Psalm 145:1-5, 17-21

You’ve heard of songs of praise. Psalm 145 is a psalm of praise. It is titled a Tehillah of David. In English, Tehillah is praise. This is the only psalm in the entire psalter to wear that title. While psalms of supplication are more numerous than psalms of praise in the psalter, Jewish tradition regards the purpose of the psalms to be praise to God. The Jewish Talmud highlights the importance of this psalm: “Everyone who repeats the Tehillah of David three times a day may be sure that they are a child of the world to come” (Berakhot, 4b).[1]

As an acrostic psalm, each verse begins with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet, which has 21 letters. The 14th letter, nun, is missing in the Masoretic texts, but exists in the text found at Qumran. A number of versions add it as verse 13b.[2] The other acrostic psalms are 9, 10, 25, 34, 37, 111, 112, and 119. Of these nine acrostic psalms, five are attributed to David. He had a real gift for language.

Donald Williams provides the following structure for this psalm:

Commitment to Praise (vv. 1–3)

Generations Praise You (vv. 4–9)

Your Work Praises You (vv. 10–13)

You Uphold Those Who Fall (vv. 14–16)

You are Righteous to All Who Call Upon You (vv. 17–21)[3]

David is bursting with praise for God:

My heart explodes with praise to you! Now and forever my heart bows in worship to you, my King and my God!

Exploding praise! How about that.

This rendition of verse 1 comes from The Passion Translation. An exploration of the TPT will give you new insights into this psalm.

NOTE: The Passion Translation is in fact a paraphrase. A paraphrase will add words and phrases for ease of understanding by present-day English readers. For a more complete explanation, see the Christianity Today article linked in this footnote.[4]

Where the TPT uses bows in worship, the majority of versions use bless. Williams points out that bless and kneel share the same root word in Hebrew. When we bless God, and when we kneel before him, we are submitting to his Lordship in our life.[5]

The psalmist immediately helps us with the scope of our praise:

1) It should happen forever and ever (vv. 1 and 21), and

2) It should happen every day (v. 2).

For David, forever did not mean just “until I die.” Rather, forever rolls ahead into all of eternity.

Now that we have the time frame for our praise ranging from every day to forever and ever, we must consider who should be doing the praising. The Hebrew word, translated in English as every and all, occurs 16 times in this psalm. These two words, every and all, not only refer to our contemporaries, but also to each generation of people who have ever lived and who are yet to live. Clearly, praise to God is meant to be all inclusive. This emphasizes the all-encompassing fact that all of creation, every creature, should praise Our Creator who rightly deserves our praise. Check the last verse in the Psalter:

Let everything that breathes sing praises to the Lord! Praise the Lord! –Psalm 150:6, NLT

What a great way to end the Psalter!

How we praise the Lord can be gleaned from synonyms for praise which include bless, exalt, and extol.[6] Why we praise the Lord is due to his worth (v. 3). Social media helps us measure worth by how many followers we have and how many likes our posts receive. Popular media tracks the financial worth of actors, singers, influencers, businesspeople, and other celebrities. So how do we determine God’s worth? David has the answer:

No one can measure his greatness. –Psalm 145:3, NLT

Other versions state that his worth (greatness) is unsearchable, incomprehensible, and indescribable. Let’s face it, it is beyond our understanding! That is because “God is infinite; we are finite. God is eternal; we are temporal. God is holy; we are sinners.”[7]

In verse 4, praise is intergenerational. The psalmist invites each and every generation to instruct their children, and grandchildren, about the mighty acts of God, and of his great power. This can best happen publicly where our worship and witness are likely to intertwine. Williams writes, “As we praise God for who He is and for what He has done, this worship becomes witness to those gathered with us.” The credibility of God’s powerful acts is reinforced when children see praise coming from people of all ages, careers, and ethnicities.[8]

Verse 17 declares, The Lord is righteous in everything he does. Righteous is often a misunderstood and a misused word. In Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, the school secretary tells the school principal that all types of students think Ferris Bueller is “a righteous dude.” That phrase even graces T-shirts at the website 80sTees.com. It basically meant someone who was awesome and fun to be around. While we do sing about our Awesome God, who is the true meaning of the word awesome, it is helpful to understand righteous as “someone who lives in right relationship with God, with others, with themselves, and with creation.” God in Christ is our divine standard for one who lived in right relationship with God, with others, with himself, and with his creation.”

