Psalms 146

1 Praise the LORD.^[a]Praise the LORD, my soul.

2 I will praise the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

3 Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save.

4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing.

5 Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD their God.

6 He is the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them— he remains faithful forever.

7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free,

8 the LORD gives sight to the blind, the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down, the LORD loves the righteous.

9 The LORD watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.

10 The LORD reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the LORD.

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Psalms 146 Commentary

Chapter 146

Why we should not trust in men. (1-4) Why we should trust in God. (5-10)

Verses 1-4 If it is our delight to praise the Lord while we live, we shall certainly praise him to all eternity. With this glorious prospect before us, how low do worldly pursuits seem! There is a Son of man in whom there is help, even him who is also the Son of God, who will not fail those that trust in him. But all other sons of men are like the man from whom they sprung, who, being in honour, did not abide. God has given the earth to the children of men, but there is great striving about it. Yet, after a while, no part of the earth will be their own, except that in which their dead bodies are laid. And when man returns to his earth, in that very day all his plans and designs vanish and are gone: what then comes of expectations from him?

Verses 5-10 The psalmist encourages us to put confidence in God. We must hope in the providence of God for all we need as to this life, and in the grace of God for that which is to come. The God of heaven became a man that he might become our salvation. Though he died on the cross for our sins, and was laid in the grave, yet his thoughts of love to us did not perish; he rose again to fulfil them. When on earth, his miracles were examples of what he is still doing every day. He grants deliverance to captives bound in the chains of sin and Satan. He opens the eyes of the understanding. He feeds with the bread of life those who hunger for salvation; and he is the constant Friend of the poor in spirit, the helpless: with him poor sinners, that are as fatherless, find mercy; and his kingdom shall continue for ever. Then let sinners flee to him, and believers rejoice in him. And as the Lord shall reign for ever, let us stir up each other to praise his holy name.

Taken from Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise)

Cross References 24

1. Psalms 103:1; Psalms 104:1
2. Psalms 104:33
3. S Psalms 105:2
4. S Psalms 63:4
5. Psalms 118:9
6. Psalms 60:11; S Psalms 108:12; Isaiah 2:22
7. S Genesis 3:19; S Job 7:21; Psalms 103:14; Psalms 104:29; Ecclesiastes 12:7
8. Psalms 33:10; 1 Corinthians 2:6
9. Psalms 33:18; Psalms 37:9; Psalms 119:43; Psalms 144:15; Jeremiah 17:7
10. Psalms 70:5; Psalms 71:5; Psalms 121:2
11. S 2 Chronicles 2:12; Psalms 115:15; Acts 14:15; S Revelation 10:6; Revelation 14:7
12. S Deuteronomy 7:9; S Psalms 18:25; Psalms 108:4; Psalms 117:2
13. S Psalms 37:17
14. Psalms 103:6
15. Psalms 107:9; Psalms 145:15
16. S Psalms 66:11; S Psalms 68:6
17. Proverbs 20:12; Isaiah 29:18; Isaiah 32:3; Isaiah 35:5; Isaiah 42:7,18-19; Isaiah 43:8; Matthew 11:5
18. S Exodus 4:11; Matthew 9:30
19. S Psalms 38:6
20. S Deuteronomy 7:13; S Job 23:10
21. S Leviticus 19:34
22. S Psalms 10:18
23. S Exodus 22:22; Deuteronomy 10:18; Psalms 68:5; James 1:27
24. S Genesis 21:33; S 1 Chronicles 16:31; Psalms 93:1; Psalms 99:1; Revelation 11:15; Exodus 15:18; Psalms 10:16

Footnotes 1

[a]. Hebrew "Hallelu Yah" ; also in verse 10

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 146

This psalm is entitled by the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Ethiopic, and Arabic versions, "hallelujah", of Haggai and Zechariah; and by Apollinarius, the common hymn of them: and the Syriac inscription is still more expressive,

``it was said by Haggai and Zechariah, prophets, who came up with the captivity out of Babylon.''

Theodoret says this title was in some Greek copies in his time; but was not in the Septuagint, in the Hexapla: nor is it in any other Greek interpreters, nor in the Hebrew text, nor in the Targum; though some Jewish commentators, as R. Obadiah, take it to be an exhortation to the captives in Babylon to praise the Lord: and Kimchi interprets it of their present captivity and deliverance from it; and observes, that the psalmist seeing, by the Holy Spirit, the gathering of the captives, said this with respect to Israel; and so refers it to the times of the Messiah, as does also Jarchi, especially the Ps 146:10; and which, though they make it to serve an hypothesis of their own, concerning their vainly expected Messiah; yet it is most true, that the psalm is concerning the Messiah and his kingdom, to whom all the characters and descriptions given agree.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible