I ntroduction: Psalm 146 is the first of 5 Hallelujah! psalms. Psalms 146–150 all begin and end with the word Hallelujah, which means Praise Jah, Jah being an abbreviated form of Jehovah. Were they all written by the same person around the same time? Did they have this characteristic in common and then were grouped together? We do not know for certain. However, early Scripture was written on rolls of vellum, and these rolls were long enough to hold one entire book. Therefore, it is unlikely that there were a 150 short rolls with one psalm each on them. How the psalms were grouped and how they were added to originally is a mystery to us. We do not find David’s psalms, for instance, all together and in chronological order. They are mostly together, but they are certainly nt in chronological order. Therefore, one may reasonably assume that, things were written down on a variety of things, and that these rolls of vellum were used for entire books.

One might want to make a case for these psalms to be in roughly a chronological order, but the very event which led me to exegete Psalm 146 in the first place—David’s moving of the Ark of God—clearly pulls in psalms from all over the book of Psalms (definitely the following psalms: Psalms 96 105 106; and I would argue to include Psalm 24 and 47). Here’s the deal: not all of these psalms needed to be written for the moving of the Ark. David may have already written these psalms; or these psalms may have already existed, and David chose them because they were apropos to the occasion. Some include this particular psalm as part of the celebration.

Given that we have these 5 psalms altogether in one place in the Bible, we ought to examine them as a whole; so, first of all, let’s look at a summary of each psalm:
A Summary of Psalms 146–150
Psalm	Summary
Psalm 146	Trust in God, but do not trust in man—man’s will die and his soul will depart. The psalmist makes it clear that we are speaking of the God of Jacob, the Creator of heaven and earth. Then, the psalmist, in the final half of the psalm, lists a variety of things which Jehovah, the God of Zion, does.
Psalm 147	God is praised for what He does in this psalm. This psalm seems to alternate between a close relationship with man on earth (e.g., He heals the brokenhearted) and what God does as a God over all (e.g., He numbers the stars; He understand the infinite). However, as God of the Universe, He maintains a particular relationship with Israel.
Psalm 148	All that is, is called upon to praise God, including things which are alive and have volition (angels) and things which are not (the sun and moon and stars). All things which are created are to praise God; His Name alone is exalted.
Psalm 149	The first part of this psalm begins by telling how God should be praised: with singing and dancing; and then the godly ones are called upon to execute judgment against the nations.
Psalm 150	The first third of this psalm calls us to praise God where He is and for what He is. Then there is a list of the instruments with which we are to praise God. Finally, all that breathes is enjoined to praise Jehovah.

As I glance at the final psalm, it does cause me to wonder, why all the mention of the variety of instruments (vv. 3–5)? What spiritual benefit is that (besides to straighten out the Church of Christ)?

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Although I am assuming that most commentators will place this psalm during the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem and/or the Temple, when they are allowed to return from the dispersion (the diaspora).
The Occasion of Psalms 146–150
Commentator	Suggestion
Barnes	Psalms 146–150 all begin and end in the same manner, with a Hallelujah; they all belong to one group, and seem to pertain to the same occasion; and it is not inprobable that they constitute a series of psalms intended to commemorate the completion of the walls of Jerusalem, and the finishing of the temple. They would be eminently appropriate to such an event.
Clarke	It was probably written after the captivity, and may refer to the time when Cyrus, prejudiced by the enemies of the Jews, withdrew his order for the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, to which revocation of the royal edict the third verse may refer. You should not trust in princes [or nobles], [nor should you trust] in the son of man, [as there is] no deliverance [or, salvation] with respect to him.
Matthew Henry	Henry suggests that David is the author and that this psalm should be associated with the moving of the Ark. David is supposed to have penned this psalm; and he was himself a prince, a mighty prince; as such, it might be thought, that he should be exempted from the service of praising God, that it was enough for him to see that his priests and people did it, but that he needed not to do it himself in his own person. Michal thought it a disparagement to him to dance before the ark; but he was so far from being of this mind that he would himself be first and foremost in the work, Psalm 146:1–2. He considered his dignity as so far from excusing him from it that it rather obliged him to lead in it, and he thought it so far from lessening him that it really magnified him; therefore he stirred up himself to it and to make a business of it.
Kimchi	Kimchi interprets [the occasion of this psalm as] the present captivity of the Jews and deliverance from it; and observes, that the psalmist seeing, by the Holy Spirit, the gathering of the captives, said this with respect to Israel; and so refers it to the times of the Messiah, as does also Jarchi, especially the Psalm 146:10; and which, though they make it to serve an hypothesis of their own, concerning their vainly expected Messiah; yet it is most true, that the psalm is concerning the Messiah and his kingdom, to whom all the characters and descriptions given agree.
Kukis	The Greek and Latin inscription of this psalm suggests that two post-exilic prophets were the human authors. Its placement in the book of Psalms (at the end) suggests that these may have been later psalms. Finally, the subject matter of this psalm comports well with the dispersion of Israel and their reversal of fortune, which included judgment upon their captors.
Humphrey Prideaux	At the dedication of the second Temple, in the beginning of the seventh year of Darius, Psalms 147, Psalm 146:1–10 and Psalm 148:1–14, seem to have been sung; for in the Septuagint Version they are styled the Psalms of Haggai and Zechariah, as if they had been composed by them for this occasion. This, no doubt, was from some ancient tradition; but in the original Hebrew these Psalms have no such title prefixed to them, neither have they any other to contradict it.

