Psalm 146
1 Praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD, O my soul!
2 I will praise the LORD as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God all my life long.
3 Do not put your trust in princes,
in mortals, in whom there is no help.
4 When their breath departs, they return to the earth;
on that very day their plans perish.
5 Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD their God,
6 who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them;
who keeps faith forever;
7 who executes justice for the oppressed;
who gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets the prisoners free;
8 the LORD opens the eyes of the blind.
The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down;
the LORD loves the righteous.
9 The LORD watches over the strangers;
he upholds the orphan and the widow,
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
10 The LORD will reign forever,
your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the LORD!
Bolded words have comments on translation below.
The psalter closes with five psalms that begin and end with the familiar Hebrew word Hallelujah (NRSVue Praise the LORD!). These final five psalms form a closing note of praise on this songbook of the faithful people. Throughout the experiences of the individual authors in various times, the underlying belief in the praiseworthiness of the LORD the God of the people has remained present. The questions of faith, the laments and heartbreaks, of the psalms all await God’s answer and resolution but even in the darkest moments the LORD is the one who the psalmists cry out to. Now as we move towards the conclusion of the psalter these final psalms send us out praising the LORD with all our being[1] for the duration of one’s entire life.
Psalm 146 moves from praising the LORD with all one’s being and days to the antithesis: trusting in rulers and human beings. Human leaders are necessary throughout society. Yet there is a tendency that continues in society to make leaders a source of ultimate trust. I am writing these words on the day of a midterm election in the United States where leaders and parties have attempted to portray themselves as trustworthy and their opponents as wicked. In this psalm the contrast is between the reliable and unending governance of God and “the transient incompetence of human governors.” (Mays, 1994, p. 440) Many religious leaders throughout history have stated that whatever we place our trust in is our god. Martin Luther, for example, in his Large Catechism framed it this way:
A “god” is the term for that to which we are to look for all good and in which we are to find refuge in all need. Therefore, to have a god is nothing else than to trust and believe in that one with your whole heart. As I have often said, it is the trust and faith of the heart alone that make both God and an idol. If your faith and your trust are right, then your God is the true one. Conversely, where your trust is false and wrong, there you do not have the true God. For these two belong together, faith and God. Anything on which your heart relies and depends, I say, that is really your God. (Luther, 2000, p. 386)
The psalm quickly turns from the foolish path of trusting in princes and mortals to the wise path of those whose help and hope is the God of Jacob. The Hebrew ‘asre (NRSVue happy) is a very common word in wisdom literature contrasting the wise path that leads to happiness/contentment/blessedness with the foolish path that leads to ruin. Those who trust in mortal perish, those whose hope is in God prosper.
The psalm then focuses on who this trustworthy God is and the character of God. The LORD is the creator of the heavens, the earth, the seas, and all that inhabits all these domains. This God who is the creator of all is a God who keeps faith forever. Many of the actions of keeping faith involve God’s care for the vulnerable: providing the justice for the oppressed, food to the hungry, freedom for prisoners, sight for the blind, lifting up those who are bowed down, watching over the strangers, and upholding the orphan and widow. This LORD of justice loves the righteous but brings the wicked to ruin (a traditional wisdom literature contrast). In contrast to the transient incompetence of human rulers, the LORD of justice who cares for the vulnerable will reign forever. This creator of heaven and earth, sea and all who fill them is worthy or praise, and the psalmist ends as they began: Hallelujah (Praise the LORD).
[1] The Hebrew nephesh translated ‘soul’ by the NRSVue does not have the sense of ‘soul’ as something separate from bodily existence that is characteristic of Greek thought. The Hebrew idea is something closer to the essence of life.
