'. 'Praise ye the LORD' ends the psalm as it began (v.1); the seventh trumpet gives the verse again in Rev 11:15.