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As always, I like to include at least one additional outline for a chapter or psalm.

Barnes Outlines Psalm 146

I. An expression of a purpose to praise God; or, God as an object of praise, Psalm 146:1–2.

II. Reliance is not to be put in man, even in princes, since all are mortal, Psalm 146:3–4.

III. God is the only Being on whom we can rely, Psalm 146:5–9.

(1) the happiness of that reliance, Psalm 146:5.

(2) reasons for such reliance, Psalm 146:6–9. He is the Creator of all things; he keeps truth; he executes judgment for the oppressed; he shows his kindness toward the hungry, the prisoner, the blind, the bowed down, the righteous, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow.

IV. God will reign for ever, and he is the God of Zion. His people, therefore, should praise him, Psalm 146:10.

Most of the outlines I came across agreed with Barnes on the whole. Some break this down into two parts; and some take Psalm 146:5–9 and break them up differently than does Barnes; but his, on the whole, is quite reasonable as an outline.

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Now, quite frankly, my outline of this psalm stinks. There are just some things which do not lend themselves to a sectional grouping; and psalms in particular. Psalms are poetic, and they are filled with parallels. Furthermore, this psalm has a portion which just jumps out at the reader, which, unfortunately, is not clear in most English translations.

Bullinger Organizes Psalm 146

A│ Praise; Hallelujah! vv. 1–2

B│ a│ Do not place your trust in man v. 3a

b│ Man is powerless v. 3b

c│ Man will perish v. 4

B│ a│ Place your trust in God v. 5

b│ God is all-powerful v. 6–9

c│ God is eternal v. 10a

A│ Praise; Hallelujah! v. 10b

Once you study a psalm, you ought to go back and look at the way that this psalm was organized; it gives you a greater appreciation for the psalmist and for God the Holy Spirit, Who ultimately inspired this psalm. For this reason, I will later repeat this organizational chart and place it side by side with the words of this psalm.

Figures of Speech Used in the Bible; E. W. Bullinger; Ⓟoriginally 1898; reprinted 1968 Baker Books; p 383 [with some editing].

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Psalm 146 Inscription

Slavishly literal:

Moderately literal:

Praise Yah!

Psalm

146 inscription

Praise Yah! [A psalm] of Haggai and Zechariah.

Praise Jehovah!

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text Praise Yah!

Septuagint Alleluia, [a Psalm] of Aggaeus and Zacharias. This is Psalm 145:1 in the Greek.

Significant differences The Arabic , Ethiopic , Latin and the Greek have the names Haggai and Zechariah. The Greek is Άλληλουια Άγγαίου καὶ Ζαχαρίου and the Latin is alleluia Aggei et Zacchariae. According to Barnes, the Syriac version reads Spoken by Haggai and Zechariah the prophets, who ascended from the captivity at Babylon, concerning the morning ministration of the priests. The Hebrew and Chaldee lack inscriptions.

Given that this title is found in so many early translations, it is reasonable to believe that this is correct. However, that causes us problems later on when we find these two names again in the middle of a psalm, indicating that there are two psalms rather than just one. We will deal with that when we come to it (Psalm 147 in the Hebrew is equivalent to Psalms 146–147 in the Greek).

On the other hand, Gill writes: Theodoret says this title was in some Greek copies in his time; but was not in the Septuagint, in the Hexapla: nor is it in any other Greek interpreters, nor in the Hebrew text, nor in the Targum; though some Jewish commentators, as R. Obadiah, take it to be an exhortation to the captives in Babylon to praise the Lord.

