Psalms 33:1-22

1 Rejoice in the LORD, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright.

2 Praise the LORD with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings.

3 Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise.

4 For the word of the LORD is right; and all his works are done in truth.

5 He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodnessa of the LORD.

6 By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.

7 He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses.

8 Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.

9 For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.

10 The LORD bringethb the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect.

11 The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to allc generations.

12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.

13 The LORD looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men.

14 From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth.

15 He fashioneth their hearts alike; he considereth all their works.

16 There is no king saved by the multitude of an host: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength.

17 An horse is a vain thing for safety: neither shall he deliver any by his great strength.

18 Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy;

19 To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.

20 Our soul waiteth for the LORD: he is our help and our shield.

21 For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name.

22 Let thy mercy, O LORD, be upon us, according as we hope in thee.

Psalms 1:41

Gordon Churchyard

Words in boxes are from the Bible.

The notes explain some of the words with a *star by them. Tap the * before a word to show an explanation.

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Word, Plans, Eye And Power

Psalms 33

Gordon Churchyard

Jesus said, "All power is mine, in heaven and on earth.

I will always be with you". (Part of Matthew 28: 18-20)

Psalms 33

v1 Shout to the *LORD, everyone that is righteous.

v2 Praise the *LORD with a *harp.
Make music for him with a *lyre that has 10 strings.

v3 Sing to him a new song.
Make beautiful music with a *trumpet.

v4 Do this because the *LORD says what is right.
Everything that he does is good.

v5 He loves all that is right and fair.
The world is full of his kind love.

v6 The word of the *LORD made the skies.
The *breath of his mouth made the stars.

v7 He put the waters of the sea together in a bottle.
He hid the deep seas in a safe place.

v8 Let everyone that lives in the earth be afraid of the *LORD.
Let all the people of the world fall down in front of him.

v9 Do this because he spoke and it happened.
At his word, everything became fixed in its place.

v10 Governments make plans, but the *LORD *checks them.
He does not let people do everything that they want to do.

v11 The plans that the *LORD makes will always happen.
His ideas will always be with us.

v12 The people that have the *LORD as their God will be very happy.
They are the people that he chose to be his own.

v13 The *LORD looks down from heaven.
He sees every man, woman and child.

v14 from where he lives, he can see every person that lives on the earth.

v15 He made every separate person.
He knows everything that they do.

v16 A great army will not save a king.
A soldier does not win because he is strong.

v17 A horse will not always give you help to win, even if it is very strong.

v18 Look, the eye of the *LORD is on the people that are afraid of him.
It is on the people that trust in his kind love.

v19 He will save them from death and from *famine.

v20 We will trust in the *LORD.
He will send us help, and he will be our shield.

v21 We are singing happy songs for the *LORD.
We are trusting in his holy name.

v22 *LORD, we want you to send to us your kind love.
*LORD, we are trusting in you.

Musical Instruments

People make music with these. You make some with metal. An example is the trumpet. You blow into it to make the sound. You make others from wood and strings. An example is the harp. It has 9 strings. You pull the strings to make the sound. The lyre is like a harp. The one in the psalm has 10 strings. Now we use guitars, not harps and lyres. Guitars have 4, 6 or 12 strings.

The Story of Psalms 33

Someone wrote Psalms 33 to say 4 important things:

1. God made everything. He did it by his WORD. This means that when he said something it immediately happened. Examples include the skies, stars and seas (verses 6 – 9)

2. Men make PLANS. God does not always let them happen (verses13 - 15)

3. God's EYE sees everybody, and what they do. (verses 13 – 15)

4. God is all-POWERful. Armies are strong, but God is stronger (verses16 -17).

What Psalms 33 means

Verses 1 – 3: The word "shout" also means "sing" in Hebrew. Only God can make people righteous. It happens when he forgives them. "Forgive" means "GIVE our sin to Jesus to carry AWAY". Sin is doing wrong things. The psalm tells people to praise God with harp, lute and trumpet. Today we would probably use guitar, piano and trumpet. We can use any musical instrument to praise God.

Verses 4 – 9: This part tells us that God made everything by his word. "The breath of his mouth" means "his word". "Full of his kind love" means "the good things that he made". "In a bottle" probably means "in one place".

Verses 10 – 17: This part tells us that God is the authority on earth. In verse 12 "the people that he chose" means the Jews. Since Jesus came to the earth, it also means Christians. Verses 16-17 means that armies will not save a country if God has other plans. We do not use horses in our armies today. We use tanks and planes... but God is still stronger.

Verses 18 – 22: In this part, "kind love" means "the good things that God does for us". We must trust God if we are to enjoy his kind love.

Something to do

Make a song to praise the Lord. Use words from the psalm. Psalms 33:5, or Psalms 33:20-22 would make a good song. Get some friends with musical instruments to make music with you.


LORD ~ a special word for God; only his people use it
Lord ~ someone with authority, sometimes a name for God
harp ~ something that makes music

harp, lyre, trumpet ~ musical instruments; look at the notes on Psalm 33

'harp, lyre, trumpet ~ musical instruments; look at the notes on Psalm 33'harp, lyre, trumpet ~ musical instruments; look at the notes on Psalm 33
breath ~ the air that we take into our bodies
checks ~ looks at and stops if necessary
famine ~ not enough food to eat
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