This noble doxology worthily heads the series of Psalms of praise with which the "Book of Praises" ends. "Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever," is the thought which it expands. It is addressed to Israel's God as the supreme King, whose kingdom is universal and eternal;... [ Continue Reading ]
_my God, O king_ Or, my God the King. He Who is Israel's God is the absolute, universal King. The phrase has a larger meaning than that of Psalms 5:2, _my King and my God_. _for ever and ever_ Israel is probably the speaker; and Israel as the people of God is immortal (Habakkuk 1:12). Generation aft... [ Continue Reading ]
Cp. Psalms 30:1; Psalms 34:1; Psalms 34:3; and generally the doxology in 1 Chronicles 29:10 ff.... [ Continue Reading ]
There can be no worthier object of praise than Jehovah. The verse re-echoes Psalms 48:1 _a_; Psalms 96:4 _a_; Job 11:7 ff.; Isaiah 40:28. _greatly to be praised_ Better, exceeding worthy to be praised. In most editions of the Prayer Book this verse reads _Great is the Lord, and marvellous, worthy to... [ Continue Reading ]
_shall praise_ R.V. shall laud, as the word is a different one from that in Psalms 145:2. The verbs might be rendered as optatives: _let one generation laud … and declare_&c., but the rendering of the A.V. is preferable. _thy mighty acts_ of deliverance, Psalms 20:6; Psalms 106:2.... [ Continue Reading ]
The glorious splendour of thy majesty And all thy marvellous works shall be my theme. Splendour, glory, majesty, are the attributes of God as King. Cp. Psalms 145:12; Psalms 21:5; Psalms 104:1; Psalms 96:6. For the word rendered _shall be my theme_, lit. _I will busy myself with, discourse concer... [ Continue Reading ]
Jehovah, Who is "the great, mighty, and terrible God" (Deuteronomy 10:17), manifests Himself not only in -mighty acts" of deliverance (Psalms 145:4), but in -terrible acts" of judgement, which inspire His enemies with terror, and His people with reverence. Cp. Psalms 65:5. _Might_is a different word... [ Continue Reading ]
_They shall abundantly utter_ Lit. _pour forth_as a perpetual stream of praise, as in Psalms 119:171. _thy great goodness_ Cp. Psalms 31:19; Isaiah 63:7. _shall_joyfully sing _of thy righteousness_ i.e. God's faithfulness to His revealed character. Cp. Psalms 143:1, note; Psalms 51:14.... [ Continue Reading ]
Taken almost verbatim from Exodus 34:6, Jehovah's great revelation of Himself as a God of condescending grace and infinite compassion, Whose Will is love, and Whose wrath is only manifested in the last resort against the hardened and impenitent. Cp. Psalms 103:8; Psalms 86:15; Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2;... [ Continue Reading ]
Jehovah is _good to all_ Not merely, as P.B.V., _unto every man_, but as the parallelism of the next line shews, to all creation. _tender mercies_ Compassions.... [ Continue Reading ]
_All thy works shall_give thanks unto _thee_ Responding to Jehovah's goodness and compassion. The works of creation are meant, which bear witness to the sovereignty of their Creator by their obedience to His laws, to His goodness by their manifold beauty, to His greatness by their immeasurable vastn... [ Continue Reading ]
_thy power_ Thy might, as in Psalms 145:4_; Psalms 145:12_.... [ Continue Reading ]
_his mighty acts_ Somewhat awkwardly, to our ideas, the Psalmist passes from the second person to the third. The LXX removes the difficulty by reading the second person; hence, through the Vulg., the P.B.V. "that _thy_power, _thy_glory, and mightiness of _thy_kingdom might be known unto men.... [ Continue Reading ]
This verse is found also, in Aramaic, in Daniel 4:3, cp. 34 (Aram. Dan. 3:33, Daniel 4:31). _an everlasting kingdom_ Lit. a kingdom of all the ages, past alike and future. With the LXX βασιλεία πάντων τῶν αἰωνων, cp. 1 Timothy 1:17 τῷ βασιλεῖ τῶν αἰώνων, -unto the king of the ages." See also Psalms... [ Continue Reading ]
_all that fall_ Or, _all that are falling_. But cp. Psalms 37:17; Psalms 37:24. _raiseth up_ An Aramaic word, found in the Heb. of the O.T. only here and in Psalms 146:8.... [ Continue Reading ]
The picture of God as the great householder distributing their portions to all His household is repeated from Psalms 104:27. Cp. Matthew 6:26. The next verse also is based upon Psalms 104:28.... [ Continue Reading ]
_satisfiest the desire of every living thing_ This rendering probably gives the right sense. Cp. Psalms 104:28, on which it is based, "thou openest thine hand, they are satisfied with good." Cp. Psalms 145:19. The word rendered _desire_may however mean the _good will, favour_of God (Psalms 106:4): h... [ Continue Reading ]
_righteous_ True to His character. Cp. Psalms 145:7. _holy_ So the LXX, ὅσιος, which is used of God in the N.T. in Revelation 15:4; Revelation 16:5. But the word _châsîd_as applied to God (here and in Jeremiah 3:12 only) means _full of lovingkindness_, loving. See App., Note I.... [ Continue Reading ]
_nigh unto all them that call upon him_ To answer and help. Cp. Deuteronomy 4:7; Psalms 34:18; Psalms 119:151. _in truth_ The hypocrite finds no favour with Him. Cp. Isaiah 10:20; John 4:23-24.... [ Continue Reading ]
Fear and love are the inseparable elements of true religion. Fear preserves love from degenerating into presumptuous familiarity: love prevents fear from becoming a servile and cringing dread.... [ Continue Reading ]
_all the wicked will he destroy_ See note on Psalms 143:12. The victory of good must ultimately involve the defeat and destruction of evil.... [ Continue Reading ]
Israel's own resolution is fixed; but nothing less can satisfy its aspirations than a universal and unending chorus of praise from all mankind, evoked by the revelation of His absolute and perfect holiness.... [ Continue Reading ]