One might interpret the Greek as reading A praising of Yah from Haggai and Zechariah.

What is the gist of this verse? The two post-exilic prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, also wrote a few psalms together.

Psalm 146 Inscription Text from the Greek Septuagint
Greek/Pronunciation	Common English Meanings	Notes/Morphology	Strong’s Number
allêlouia (ἀλληλούϊα) [pronounced al-lay-LOO-ee-ah]	praise Yah; transliterated alleluia	transliteration from the Hebrew	Strong’s #239
Also hallêlouia (ἁλληλούϊα) [pronounced hal-lay-LOO-ee-ah] and transliterated Hallelujah.
This is the only word which is found in the Hebrew (to be repeated in v. 1 below).
Aggais (Άγγαίς) [pronounced ang-ICE]	Greek transliteration: Aggias Hebrew transliteration: Haggai	masculine proper noun; Genitive/Ablative case	No Strong’s #
kaí (καί) [pronounced kī]	and, even, also; so, too, then, that; indeed, but	conjunction	Strong’s #2532
Zacharias (Ζαχαρίας) [pronounced zahkh-ahr-EE-ahs]	Jehovah remembers [in the Hebrew]; Greek transliteration: Zacharias Hebrew transliteration: Zechariah	masculine proper noun; Genitive/Ablative case; transliterated from the Hebrew	Strong’s #2197
These final 3 words are found in the Greek and the Latin, but not in the Hebrew or Syriac.

Translation: Praise Yah! [A psalm] of Haggai and Zechariah. The Greek and Latin both have this inscription. In the Hebrew, none of these final 5 psalms have an inscription in the Hebrew. In the Greek, however, the first 4 psalms appear to be authored by Angæus and Zacharias (in the Greek, these 4 psalms actually match up with the Psalms 146–148 in the Hebrew).

The Greek reads Allêlouia Aggaiou kai Zachariou (Άλληλουύια Άγγαίου καὶ Ζαχαρίου). The ou ending means that these proper names are in the Ablative/Genitive case, which means this psalm is from the source of these two men or this psalm belongs to these two men. This would be a very odd thing for the translators of the Greek text to just add this inscription out of thin air, so we may be reasonably assured that these words were found in the Hebrew manuscripts which they worked with. Literally, in the Greek, this would read: Alleluia [Praise Yah]; from [the source of] Angæus and Zacharias.

There are men with similar names in the Old Testament (the Old Testament version of Zacharias would probably be Zachariah). It is possible that this is a reference to the contemporary prophets Haggai and Zechariah, who both prophesied around 520 b.c. and whose psalms would have been added into the book of psalms late in the game (but before the close of the OT canon). These two prophets are named together in Ezra 5:1 6:1 and in the apocryphal books 1Esdras 6:1 7:3 and 2Esdras 1:40. Can we say without a doubt that these two men actually authored some of these final psalms? I have no idea. They fit the bill when it comes to time, location in the book of psalms, association with one another, and as writers of Scripture. If there are any conclusions which we can draw from this, I don’t know what they are. And, again, it seems quite unlikely that the translators of the LXX just threw these words in. Obviously, they had to come from the Hebrew Scriptures which they used.

The Dead Sea Scrolls has bits and pieces of these final psalms, and we have praise the Lord of this particular psalm; but then, what can be read does not pick up until v. 9. The only psalm of these few associated with Angæus and Zacharias in the Greek, where we would expect to find their names (Psalm 147), their names are not found. In other words, the names of Angæus and Zacharias are not found in the Dead Sea Scrolls in association with any of these final psalms.

To be clear: the Alleluia is in the Greek and Hebrew; the names Angæus and Zacharias are only found in the Greek. Like almost all variances in the ancient texts, no doctrines are affected.

As an aside, this is an amazing thing. We have a book written by 40 or so authors over a period of at least 2000 years (I believe the period of time to be longer and the number of authors to be greater) and this book is of a religious nature. Furthermore, we know about all of the religions during that time period and of time periods which followed. We also know that there are some minor problems with the manuscripts. What should strike you as phenomenal is, given all of these factors, the differences found between manuscripts, apart from a handful of alternate readings, have no effect on any major or minor doctrine. We know what man is like when it comes to religion and we know that almost every religion requires works to please God. However, from start to finish in the Bible, God has a perfect standard and man, no matter what he does, cannot meet that standard. What other religion does that? What other religion says, “Too bad, mortal; you just are not good enough!” And from cover to cover, in all ages, in all dispensations, the Bible presents a sacrifice offered up instead of man in order to make him right before God.