Because the Lord is righteous in everything he does “we can trust His actions toward us. He is not fickle or capricious.”[9] Verse 17 next tells us that the Lord is filled with kindness. Were God not kind, then his righteousness would not follow. When we live in right relationship in this world, kindness will spill out of us.

It's great to know The Lord is close to all who call on him…in truth (v. 18). His closeness allows for an immediate response. No matter how much we wish God were at our beck and call, he just does not always give us an immediate response. His timing is perfect. However, sometimes we may feel his response is a long time in coming. Other times we may miss his response which is right in front of us.

Verse 18 is an assurance that God hears us when we call. When an answer is not forthcoming, it’s up to us to patiently listen. A backstory is often helpful in understanding a person. One way to better understand verse 18 is to check the backstory in verse 16:

When you open your hand, you satisfy the hunger and thirst of every living thing.

The same Lord, who is close enough to hear our call, has our best interests at heart, even when we do not see it. Not only is God close to his “truth callers,” but he also

19 …grants the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cries for help and rescues them. 20 The Lord protects all those who love him,

Notice the above verbs in bold type. These actions of Lord are applied to his followers who both fear (have reverent respect) and love the Lord. When we feel that God has not heard us, it will help us to reread the verbs of verses 19 and 20. While the NLT uses protects in verse 20, the NIV’s choice of watches over is preferable.[10] We are all too familiar with bad things happening to God’s people. When bad things happen to us, we may wonder where God’s protecting hand has gone. Here is our bottom line: we can be sure that God continues to watch over us in all the good and bad moments in our lives.

The second half of verse 20 contains a group not yet mentioned in this psalm: the wicked. While it seems that evil people tend to get away with an entire spectrum of bad behavior, the psalmist reminds us that the Lord will destroy them. Not a group we should ever join.

David thoughtfully bookends[11] this psalm in verses 1 and 21 with the phrases “I will… praise your name forever and ever” (v. 1), and “I will praise the Lord…forever and ever” (v. 21). James Montgomery Boice tells us that David’s last words in the Psalter in verse 21 serve as his last will and testament[12] as he invites everyone on earth to join him in praising the Lord.

James Luther Mays sees Psalm 145 as “the overture to the final movement of the Psalter. It is followed by five hymns (psalms), all of which are opened and concluded by the liturgical cry ‘Hallelujah!’ All five echo features and language of Psalm 145.”[13] This psalm faithfully points forward to the end of the Psalter:

Let everything that breathes sing praises to the Lord! Praise the Lord! –Psalm 150:6, NLT

Ready? Let’s all shout together: Praise the Lord!

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[1] Mays, P. 437. In English, berakhot means blessings or benedictions. These are prayers of thanksgiving or praise that Jews recite in the course of their daily life.

[2] The NIV represents versions that include the Qumran text. The Qumran text is in bold:

Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations.

The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does.

[3] Williams, P. 503

[4] See CT’s helpful article Bible Gateway Removes The Passion Translation by Kate Shellnut.

[5] Williams, P. 504

[6] Alter, P. 501

[7] Williams, P. 505

[8] Ibid., P. 505

[9] Ibid., P. 508

[10] Kidner, P. 482

[11] Such a literary device is known as an inclusion.

[12] Boice, P. 1255

[13] Mays, P. 439

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Allen, Leslie C. Word Biblical Commentary: Psalms 101-150. Word Books, 1983.

Alter, Robert. The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary. W.W. Norton, 2009.

Boice, James Montgomery. Psalms: Vol. 3, Baker Books, 2005.

Guzik, David. “Psalm 145.” Enduring Word Bible Commentary. 2020. enduringword.com/bible-commentary/psalm-145/.

Kidner, Derek. Psalms: 73-150: a Commentary on Books III-V of the Psalms. Inter-Varsity Press, 1975.

Mays, James Luther. Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching: Psalms. John Knox, 1994.

Williams, Donald M. Psalms 73-150. Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989.