Mazmur 145:5-14

145:5 I will focus on your honor and majestic splendor,

and your amazing deeds! ¹ 

145:6 They will proclaim ²  the power of your awesome acts!

I will declare your great deeds!

145:7 They will talk about the fame of your great kindness, ³ 

and sing about your justice. ⁴ 

145:8 The Lord is merciful and compassionate;

he is patient ⁵  and demonstrates great loyal love. ⁶ 

145:9 The Lord is good to all,

and has compassion on all he has made. ⁷ 

145:10 All he has made will give thanks to the Lord.

Your loyal followers will praise you.

145:11 They will proclaim the splendor of your kingdom;

they will tell about your power,

145:12 so that mankind ⁸  might acknowledge your mighty acts,

and the majestic splendor of your kingdom.

145:13 Your kingdom is an eternal kingdom, ⁹ 

and your dominion endures through all generations.

145:14 ¹⁰ The Lord supports all who fall,

and lifts up all who are bent over. ¹¹ 

[145:5]  ¹ tn Heb “the splendor of the glory of your majesty, and the matters of your amazing deeds I will ponder.”

[145:6]  ² tn The prefixed verbal form is understood as an imperfect, indicating how the psalmist expects his audience to respond to his praise. Another option is to take the forms as a jussive, indicating the psalmist’s wish, “may they proclaim.”

[145:7]  ³ tn Heb “the fame of the greatness of your goodness.”

[145:7]  ⁴ tn The prefixed verbal forms in v. 7 are understood as imperfects, indicating how the psalmist expects his audience to respond to his praise. Another option is to take the forms as jussives, indicating the psalmist’s wish, “may they talk…and sing.”

[145:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “slow to anger” (see Pss 86:15; 103:8).

[145:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “and great of loyal love” (see Pss 86:15; 103:8).

[145:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “and his compassion is over all his works.”

[145:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “the sons of man.”

[145:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “a kingdom of all ages.”

[145:14]  ¹⁰ tc Psalm 145 is an acrostic psalm, with each successive verse beginning with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. However, in the traditional Hebrew (Masoretic) text of Psalm 145 there is no verse beginning with the letter nun. One would expect such a verse to appear as the fourteenth verse, between the mem (מ) and samek (ס) verses. Several ancient witnesses, including one medieval Hebrew manuscript, the Qumran scroll from cave 11, the LXX, and the Syriac, supply the missing nun (נ) verse, which reads as follows: “The Lord is reliable in all his words, and faithful in all his deeds.” One might paraphrase this as follows: “The Lord’s words are always reliable; his actions are always faithful.” Scholars are divided as to the originality of this verse. L. C. Allen argues for its inclusion on the basis of structural considerations (Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 294-95), but there is no apparent explanation for why, if original, it would have been accidentally omitted. The psalm may be a partial acrostic, as in Pss 25 and 34 (see M. Dahood, Psalms [AB], 3:335). The glaring omission of the nun line would have invited a later redactor to add such a line.

[145:14]  ¹¹ tn Perhaps “discouraged” (see Ps 57:6).