Now, to be clear, we know the Bible gets distorted terrifically: by Christian Science, by Mormonism, by Islam, by Romanism, and by Judaism—but, the text of the Bible is not corrupted. Christian Science and the Mormon religion add their own books (and, take notice that the books of cults are compiled by one man who also is their religious leader). The Catholic church has the pope speaking ex cathedra, meaning he can make up laws and call them from God. Judaism adds their own texts, which interpret and distort the Old Testament Scriptures. Only the Muslims add their own text (the Koran) and actually make wholesale changes to the text of the Bible (but long after this text is clearly settled).

Religious men have a very common failing: they like to establish what is right and wrong, good and bad and really bad, and then make others conform to these standards. When someone does not conform to these standards, that someone can be ostracized, browbeaten into conforming to these standards, or, in the most extreme cases, killed. Furthermore, these things which are bad and really bad are always overt. What Baptist does not recoil at the idea of fornication? What Muslim does not throw a royal fit if they feel that Mohammed has somehow been insulted? This is how man is. But, we do not find these same standards in Scripture. There is a continued emphasis upon mental and verbal sins; and a continued emphasis upon salvation through faith alone in Christ alone.

Take pretty much any religion, and there will be a list of things which you must do, adhere to, attempt to follow; and, in most cases, even given your attempts to follow their precepts, salvation is generally not assured. In Bible Christianity it is simple: if you believe in Jesus Christ, then you are saved; if you don’t believe, then you will spend eternity in the Lake of Fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels.

Some of the English translations treat the first word as either the title or as an inscription and some do not. For simplicity’s sake, I have listed v. 1 as v. 1 below. There is no doubling of Praise Yah!; it occurs once at the beginning of v. 1.

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Praise to God

Slavishly literal:

Moderately literal:

Praise Yah!

Praise, my soul, Y^ehowah.

Psalm

146:1

Praise Yah!

Praise Y^ehowah, O my soul.

Praise Jehovah! Praise Jehovah, O my soul!

Here is how others have handled this verse:

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text Praise Yah!

Praise, my soul, Y^ehowah.

Septuagint Alleluia, a Psalm of Aggaeus and Zacharias. My soul, praise the Lord. This is Psalm 145:1 in the Greek and fully discussed in the inscription.

Significant differences: Psalms 146–147 are somewhat mismatched in the Greek. Psalm 145 in the Greek is equivalent to Psalm 146. Psalms 146–147 in the Greek is equivalent to Psalm 147 in the Hebrew.

That this is a Psalm of Aggaeus and Zacharias is found in the Greek and the Latin, but not in the Hebrew. This was covered in the Inscription above. Believe it or not, this is one of the most significant differences which I have come across in comparing the 3 most ancient translations (Syriac, Greek and Latin) with the Masoretic text.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV Shout praises to the LORD! With all that I am, I will shout his praises.

The Message Hallelujah! O my soul, praise GOD!

New Jerusalem Bible Alleluia!

Praise Yahweh, my soul! .

New Living Testament Praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord, I tell myself,...

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English Let the Lord be praised. Give praise to the Lord, O my soul.

HCSB Hallelujah! My soul, praise the LORD.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible Praise the Lord! —Hallelujah! Praise the Lord, O my soul!

Updated Emphasized Bible Praise Yah!

Praise Yahweh, O my soul.

WEB Praise Yah! Praise Yahweh, my soul.

Young's Literal Translation Praise ye Jah! Praise, O my soul, Jehovah.

What is the gist of this verse? The psalmist calls for us to praise Jehovah, which is how he begins every psalm from here to the end of the Book of Psalms.

Psalm 146:1a
Hebrew/Pronunciation	Common English Meanings	Notes/Morphology	BDB and Strong’s Numbers
hâlal (ל ַל ָה) [pronounced haw-LAHL]	praise, sing, celebrate	2^nd person masculine plural, Piel imperative	Strong’s #1984 BDB #237
Yâh (ָי) [pronounced yaw]	an abbreviated form of YHWH, the proper name for God in the Old Testament	proper masculine noun	Strong’s #3050 BDB #219

Translation: Praise Yah! Psalm 146 is the first of the Praise Yah! psalms, which continue from Psalm 146 through 150. These psalms all begin and end with this phrase.

