BackgroundPost-exilic temple liturgy; the opening psalm of the Final Hallel (Psalms 146-150), the climactic doxology of the entire Psalter.
Psalm 146: Praise the LORD, O My Soul
By Bea Zalel
Psalm 146
- Hallelujah! Praise the LORD, O my soul.
- I will praise the LORD all my life; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
- Put not your trust in princes, in mortal man, who cannot save.
- When his spirit departs, he returns to the ground; on that very day his plans perish.
- Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God,
- the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them. He remains faithful forever.
- He executes justice for the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets the prisoners free,
- the LORD opens the eyes of the blind, the LORD lifts those who are weighed down, the LORD loves the righteous.
- The LORD protects foreigners; He sustains the fatherless and the widow, but the ways of the wicked He frustrates.
- The LORD reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Hallelujah!
Theme
Psalm 146 opens the Final Hallel, the five-psalm crescendo that closes the book of Psalms. Each of these five psalms begins and ends with "Hallelujah" (literally "praise YAH," the shortened form of YHWH), framing them as a unified liturgical cluster. The opening line turns inward before turning outward: "praise the LORD, O my soul." Personal worship grounds the cosmic praise that will eventually fill Psalm 148. In Second Temple practice these psalms were associated with daily morning prayers, and rabbinic tradition (b. Berakhot 4b) linked recitation of the Hallel with assured standing in the world to come.
The middle of the psalm contains one of the sharpest political theology statements in the Psalter: "do not put your trust in princes, in mortal man in whom there is no salvation." Coming after the exile, after Davidic kingship had failed and foreign empires had ruled Judah, this line carries the weight of disappointed hope. The Hebrew "nedivim" ("princes" or "nobles") covers any human ruler who promises deliverance. The psalmist is not anti-government; he is anti-idolatry of government. The breath leaves a ruler and his plans dissolve the same day. Only YHWH endures.
The contrast that follows is the heart of the psalm: the LORD made heaven and earth, keeps faith forever, executes justice for the oppressed, gives food to the hungry, sets prisoners free, opens the eyes of the blind, lifts up those who are bowed down, watches over the sojourner, sustains the fatherless and widow. This is the social-justice register of Israelite faith, lifted directly from Torah and the prophets. Jesus of Nazareth quoted the same cluster of works in Luke 4 and Matthew 11 as the marks of the kingdom. The God worth praising is the God who sees the bowed-down.
Discussion questions
- Why do all five psalms of the Final Hallel both open and close with "Hallelujah," and what does that framing signal about the editor's intent?
- What does "praise the LORD, O my soul" suggest about the relationship between private piety and public liturgy?
- How does post-exilic disappointment with human rulers shape the warning against trusting princes?
- What is the Hebrew word "nedivim," and why does the psalmist single out this category of human authority?
- How does the catalog of God's works (justice for the oppressed, food for the hungry, freedom for prisoners) echo Torah commands in Deuteronomy and Leviticus?
- Why does Jesus draw on this same cluster of images in Luke 4:18-19 and Matthew 11:4-5 when defining his ministry?
- What does "the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down" mean practically for communities of believers today?
- How is the protection of the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow connected throughout the Hebrew Bible to the character of God himself?
- Where is the line between honoring civil authority and trusting it for salvation, and how does this psalm help draw that line?
- What does it look like to begin and end one's day with "Hallelujah" in the way the Final Hallel models?
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: