Psalms 111:1-10

Psalm 111 ¹ 

111:1 Praise the Lord!

I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart,

in the assembly of the godly and the congregation.

111:2 The Lord’s deeds are great,

eagerly awaited ²  by all who desire them.

111:3 His work is majestic and glorious, ³ 

and his faithfulness endures ⁴  forever.

111:4 He does ⁵  amazing things that will be remembered; ⁶ 

the Lord is merciful and compassionate.

111:5 He gives ⁷  food to his faithful followers; ⁸ 

he always remembers his covenant. ⁹ 

111:6 He announced that he would do mighty deeds for his people,

giving them a land that belonged to other nations. ¹⁰ 

111:7 His acts are characterized by ¹¹  faithfulness and justice;

all his precepts are reliable. ¹² 

111:8 They are forever firm,

and should be faithfully and properly carried out. ¹³ 

111:9 He delivered his people; ¹⁴ 

he ordained that his covenant be observed forever. ¹⁵ 

His name is holy and awesome.

111:10 To obey the Lord is the fundamental principle for wise living; ¹⁶ 

all who carry out his precepts acquire good moral insight. ¹⁷ 

He will receive praise forever. ¹⁸ 

Psalms 113:1-9

Psalm 113 ¹⁹ 

113:1 Praise the Lord!

Praise, you servants of the Lord,

praise the name of the Lord!

113:2 May the Lord’s name be praised

now and forevermore!

113:3 From east to west ²⁰ 

the Lord’s name is deserving of praise.

113:4 The Lord is exalted over all the nations;

his splendor reaches beyond the sky. ²¹ 

113:5 Who can compare to the Lord our God,

who sits on a high throne? ²² 

113:6 He bends down to look ²³ 

at the sky and the earth.

113:7 He raises the poor from the dirt,

and lifts up the needy from the garbage pile, ²⁴ 

113:8 that he might seat him with princes,

with the princes of his people.

113:9 He makes the barren woman of the family ²⁵ 

a happy mother of children. ²⁶ 

Praise the Lord!

[111:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 111. The psalmist praises God for his marvelous deeds, especially the way in which he provides for and delivers his people. The psalm is an acrostic. After the introductory call to praise, every poetic line (twenty-two in all) begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

[111:2]  ² tn Heb “sought out.”

[111:3]  ³ tn For other uses of the Hebrew phrase וְהָדָר-הוֹד (hod-vÿhadar, “majesty and splendor”) see 1 Chr 16:27; Job 40:10; Pss 21:5; 96:6; 104:1.

[111:3]  ⁴ tn Or “stands.”

[111:4]  ⁴ tn Or “did,” if this refers primarily to the events of the exodus and conquest period (see vv. 6, 9).

[111:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “a memorial he had made for his amazing deeds.”

[111:5]  ⁵ tn Or “gave,” if the events of the exodus and conquest period (see v. 6, 9) are primarily in view.

[111:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “those who fear him.”

[111:5]  ⁷ tn Or “he remembers his covenant forever” (see Ps 105:8).

[111:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “the strength of his deeds he proclaimed to his people, to give to them an inheritance of nations.”

[111:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “the deeds of his hands [are].”

[111:7]  ⁸ tn That is, fair and for man’s good.

[111:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “done in faithfulness and uprightness.” The passive participle probably has the force of a gerund. See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 89.

[111:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “redemption he sent for his people.”

[111:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he commanded forever his covenant.”

[111:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the beginning of wisdom [is] the fear of the Lord.”

[111:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “good sense [is] to all who do them.” The third masculine plural pronominal suffix must refer back to the “precepts” mentioned in v. 7. In the translation the referent has been specified for clarity. The phrase שֵׂכֶל טוֹב (shekhel tov) also occurs in Prov 3:4; 13:15 and 2 Chr 30:22.

[111:10]  ¹² tn Heb “his praise stands forever.”

[113:1]  ¹¹ sn Psalm 113. The psalmist praises God as the sovereign king of the world who reaches down to help the needy.

[113:3]  ¹² tn 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.

[113:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “above the sky [is] his splendor.”

[113:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the one who makes high to sit.”

[113:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the one who makes low to see.”

[113:7]  ¹⁶ sn The language of v. 7 is almost identical to that of 1 Sam 2:8.

[113:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “of the house.”

[113:9]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “sons.”