Some might use this as an inscription, which makes perfect sense. This would be the inscription for Psalms 146–150, if that is the proper way to view this psalm. It is also the final word of each of these psalms.

There are some psalms where we are called upon to bless Jehovah Elohim (e.g., Psalms 103 104) and there are psalms where we are called upon to praise the Lord. I do not know if this constitutes a true, discernable categorical difference; however, such a study might be informative. Classifying the psalms has always been an interesting, if not impossible, task.

The NIV Study Bible suggests that a later editor may have added the Praise Yah (Hallelujah) to the beginnings and ends of the final 5 psalms.

Psalm 146:1b
Hebrew/Pronunciation	Common English Meanings	Notes/Morphology	BDB and Strong’s Numbers
hâlal (ל ַל ָה) [pronounced haw-LAHL]	praise, sing, celebrate	2^nd person feminine singular, Piel imperative	Strong’s #1984 BDB #237
nephesh (ש∵פ ∵נ) [pronounced NEH-fesh]	soul, life, living being, desire	feminine singular noun with the 1^st person singular suffix	Strong’s #5315 BDB #659
êth (ת ֵא) [pronounced ayth]	generally untranslated; occasionally to, toward	indicates that the following substantive is a direct object	Strong's #853 BDB #84
YHWH (הוהי) [pronunciation is possibly yhoh-WAH]	transliterated variously as Jehovah, Yahweh, Y^ehowah	proper noun	Strong’s #3068 BDB #217

Translation: Praise Y^ehowah, O my soul. The psalmist calls upon his own soul to praise Jehovah. This is the key to praising God: what is in your own soul. If you have a soul which lacks doctrine, you cannot truly praise God. You cannot be in love with someone that you do not know. When speaking to a friend, you are not going to go on and on describing the love of your life, if you do not actually know that person. It is the same for God. If you do not know God, you cannot praise Him. You cannot know God apart from Bible doctrine.

The second key to praising God is our own volition. Even though we are enjoined here to praise God.

Given the fact that the soul is mentioned here, it may be worth our time to examine the essence of the soul:
The Essence of the Soul
The soul has a variety of overlapping compartments: Memory, which appears to be functioning from the very beginning, although it is unclear exactly how our memories function in the first year of our life; and it is unclear as to the capacity of our memory. Obviously, we have more stored than we can access at any given time; but how much is actually stored and can or will it every be accessed? Volition is the decider of the soul. We are all born with a mentality which seems to have a fundamental interaction with the environment from the earliest age. Although it is questionable just how much a mentality may be improved at an early age by a variety of stimuli; it is clear that a mentality can be severely damaged by a lack of proper, early-age stimuli (wild children attest to this).
The vocabulary of our soul his directly related to our mentality and capacity to think outside of our environment. Studies of wild children have shown that the capacity for one’s vocabulary is developed at a very early age.	The conscience is our norms and standards; we are advised as to what is right and wrong, and is very much a result of what we are taught from an early age. However, there does appear to be some innate fundamental aspects to a conscience.
The emotion is the appreciator of the soul. The emotion responds to the thinking of the soul (any combination of the components of the soul) as well as to our environment. When emotion guides the soul, we are said to be in emotional revolt of the soul. The emotion should be a responder but not the authority of the soul. Our norms and standards ought to guide our volition.	Self-consciousness means we recognize ourselves as separate and different from everything else. We recognize our names, our visage, and can recognize that our thoughts and emotions are separate from our environment and those in our environment.
It is unclear as to how our soul is hard-wired to the cell structure of our brains. Science is able to map out where various components of our soul can be found, but, at this time, such research is barely in its infancy.
The old sin nature is the corrupter of the soul. The sin nature corrupts every cell of the body, apart from, apparently, the eggs of the woman. The sin nature corrupts every component of the soul. Our emotion sometimes wants to run the show; our memory is incorrect and woefully incomplete; our norms and standards are corrupted.
When it comes to the body, science appears to be puzzled. Every cell in our body is regenerated every 7 years, and yet, we all still die. We known that it is the corrupting influence of the old sin nature, although exactly how the sin nature interacts with our bodies and our mentality is unknown. I don’t know that any researcher wants to admit to such and indelible, corrupting presence.

The picture is from http://www.talkingtospirit.com/pmesoulessence.jpg. R. B. Thieme has taught the essence of the soul in a variety of places. One would be R. B. Thieme, Jr., Mental Attitude Dynamics; ©1974 by R. B. Thieme, Jr.; p. 52.

