Psalms 145:1-21

Psalm 145 ¹ 

A psalm of praise, by David.

145:1 I will extol you, my God, O king!

I will praise your name continually! ² 

145:2 Every day I will praise you!

I will praise your name continually! ³ 

145:3 The Lord is great and certainly worthy of praise!

No one can fathom his greatness! ⁴ 

145:4 One generation will praise your deeds to another,

and tell about your mighty acts! ⁵ 

145:5 I will focus on your honor and majestic splendor,

and your amazing deeds! ⁶ 

145:6 They will proclaim ⁷  the power of your awesome acts!

I will declare your great deeds!

145:7 They will talk about the fame of your great kindness, ⁸ 

and sing about your justice. ⁹ 

145:8 The Lord is merciful and compassionate;

he is patient ¹⁰  and demonstrates great loyal love. ¹¹ 

145:9 The Lord is good to all,

and has compassion on all he has made. ¹² 

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 ¹³  might acknowledge your mighty acts,

and the majestic splendor of your kingdom.

145:13 Your kingdom is an eternal kingdom, ¹⁴ 

and your dominion endures through all generations.

145:14 ¹⁵ The Lord supports all who fall,

and lifts up all who are bent over. ¹⁶ 

145:15 Everything looks to you in anticipation, ¹⁷ 

and you provide them with food on a regular basis. ¹⁸ 

145:16 You open your hand,

and fill every living thing with the food they desire. ¹⁹ 

145:17 The Lord is just in all his actions, ²⁰ 

and exhibits love in all he does. ²¹ 

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

all who cry out to him sincerely. ²² 

145:19 He satisfies the desire ²³  of his loyal followers; ²⁴ 

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. ²⁵ 

Let all who live ²⁶  praise his holy name forever!

[145:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 145. The psalmist praises God because he is a just and merciful king who cares for his people.

[145:1]  ² tn Or, hyperbolically, “forever.”

[145:2]  ³ tn Or, hyperbolically, “forever.”

[145:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “and concerning his greatness there is no searching.”

[145:4]  ⁵ tn The prefixed verbal forms in v. 4 are understood as imperfects, indicating how the psalmist expects his audience to respond to his praise. Another option is to take the forms as jussives, indicating the psalmist’s wish, “may one generation praise…and tell about.”

[145:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “the splendor of the glory of your majesty, and the matters of your amazing deeds I will ponder.”

[145:6]  ⁷ tn The prefixed verbal form is understood as an imperfect, indicating how the psalmist expects his audience to respond to his praise. Another option is to take the forms as a jussive, indicating the psalmist’s wish, “may they proclaim.”

[145:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “the fame of the greatness of your goodness.”

[145:7]  ⁹ tn The prefixed verbal forms in v. 7 are understood as imperfects, indicating how the psalmist expects his audience to respond to his praise. Another option is to take the forms as jussives, indicating the psalmist’s wish, “may they talk…and sing.”

[145:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “slow to anger” (see Pss 86:15; 103:8).

[145:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and great of loyal love” (see Pss 86:15; 103:8).

[145:9]  ¹² tn Heb “and his compassion is over all his works.”

[145:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “the sons of man.”

[145:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “a kingdom of all ages.”

[145:14]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ tn Perhaps “discouraged” (see Ps 57:6).

[145:15]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the eyes of all wait for you.”

[145:15]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and you give to them their food in its season” (see Ps 104:27).

[145:16]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “[with what they] desire.”

[145:17]  ²⁰ tn Heb “in all his ways.”

[145:17]  ²¹ tn Heb “and [is] loving in all his deeds.”

[145:18]  ²² tn Heb “in truth.”

[145:19]  ²³ tn In this context “desire” refers to the followers’ desire to be delivered from wicked enemies.

[145:19]  ²⁴ tn Heb “the desire of those who fear him, he does.”

[145:21]  ²⁵ tn Heb “the praise of the Lord my mouth will speak.”

[145:21]  ²⁶ tn Heb “all flesh.”