1.
I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever.
(1) The psalm opens with familiar psalm strains. (Comp. openings of Psalms 30, 34)
For ever and ever.—In contemplation of the greatness and majesty of God time ceases to be. The poet vows a homage indefinitely prolonged.
2.
Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever.
3.
Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.
(3) Greatly to be praised.—See Psalms 18:3 and comp. Psalms 48:1.
And his greatness.—Literally, more expressive, and for his greatness no search. (Comp. Isaiah 40:28; Job 11:7.)
4.
One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.
(4) Shall praise.—Or, praises, with idea of indefinite continuance; and so in the following verses.
5.
I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works.
(5) I will speak.—Or, perhaps, sing. The verb is often rendered meditate (Psalms 77:12; Psalms 119:15, &c.):
Thy wondrous works.—Rather, as in Psalms 105:27 (see Note; comp. Psalms 65:3), the details of thy wonders. In psalms like 105, 106, &c, is the detailed fulfilment of this purpose.
6.
And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts: and I will declare thy greatness.
(6) Thy greatness.—Or, according to the written text, greatnesses. So Aquila and Jerome. The parallelism is decidedly in favour of the plural.
7.
They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness.
(7) Abundantly utter.—Literally, pour forth in a stream, as in Psalms 19:2; Psalms 78:2.
8.
The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy.
(8) Comp. Psalms 86:15; Psalms 103:8; Psalms 111:4.
9.
The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.
10.
All thy works shall praise thee, O LORD; and thy saints shall bless thee.
11.
They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power;
12.
To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom.
(12) To make.—Or, by making known.
13.
Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.
(13) See margin, and comp. Daniel 4:3; Daniel 4:34. But it is not necessary to see any dependence between the passages because of the recurrence of phrases which must have been of daily use in the theocracy.
The nun stanza, which should come after Psalms 145:13, has most probably dropped away. The LXX. and Vulg., Syriac, and Ethiopic have here a variation of Psalms 145:17, which would, in Hebrew, give a verse beginning with the required letter; but it is unknown to the other ancient versions, is rejected by the Jewish writers, and, though found in one Hebrew MS., is apparently suspicious there. But these arguments can hardly weigh against the improbability that, in an artificial composition, one letter (and that an easy one for the purpose) should have been either purposely or accidentally omitted in the original draft, especially when we reflect how extremely unlikely it was that the LXX. should trouble themselves to supply a verse in order to keep up an arrangement of which they took no other notice, perhaps even hardly observed it.
14.
The LORD upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down.
(14) The Lord.—Comp. Psalms 37:24. It marks a grand step in theology when the first instance of majesty of the Divine Being is sought in His condescension to human weakness and pity for frailty and want. The heathen had seen that this was king-like—
“Regia (crede mihi) res est succurrere lapsis.”
OVID: Ep. de Ponto 11., 9, 11.
But they had hardly seen that it was also god-like.
For “raiseth” and “bowed down,” see Psalms 146:8.
15.
The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season.
16.
Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.
17.
The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.
18.
The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.
(18) The Lord is nigh . . .
Closer is He than breathing, and nearer than hands and feet.”
TENNYSON: Higher Pantheism.
19.
He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them.
20.
The LORD preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy.
(20) Preserveth . . . destroy.—Notice this recurrent thought, that the guardianship of the good implies the destruction of the wicked.
21.
My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD: and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever.
(21) Holy name.—As in Psalms 33:21; Psalms 103:1; Psalms 105:3.