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We are asked to praise God with our souls. This means, we should choose to praise God (volition). We should recognize ourselves as a different entity than God and praise Him (self consciousness). We should understand various aspects of God’s character—His perfection, His righteousness, His perfect justice—and praise Him (norms and standards). We should know what God has done on behalf of Israel and one behalf of us (memory center); and we ought to be able to express this verbally in praise with more than just praise God (vocabulary). While praising God, our minds should be working and piecing together reasons why God deserves our praise (mentality). Furthermore, on a good day, our soul might appreciate Him (emotion). Our entire soul should be involved in this process.

When it comes to the soul, people come up with the weirdest ideas:. I originally was going to shortcut the visual for the soul and find some website where possibly Bob’s drawing of the soul and its components was posted. I did not come across it, but I did some up with some very goofy things when I put essence and soul into my search engine.
False Concepts of the Soul



Quite frankly, the problem with these various views of the soul is, they make no sense. The 4^th picture illustrates the soul and body, and, despite the fact that it does include the very important third eye, it makes little sense as well. Anyone can understand the basic components of the soul which I have listed in the previous doctrine. And even though the last one is a joke, it is no more so than the previous 5.

These pictures come from:

http://www.meta-religion.com/Esoterism/images/PERSOUL.GIF

http://www.theorderoftime.com/spiritual/images/trinity.jpg

http://www.innerexplorations.com/metaphysicsjpg/myst2.jpg

http://www.crystalsingingbowls.com/images/body2.JPG

http://www.lawoftime.org/graphics/7castles.jpg

http://i3.yesasia.com/assets/33/010/c1004101033.png

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God is a Spirit and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). Our souls, the immaterial portion of our being, are made in the shadow image of God.
Man is Made in the Image of God
Man’s Essence	God’s Essence
Mentality, memory, vocabulary	Omniscience
Volition	Omnipotence
Conscience	Justice and righteousness
Self-consciousness	Omnipresence
Emotion	Love
Life	God is eternal
A desire to create; ability to give birth	Creator of all things

At this point, I am less sure of the relationship between the body of man and the creation act of God, apart from the fact that we are made from the same chemicals as are found in the earth.

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Either we all know Who God is deep inside or God reveals Himself to us. Now, if God is to be known by what we have inside, then we really have no idea what God is like as, there are dozens of religions and a myriad of cults, and God is understood in millions of ways. Now, in our relativistic society, many want to say, that’s okay; and Charley Brown’s perception of God is just as valid as yours. However, that is pure nonsense. When you have people strapping bombs onto their own children because of their perception of God, that is an evil view of God. Such a person is worshiping Satan, not God. If one basis his perception of God on himself, and models God after his own soul, rather than the other way around, that is also an inferior view of God. God has revealed Himself in the Bible, so we know what God is like, because He obviously knows Himself.

We are enjoined to praise God with our souls entails knowing and understanding God; and we ought to be able to praise Him from the entirety of our immaterial being.
Man Praises God with his Soul
The Essence of Man’s Soul	Man Praises God
Mentality, memory	We understand from the Bible, what God has done for man. We can view the history of the United States, and, more personally, our individual history, and see what God has done on our behalf. Such an understanding should invoke praise for God.
Volition	We should choose to praise God; we should choose to thank God. Mouthing some set of meaningless words while our mind is elsewhere is meaningless.
Conscience	As our norms and standards begin to line up more and more with divine viewpoint, the more we appreciate Who and What God is.
Self-consciousness	We are aware of our being and how it is imperfect, and, at the same time, have a perception of God and His perfection.
Vocabulary	We are able to express our praise for God; we are able to say more than praise God at regular intervals.
Emotion	There are times when we will appreciate God and our thinking about His actions and essence may invoke emotion.
Soul Life	While in this lifetime, even though we have not seen Jesus, we should understand enough to praise Him.
A desire to create; ability to give birth	What we say should not be scripted or memorized; from our own mentality and vocabulary, we should be able to speak clearly about God and enumerate in our own words why He is deserving of our praise.

Although you have never seen Christ, you love Him. You don't see Him now, but you believe in Him. You are extremely happy with joy and praise that can hardly be expressed in words as you obtain the salvation that is the goal of your faith (1Peter 1:8–9). Peter gives us more reasons why praise should emanate from the soul: we do not see Jesus Christ; we cannot see God. Therefore, what we know about God and what we can say about God comes from our souls. Having doctrine in our souls and understanding what we can of Him is why were are able to cogently speak of Jesus to others, which, in effect, praises Him with our souls.

