Psalms 145:8-21

145:8 The Lord is merciful and compassionate;

he is patient ¹  and demonstrates great loyal love. ² 

145:9 The Lord is good to all,

and has compassion on all he has made. ³ 

145:10 All he has made will give thanks to the Lord.

Your loyal followers will praise you.

145:11 They will proclaim the splendor of your kingdom;

they will tell about your power,

145:12 so that mankind ⁴  might acknowledge your mighty acts,

and the majestic splendor of your kingdom.

145:13 Your kingdom is an eternal kingdom, ⁵ 

and your dominion endures through all generations.

145:14 ⁶ The Lord supports all who fall,

and lifts up all who are bent over. ⁷ 

145:15 Everything looks to you in anticipation, ⁸ 

and you provide them with food on a regular basis. ⁹ 

145:16 You open your hand,

and fill every living thing with the food they desire. ¹⁰ 

145:17 The Lord is just in all his actions, ¹¹ 

and exhibits love in all he does. ¹² 

145:18 The Lord is near all who cry out to him,

all who cry out to him sincerely. ¹³ 

145:19 He satisfies the desire ¹⁴  of his loyal followers; ¹⁵ 

he hears their cry for help and delivers them.

145:20 The Lord protects those who love him,

but he destroys all the wicked.

145:21 My mouth will praise the Lord. ¹⁶ 

Let all who live ¹⁷  praise his holy name forever!

[145:8]  ¹ tn Heb “slow to anger” (see Pss 86:15; 103:8).

[145:8]  ² tn Heb “and great of loyal love” (see Pss 86:15; 103:8).

[145:9]  ³ tn Heb “and his compassion is over all his works.”

[145:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “the sons of man.”

[145:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “a kingdom of all ages.”

[145:14]  ⁶ tc Psalm 145 is an acrostic psalm, with each successive verse beginning with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. However, in the traditional Hebrew (Masoretic) text of Psalm 145 there is no verse beginning with the letter nun. One would expect such a verse to appear as the fourteenth verse, between the mem (מ) and samek (ס) verses. Several ancient witnesses, including one medieval Hebrew manuscript, the Qumran scroll from cave 11, the LXX, and the Syriac, supply the missing nun (נ) verse, which reads as follows: “The Lord is reliable in all his words, and faithful in all his deeds.” One might paraphrase this as follows: “The Lord’s words are always reliable; his actions are always faithful.” Scholars are divided as to the originality of this verse. L. C. Allen argues for its inclusion on the basis of structural considerations (Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 294-95), but there is no apparent explanation for why, if original, it would have been accidentally omitted. The psalm may be a partial acrostic, as in Pss 25 and 34 (see M. Dahood, Psalms [AB], 3:335). The glaring omission of the nun line would have invited a later redactor to add such a line.

[145:14]  ⁷ tn Perhaps “discouraged” (see Ps 57:6).

[145:15]  ⁸ tn Heb “the eyes of all wait for you.”

[145:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “and you give to them their food in its season” (see Ps 104:27).

[145:16]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “[with what they] desire.”

[145:17]  ¹¹ tn Heb “in all his ways.”

[145:17]  ¹² tn Heb “and [is] loving in all his deeds.”

[145:18]  ¹³ tn Heb “in truth.”

[145:19]  ¹⁴ tn In this context “desire” refers to the followers’ desire to be delivered from wicked enemies.

[145:19]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the desire of those who fear him, he does.”

[145:21]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the praise of the Lord my mouth will speak.”

[145:21]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “all flesh.”