Psalm 149:6

Psalm 149 belongs to the last five psalms of the Psalter, Psalms 146–150, the Hallelujah psalms, each of which opens and closes with “Praise ye the LORD”. This one begins with “a new song” (Psalm 149:1) and celebrates God’s delight in his people and the salvation he adorns them with (Psalm 149:2–4). Verse 6 is where it turns, and the joy of the first verses carries straight into the scenes of judgment in verses 7 to 9.

“High praises” is rôwmᵉmâh, exaltation or praise, from a root meaning to be high. These are praises that lift God above everything. They are the praises of ʼêl, the short name for God that carries the sense of might. The word behind “mouth” here is gârôwn, the throat, and Strong’s notes that it can mean “aloud”. The praise of the mighty God comes up from the throat, sung out for all to hear, and the verse asks that it be there continually.

In the same breath the verse puts a sword in their hand. Chereb is the ordinary word for a sword, also used of other cutting tools such as a knife, and Strong’s ties its name to its destructive effect. “Twoedged” is pîyphîyâh, an edge, and with a sword it means sharp on both sides. The word is built on the Hebrew for mouth, so the sword is literally one “of mouths”. The hand is yâd, the open hand, which in Scripture pictures power and the means by which something is done. A sword in the hand is a weapon held and ready for use.

Verse 7 gives the purpose of the sword: “To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people.” “Execute” is ʻâsâh, to do or make in the broadest sense, and here it means to carry out. “Vengeance” is nᵉqâmâh, avengement, either the act or the passion behind it. In this psalm the vengeance is God’s, his just repayment of wrong, and the saints are its instruments. He says in the Song of Moses, “To me belongeth vengeance” (Deuteronomy 32:35), and he promises there to render vengeance to his enemies (Deuteronomy 32:41). Isaiah speaks of “the day of vengeance of our God” (Isaiah 61:2).

“Punishments” is tôwkêchâh, chastisement, and in a figure, correction by words, refutation or proof. The word is used of people as well as of God. It gives the judgment a legal side, a correction that shows the wrong for what it is and sets things right.

The two lines say one thing twice, in the way of Hebrew poetry. “The heathen” is gôwy, a foreign nation, a Gentile people, and “the people” is lᵉʼôm, a community or nation. Both mean the nations outside Israel, especially those that have oppressed God’s people and defied his rule. Israel knew from its own history how God used his people as instruments of his justice against idolatrous and oppressive powers, in the conquest of Canaan and in victories over the Philistines and the Syrians. The vision reaches its end in the triumph of Christ described in Revelation 19. Every nation answers to the LORD who reigns (Psalm 93:1).

Verse 8 names the leaders. “Bind” is ʼâçar, to tie, bind or harness, a verb Strong’s also gives for joining battle. “Kings” is melek, and the plural takes in the rulers of every nation that stands against God. “Chains” is zîyqâh. “Nobles” comes from kâbad, to be heavy, used in a good sense of people of weight and standing, the great men around a throne. Their “fetters” are kebel, from a root meaning to twine or braid together, and these are made of barzel, iron, which pictures restraints that hold.

Victorious empires of that day often paraded captured kings and their nobles in chains as a public show of conquest and humiliation. The psalm uses that picture for God’s victory. Those who held the highest power on earth are led away helpless, and the whole ruling order of the opposing nations, head and great men together, is brought under God’s hand. Isaiah sees the nations come over to Israel in chains and bow down (Isaiah 45:14).

The psalm leaves its setting unnamed. It may come from the years after the return from Babylon, when hostile neighbours opposed the rebuilding and the people looked to God to vindicate them, and some place it as late as the Maccabean struggle for independence. On any of these settings, the hope it voices reaches past one war to the day when God settles every account.

Verse 9 says that the saints execute “the judgment written”. The verb is ʻâsâh again, the same verb as in verse 7. “Judgment” is mishpâṭ, a verdict pronounced by a judge, a sentence or formal decree. “Written” is kâthab, to engrave or write. The sentence on the nations is already set down, so the saints carry out a decree that is God’s own, and the “them” of this verse are the nations and rulers of verses 7 and 8.

“Honour” is hâdâr, ornament, splendour or majesty. It is something put upon a person from outside, and here God puts it on his faithful people. Earlier in this psalm he takes pleasure in his people and “will beautify the meek with salvation” (verse 4), and the honour of sharing in his judgment is part of the same adorning.

“Saints” is châçîyd, properly kind, and so godly, pious or holy. The word is akin to ḥeseḏ, God’s steadfast love, and it describes people who are loyal to his covenant, who receive his loyal love and show it in their lives. The honour belongs to all of them, to every one of his faithful ones.

Israel was called to be “a kingdom of priests” (Exodus 19:6), and this verse shows what that dignity holds: a share in God’s own work of justice. Daniel sees judgment given to the saints of the most High, and the saints possess the kingdom (Daniel 7:22). Paul writes that the saints shall judge the world, and angels too (1 Corinthians 6:2–3). John sees thrones and those who reign with Christ (Revelation 20:4), and Jesus promises the one who overcomes power over the nations (Revelation 2:26–27) and a seat with him on his throne (Revelation 3:21). Believers are joint-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17), and his victory is theirs.

The psalm ends as it began. “Praise ye the LORD” is hâlal with Yâhh, the short form of God’s sacred name, the words we know as Hallelujah. Hâlal means to be clear or to shine, and so to make a show, to boast, to celebrate. After the sword, the vengeance and the chains, the last word is worship, because God’s justice and his victory are themselves a reason to praise him. The whole psalm, judgment included, is framed by praise, and it leads on into Psalm 150, the Psalter’s closing call to praise.

For the church, the sword in the saint’s hand is the word of God, and the battle is against the spiritual powers of evil: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers” (Ephesians 6:12). The vengeance stays with God. Paul writes, “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord” (Romans 12:19). Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36).

In ancient Israel the psalm may well have had a literal side, when God used his people in battle as instruments of his judgment. In Christ the weapons are the word, prayer and faith, the proclaiming of the gospel brings God’s truth to bear on the world, and the final carrying out of judgment belongs to the returning King, whose saints share in it as those who reign with him.

Christ fulfils both halves of verse 6. He glorified the Father on the earth and finished the work he was given (John 17:4), and through him we “offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually” (Hebrews 13:15). John sees him with a sharp twoedged sword going out of his mouth (Revelation 1:16), the sign of his authority and of the power of his word.

He came first to save the world (John 3:17), and the Father has committed all judgment to the Son (John 5:22). He will return as the righteous Judge (Revelation 19:11), and from his mouth goes the sharp sword with which he smites the nations and treads the winepress of the wrath of God (Revelation 19:15). All power is given to him in heaven and in earth (Matthew 28:18), he must reign till he has put all enemies under his feet (1 Corinthians 15:25), and the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ (Revelation 11:15).

On the cross he bore the judgment against sin, for God “condemned sin in the flesh” (Romans 8:3–4). The gospel now brings that verdict to light, as Jesus said: “this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world” (John 3:19). The worship of heaven ends where this psalm ends, with blessing and honour and glory to him that sits on the throne and to the Lamb (Revelation 5:13).

These verses show a God who sees every oppression and will set it right by a sentence he has already written. Kings and nobles who look beyond anyone’s reach answer to him. Our longing for justice finds its rest in him, because vengeance belongs to him and he will repay.

The same God delights in his people, adorns them with salvation, and gives them the honour of a share in his victory. So his saints can leave vengeance in his hands and still sing his high praises with a whole heart, and the psalm’s last word, “Praise ye the LORD,” is the right answer to all of it.