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I [must] praise Y^ehowah in my lives

I [must] sing to Elohim in my continuation.

Psalm

146:2

I [must] praise Y^ehowah all my life

I [must] sing to Elohim while I yet [live].

Let me praise Jehovah for my entire life

and let me sing to God all throughout my life.

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Latin Vulgate In my life I will praise the Lord: I will sing to my God as long as I shall be.

Masoretic Text I [must] praise Y^ehowah in my lives

I [must] sing to Elohim in my continuation.

Septuagint In my life, I will praise the Lord: I will sing praises to my God as long as I exist.

Significant differences: The Greeks ends this verse with a verb, as the Latin appears to do; the Hebrew ends with a substantive, which is easier to render as a verb (compare my nearly literal rendering—a rendering which comes from Gesenius in Psalm 104:33). As far as the meaning goes, these are obviously minor differences which have no effect upon the meaning.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV I will sing and praise the LORD God for as long as I live.

Good News Bible (TEV) I will praise him as long as I live; I will sing to my God all my life.

The Message All my life long I'll praise GOD, singing songs to my God as long as I live.

New Living Testament I will praise the Lord as long as I live

I will sing praises to my God even with my dying breath.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English While I have breath I will give praise to the Lord: I will make melody to my God while I have my being.

God’s Word™ I want to praise the LORD throughout my life. I want to make music to praise my God as long as I live.

JPS (Tanakh) I will praise the Lord all my life,

sing hymns to my God while I exist.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

MKJV While I live I will praise Jehovah; I will sing praises to my God while I have any being.

New King James Version While I live I will praise the Lord;

I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

NRSV I will praise the Lord as long as I live;

I will sing praises to my God all my life long.

WEB While I live, I will praise Yahweh. I will sing praises to my God as long as I exist.

Young's Literal Translation I praise Jehovah during my life, I sing praise to my God while I exist.

What is the gist of this verse? The psalmist praises God throughout his lifetime.

Psalm 146:2a
Hebrew/Pronunciation	Common English Meanings	Notes/Morphology	BDB and Strong’s Numbers
hâlal (ל ַל ָה) [pronounced haw-LAHL]	to praise, to sing, to celebrate; to glory	1^st person singular, Piel imperfect with the voluntative hê	Strong’s #1984 BDB #237
YHWH (הוהי) [pronunciation is possibly yhoh-WAH]	transliterated variously as Jehovah, Yahweh, Y^ehowah	proper noun	Strong’s #3068 BDB #217
b^e (׃) [pronounced b^eh]	in, into, through; at, by, near, on, upon; with, before, against; by means of; among; within	a preposition of proximity	Strong’s #none BDB #88
chayyîym (םי.ַח) [pronounced khay-YEEM]	life, lives; a life of long duration, immortality; living, sustenance; refreshment; prosperity, welfare, happiness	masculine plural adjective with the 1^st person singular suffix; pausal form	Strong's #2416 BDB #311

Translation: I [must] praise Y^ehowah all my life... This is a more difficult phrase to give an exact translation to. The psalmist says I will praise [sing, celebrate, glorify] Jehovah in my lives. Because of the voluntative hê associated with the verb, This additional hê affixed to the verb apparently functions almost like a helping verb, and could be rendered I will, I can, I may, I must, I should, I could, I would.

The last phrase is, literally, in my lives [livings, happinesses]. Most understand this to mean that the psalmist is saying, I will praise Jehovah for all my life.

We are in the midst of the intensified portion of the Angelic Conflict. Although we are observed by both elect and fallen angels, our interaction with them seems to be limited (possibly non-existent). Furthermore, although they can certainly read body language, they are unable to look into our minds (like God can). Therefore, sometimes we express the doctrine which is in our souls overtly, verbally, and in our daily actions.

