A Praise of David
1. I will exalt you, My God the king,
And I will praise your name to forever and perpetuity.
2. Every day I will bless you,
And I will praise your name to forever and perpetuity,
3. Great (is) Yahweh and much praised,
And his greatness is not searchable.
4. Generation to generation will laud your works,
And your mighty acts they will declare.
5. The splendor of the glory of your majesty
And the things of your wonders I will meditate,
6. And the strength of your feared acts they will say,
And your greatness I will recount.
7. The memory of your great goodness they will pour forth,
And your righteousness they will shout out.
8. Gracious and merciful (is) Yahweh,
Slow of anger and great of kindness.
9. Good (is) Yahweh to all,
And his mercies are over all his works.
10. All your works will give thanks to you, Yahweh,
And your godly ones will bless you.
11. The glory of your kingdom they will say,
And your power they will speak,
12. To cause the sons of man to know his powerful acts,
And the glory of the majesty of his kingdom.
13. Your kingdom (is) a kingdom of all forevers,
And your dominion (is) in every generation after generation.
14. Yahweh (is) upholding all those who fall,
And raising up all those who bow down.
15. The eyes of all will look expectantly to you,
And you (are) giving to them their food in its time.
16. You (are) opening your hand,
And satisfying the desire of every living thing.
17. Righteous (is) Yahweh in all his ways,
And kindly in all his works.
18. Near (is) Yahweh to all those who call him,
To all those who call him in truth.
19. The desire of those who fear him he will do,
And their cries for help he will hear,
And he will save them.
20. Yahweh (is) keeping all those who love him,
And all the wicked he will exterminate.
21. The praise of Yahweh my mouth will speak,
And all flesh will bless his holy name to forever and perpetuity.
Psalm 145 is a striking psalm of praise to God the great and glorious king. Its unique features distinguish it from all other psalms of praise in the psalter.
1) The psalm has two main parts. In verses 1–12 the emphasis is on praise; in verses 13–21 the emphasis is on the reasons for praise. This is not a strict division; there are reasons for praise in verses 1–12 and declarations of praise in verses 13–21.
2) There is a great variety of words used for the expression of praise.
Exalt (v. 1)
Bless (1, 2, 10, 21)
Praise (2, 3)
Laud (4)
Declare (4)
Meditate (5) In the Scriptures meditation is spoken, not just thought
Say (6, 11)
Recount (6)
Pour forth (7)
Shout out (7)
Give thanks (10)
Speak (11, 21)
David seems to have wanted to use as many words as possible to describe what he and others were going to do. All mouths in all their different ways of speaking will be devoted to the praise of the Lord.
3) There is also an enormous variety of things for which David and others exalt God. Here we have to go into a bit more detail.
The first and most important reason for praise is that God is king. It is the first thing David mentions in verse 1, and he comes back to it again in verses 11–13, each of which mentions the kingdom. He describes the kingdom as glorious, glorious in majesty, and everlasting. Verse 11 also mentions his (royal) power, verse 12 his powerful acts, and verse 13 his dominion. This kingship has been revealed especially in the King of kings whom we worship.
Verses 14–20 continue this theme in a list of the powerful acts that this great king does. He upholds those who fall, raises up those bowed down, provides food for all who look to him and satisfies their desires, draws near to those who call on him, does the desire of those who fear him, hears their cries, saves them, keeps those who love him, and exterminates the wicked. These are royal acts of righteousness and kindness (v. 17, which stands in the center of the list).
Secondly, we should note the emphasis on the works of God: works and mighty acts (v. 4), wonders (v. 5), feared acts (v. 6), works again (vv. 9–10), powerful acts (v. 12), ways and works (v. 17). We know God as the mighty and glorious king through his works.
Thirdly, David talks about the greatness and glory of God. He is great and his greatness unsearchable (vv. 3, 6). He is great in goodness, righteous, gracious, merciful, slow of anger, great in lovingkindness, good to all, and merciful over all his works (vv. 7–9). Above all is the expression in verse 5: “the splendor of the glory of your majesty.” David pulls together all those words to try to give us some sense of how great the majesty of God is.
3) The purpose of this praise is “to cause the sons of man to know his powerful acts and the glory of the majesty of his kingdom” (v.12).
4) A fourth feature of the psalm is its emphasis on eternity. God’s kingdom is forever and his dominion from generation to generation. Therefore, our praise is also forever (see vv. 1, 2, 4, 21). But David uses a variety of words and phrases to express this idea. In verses 1, 2 and 21 we find “to forever and perpetuity.” In verse 4, “generation to generation.” And in verse 13, a key verse in the psalm: “Your kingdom is a kingdom of all forevers, and your dominion in every generation after generation.” The first part of this is an emphatic variation of the phrase in verse 4. Again, David cannot find adequate words to describe the everlasting character of the kingdom. His unusual and even awkward language is very forceful.
5) The frequent alternation between “I” and “they” in verses 1–11 calls attention to the universality of this praise.
6) The word all occurs frequently, especially in verses 14-21. The point is that Yahweh is righteous in all his ways and kindly in all his works (v. 17).
7) Verse 17 stands at the center of verses 14-20. Verses 14-16 emphasize especially Yahweh’s goodness to all living creatures, but verses 18-20 especially his goodness to those who call on him, fear him and love. But the wicked he will exterminate (v. 20b).
8) The psalm is another acrostic or alphabetic psalm, but it is an imperfect acrostic; there is no verse beginning with the letter nun, which would come between verses 13 and 14. We should not assume that there is a verse missing through errors in copying and transmission of the text; there are other imperfect acrostics in the Scriptures.
This is a psalm that fulfills the exhortation of Psalm 149:6: “Let the high praises of God be in their mouth.” It is unique and very powerful, a psalm worthy of much contemplation and frequent use in all our worship.