BackgroundAn alphabetic acrostic hymn of praise that closes the Davidic collection and opens the door to the Final Hallel (Pss 146-150). It is the only psalm in the Psalter explicitly titled "tehillah" (praise), the singular form of the book's Hebrew name "Tehillim." In Jewish liturgy it is recited three times daily as the core of the Ashrei prayer.
Psalm 145: I Will Extol You, My God and King
A Psalm of Praise. Of David.
By Bea Zalel
Psalm 145
A Psalm of Praise. Of David.
- I will exalt You, my God and King; I will bless Your name forever and ever.
- Every day I will bless You, and I will praise Your name forever and ever.
- Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised; His greatness is unsearchable.
- One generation will commend Your works to the next, and will proclaim Your mighty acts—
- the glorious splendor of Your majesty. And I will meditate on Your wondrous works.
- They will proclaim the power of Your awesome deeds, and I will declare Your greatness.
- They will extol the fame of Your abundant goodness and sing joyfully of Your righteousness.
- The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in loving devotion.
- The LORD is good to all; His compassion rests on all He has made.
- All You have made will give You thanks, O LORD, and Your saints will bless You.
- They will tell of the glory of Your kingdom and speak of Your might,
- to make known to men Your mighty acts and the glorious splendor of Your kingdom.
- Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Your dominion endures through all generations. The LORD is faithful in all His words and kind in all His actions.
- The LORD upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.
- The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food in season.
- You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.
- The LORD is righteous in all His ways and kind in all His deeds.
- The LORD is near to all who call on Him, to all who call out to Him in truth.
- He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him; He hears their cry and saves them.
- The LORD preserves all who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy.
- My mouth will declare the praise of the LORD; let every creature bless His holy name forever and ever.
Theme
Psalm 145 is the last psalm attributed to David in the Psalter. It is also the only psalm in the entire collection that calls itself a "tehillah," praise. "Tehillim," the plural, is the Hebrew name of the whole book. So the book of Praises ends its Davidic material with the one psalm that bears the title Praise. The structure is an alphabetic acrostic. Each verse begins with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet from aleph through tav, with the nun line missing in the Masoretic text but preserved in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Septuagint and now restored in many modern English translations. The acrostic form means the praise is comprehensive. From A to Z. Every letter.
In Jewish liturgy, Psalm 145 is the heart of the Ashrei prayer, recited three times every day in the morning, afternoon and evening services. The Ashrei takes its name from the line "Ashrei yoshvei veitecha," "Blessed are those who dwell in your house," which is taken from Psalm 84 and prefaced to Psalm 145 in the liturgy. The Talmud (Berakhot 4b) says that anyone who recites Psalm 145 three times a day is assured a place in the world to come, in part because of verse 16. "You open your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing." The rabbis read that line as the heart of the psalm and the heart of the Jewish doctrine of providence.
The theological center of Psalm 145 is verse 8. "The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in hesed." That is a direct quotation of Exodus 34:6, the Sinai self-revelation God gave Moses on the mountain when he passed by in the cleft of the rock. That formula appears in some form in Numbers 14:18, Joel 2:13, Jonah 4:2, Nehemiah 9:17 and Psalms 86:15 and 103:8. It is the most quoted self-description of God in the entire Hebrew Bible. David, near the end of his last psalm, anchors the whole Davidic collection on the bedrock disclosure of who God is. Not a king's invention. Not a poet's flourish. The voice from Sinai.
The closing third of the psalm widens. Every living thing eats from God's open hand. The LORD is near to all who call on him in truth. He preserves all who love him. The final verse declares that all flesh will bless his holy name forever and ever. This is the language that opens the door to the Final Hallel of Psalms 146-150, where each psalm begins and ends with "Hallelujah" and the praise expands to cover heavens, earth, every creature with breath. Psalm 145 is the hinge. It closes the personal voice of David and opens the cosmic chorus that closes the Psalter. It is fitting that the king's last word is praise. The praise quotes Sinai.
Discussion questions
- Psalm 145 is the only psalm in the Psalter explicitly titled "tehillah" (praise) and the book's Hebrew name "Tehillim" is the plural of that word. What does it mean that the Davidic block ends with the psalm that bears the title of the whole book?
- The alphabetic acrostic in Hebrew runs from aleph to tav. The Masoretic text is missing the nun verse. The Dead Sea Scrolls (11QPs-a) and the Septuagint preserve it and most modern translations restore it. How should a careful reader handle that textual situation?
- In Jewish liturgy, Psalm 145 is recited three times daily as the core of the Ashrei prayer. The Talmud (Berakhot 4b) ties that practice to verse 16, "You open your hand." Why does that verse carry such weight in the Jewish doctrine of providence?
- Verse 8 quotes Exodus 34:6, the Sinai self-revelation. That formula appears in Numbers 14:18, Joel 2:13, Jonah 4:2, Nehemiah 9:17 and Psalms 86:15 and 103:8. What is the cumulative theological effect of placing the same disclosure at so many points in the canon?
- The Ashrei takes its name from "Ashrei yoshvei veitecha," a line from Psalm 84 prefaced to Psalm 145 in the liturgy. What does that liturgical compounding teach about how the synagogue read the Psalter as a whole rather than as separate poems?
- Verse 13 ends with the line "the LORD is faithful in all his words and gracious in all his deeds." That line is the missing nun verse and is preserved in the Dead Sea Scrolls. What does it add to the psalm's theology? Why might its absence in the Masoretic text matter?
- Verses 15-16 picture every living thing receiving food from God's open hand. How does this expand the doctrine of providence beyond Israel? How does Jesus draw on this image in Matthew 6:26?
- The closing of Psalm 145 hands the Psalter over to the Final Hallel (Pss 146-150). What is being prepared by ending David's voice on praise that quotes Sinai?
- Bea Zalel notes that the king's last word is praise and that the praise quotes Sinai. Why is it significant that the human voice closing the Davidic material does not invent its own theology but cites the founding revelation?
- If you adopted the synagogue's practice of reciting Psalm 145 three times a day for a week, what would you expect to change in how you read the news, prayed for your town and ate your meals?
Read this psalm in another translation
The inline text above is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB). Open in a new tab to compare with a modern licensed translation: