Psalm 113–115
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Psalm 11321
113:1Praise the Lord!
Praise, you servants of the Lord,
praise the name of the Lord!
113:2May the Lord’s name be praised
now and forevermore!
113:3From east to west1
the Lord’s name is deserving of praise.
113:4The Lord is exalted over all the nations;
his splendor reaches beyond the sky.2
113:5Who can compare to the Lord our God,
who sits on a high throne?3
113:6He bends down to look4
at the sky and the earth.
113:7He raises the poor from the dirt,
and lifts up the needy from the garbage pile,5
113:8that he might seat him with princes,
with the princes of his people.
113:9He makes the barren woman of the family6
a happy mother of children.7
Praise the Lord!
Psalm 1148
114:1When Israel left Egypt,
when the family of Jacob left a foreign nation behind,1
114:2Judah became his sanctuary,
Israel his kingdom.
114:3The sea looked and fled;2
the Jordan River3 turned back.4
114:4The mountains skipped like rams,
the hills like lambs.5
114:5Why do you flee, O sea?
Why do you turn back, O Jordan River?
114:6Why do you skip like rams, O mountains,
like lambs, O hills?
114:7Tremble, O earth, before the Lord—
before the God of Jacob,
114:8who turned a rock into a pool of water,
a hard rock into springs of water!6
Psalm 1157
115:1Not to us, O Lord, not to us!
But to your name bring honor,1
for the sake of your loyal love and faithfulness.2
115:2Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
115:3Our God is in heaven!
He does whatever he pleases!3
115:4Their4 idols are made of silver and gold—
they are man-made.5
115:5They have mouths, but cannot speak,
eyes, but cannot see,
115:6ears, but cannot hear,
noses, but cannot smell,
115:7hands, but cannot touch,
feet, but cannot walk.
They cannot even clear their throats.6
115:8Those who make them will end up7 like them,
as will everyone who trusts in them.
115:9O Israel, trust in the Lord!
He is their deliverer8 and protector.9
115:10O family10 of Aaron, trust in the Lord!
He is their deliverer11 and protector.12
115:11You loyal followers of the Lord,13 trust in the Lord!
He is their deliverer14 and protector.15
115:12The Lord takes notice of us,16 he will bless17—
he will bless the family18 of Israel,
he will bless the family of Aaron.
115:13He will bless his loyal followers,19
both young and old.20
115:14May he increase your numbers,
yours and your children’s!21
115:15May you be blessed by the Lord,
the creator22 of heaven and earth!
115:16The heavens belong to the Lord,23
but the earth he has given to mankind.24
115:17The dead do not praise the Lord,
nor do any of those who descend into the silence of death.25
115:18But we will praise the Lord
now and forevermore.
Praise the Lord!
Footnotes
- 21 Psalm 113. The psalmist praises God as the sovereign king of the world who reaches down to help the needy.
- 1 Heb “from the rising of the sun to its setting.” The extent is not temporal (“from sunrise to sunset”) but spatial (“from the place where the sun rises [the east] to the place where it sets [the west].” In the phenomenological language of OT cosmology, the sun was described as rising in the east and setting in the west.
- 2 Heb “above the sky [is] his splendor.”
- 3 Heb “the one who makes high to sit.”
- 4 Heb “the one who makes low to see.”
- 5 The language of v. 7 is almost identical to that of 1 Sam 2:8.
- 6 Heb “of the house.”
- 7 Heb “sons.”
- 8 Psalm 114. The psalmist recalls the events of the exodus and conquest and celebrates God’s kingship over his covenant people.
- 1 Heb “the house of Jacob from a nation speaking a foreign language.” The Hebrew verb לָעַז (la’at, “to speak a foreign language”) occurs only here in the OT.
- 2 The psalmist recalls the crossing of the Red Sea (Exod 14:21).
- 3 Heb “the Jordan” (also in v. 5). The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
- 4 The psalmist recalls the crossing of the Jordan River (Josh 3:13, 16).
- 5 The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs. This may recall the theophany at Sinai when the mountain shook before God’s presence (Exod 19:18).
- 6 In v. 8 the psalmist recalls the event(s) recorded in Exod 17:6 and/or Num 20:11 (see also Deut 8:15 and Ps 78:15–16, 20).
- 7 Psalm 115. The psalmist affirms that Israel’s God is superior to pagan idols and urges Israel to place their confidence in him.
- 1 Or “give glory.”
- 2 The psalmist asks the Lord to demonstrate his loyal love and faithfulness, not simply so Israel may benefit, but primarily so that the Lord will receive honor among the nations, who will recognize, contrary to their present view (see v. 2), that Israel’s God is committed to his people.
- 3 He does whatever he pleases. Such sovereignty is characteristic of kings (see Eccl 8:3).
- 4 The referent of the pronominal suffix is “the nations” (v. 2).
- 5 Heb “the work of the hands of man.”
- 6 Heb “they cannot mutter in their throats.” Verse 5a refers to speaking, v. 7c to inarticulate sounds made in the throat (see M. Dahood, Psalms [], 3:).
- 7 Heb “will be.” Another option is to take the prefixed verbal form as a prayer, “may those who make them end up like them.” Because the idols are lifeless, they cannot help their worshipers in times of crisis. Consequently the worshipers end up as dead as the gods in which they trust.
- 8 Or “[source of] help.”
- 9 Heb “and their shield.”
- 10 Heb “house.”
- 11 Or “[source of] help.”
- 12 Heb “and their shield.”
- 13 Heb “[you] fearers of the Lord.” See Ps 15:4.
- 14 Or “[source of] help.”
- 15 Heb “and their shield.”
- 16 Or “remembers us.”
- 17 Another option is to translate the prefixed form of the verb “bless” in vv. 12–13 as a jussive, “may he bless” (see v. 14).
- 18 Heb “house.”
- 19 Heb “the fearers of the Lord.”
- 20 Heb “the small along with the great.” The translation assumes that “small” and “great” here refer to age (see 2 Chr 15:13). Another option is to translate “both the insignificant and the prominent” (see Job 3:19; cf. “high and low alike”).
- 21 Heb “may he add to you, to you and your sons.” The prefixed verbal form is jussive, indicating this is a prayer.
- 22 Or “maker.”
- 23 Heb “the heavens [are] heavens to the Lord.”
- 24 Heb “to the sons of man.”
- 25 Heb “silence,” a metonymy here for death (see Ps 94:17).
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