Psalm 146:2b
Hebrew/Pronunciation	Common English Meanings	Notes/Morphology	BDB and Strong’s Numbers
zâmar (ר ַמָז) [pronounced zaw-MAHR]	to sing; to make music in praise of God, to make melody; properly to cut off (i.e., to divide up [a song] into its various parts)	1^st person singular, Piel imperfect; with the voluntative hê	Strong’s #2167 & #2168 BDB #274
lâmed (ל) (pronounced l^e)	to, for, towards, in regards to, with reference to, as to, with regards to; belonging to; by	directional/relational preposition	No Strong’s # BDB #510
Ělôhîym (מי ̣הֹלֱא) [pronounced el-o-HEEM]	gods, foreign gods, god; God; rulers, judges; superhuman ones, angels; transliterated Elohim	masculine plural noun with the 1^st person singular suffix	Strong's #430 BDB #43
b^e (׃) [pronounced b^eh]	in, into, through; at, by, near, on, upon; with, before, against; by means of; among; within	a preposition of proximity	Strong’s #none BDB #88
׳ôwd (דע) [pronounced ģohd]	continuing, continuation, continuance, persistence; a going round	masculine plural noun with the 1^st person singular suffix	Strong’s #5750 BDB #728
Gesenius tells us that this exact same form means while I yet [live] in Psalm 104:33.

Translation: ...I [must] sing to Elohim while I yet [live]. We might understand this to mean I will continue to sing [all my life]. The psalmist speaks of himself. From his soul (v. 1), he will praise Jehovah and he will sing to God, as long as he lives.

Again, I believe that there is something to overt expressions of the doctrine in our souls. However, do not think that this means you have to make some sort of a personality transformation. Doctrine is not designed to turn us into phonies; nor is it designed to change our personalities. Most of us are naturally reserved. However, now and again, you are going to pray out loud. Now and again, you are going to sing. And, your individual life as well as your corporate life (for instance, with your partner in marriage) will reflect this.

When David brought the Ark of God into Jerusalem, he recognized that this was a big deal. He knew that this was more than just moving some traditional religious artifact from point A to point B. Therefore, he organized a great ceremony around this act, including a choir and a symphonic band (or, their equivalent of the time period). An act like this, which is very demonstrative (and, recall, David also danced in front of the Ark in celebration ), and meaningful in the history of Israel. This is David taking the doctrine which is in his soul and expressing it with actions.

Chapter Outline

Charts, Maps and Short Doctrines

Do Not Trust in Man

You will not trust in princes [nobles];

in a son of man, who [are] not to him deliverance.

Psalm

146:3

You should not trust in princes [or nobles],

[nor should you trust] in the son of man, [as there is] no deliverance [or, salvation] with respect to him.

Don't place your trust in political or civil leaders

and don't place your trust in the common man;

They will not protect or deliver you,...

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text You will not trust in princes [nobles];

in a son of man, who [are] not to him deliverance.

Septuagint You have not trusted in princes, nor in the sons of men, in whom there is no salvation.

Significant differences: The Hebrew and Syriac both have the son of man; the Greek and Latin both read the sons of men. The Greek at the end is difficult to make sense of when read literally: ...whom [plural] he is not salvation. In any case, the English translation for the Greek and Latin are essentially identical; and the English rendering for the Hebrew and Syriac are essentially identical as well. Why the Hebrew goes from the plural (princes) to the singular (son of man) will be discussed in the exegesis.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV You can't depend on anyone, not even a great leader.

Good News Bible (TEV) Don't put your trust in human leaders; no human being can save you.

The Message Don't put your life in the hands of experts who know nothing of life, of salvation life.

New Jerusalem Bible Do not put your trust in princes,

in any child of Adam, who has no power to save.

New Living Testament Don’t put your confidence in powerful people;

there is no help for you there.

Revised English Bible Put no trust in princes

or in any mortal, for they have no power to save.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English Put not your faith in rulers, or in the son of man, in whom there is no salvation.

God’s Word™ Do not trust influential people, mortals who cannot help you.

JPS (Tanakh) Put not your trust in the great,

in mortal man who cannot save.

NET Bible® Do not trust in princes,

or in human beings, who cannot deliver!.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

LTHB Put not your trust in nobles, in a son of man, for there is no salvation in him.

MKJV Do not put your trust in princes, nor in the son of man in whom there is no salvation.

New King James Version Do not put your trust in princes,

Nor in a son of man [a human being] in whom there is no help [salvation].

Young’s Updated LT Do not trust in princes—[do not trust] in a son of man, For he has no deliverance.

What is the gist of this verse? Do not place your trust in man.

Psalm 146:3a
Hebrew/Pronunciation	Common English Meanings	Notes/Morphology	BDB and Strong’s Numbers
al (ל-א) [pronounced al]	not; nothing; none	adverb of negation; conjunction of prohibiting, dehorting, deprecating, desire that something not be done	Strong’s #408 BDB #39.
bâţach (חַטָ) [pronounced baw-TAHKH]	to trust, to rely upon, to have confidence in, to be secure in	2^nd person masculine plural, Qal imperfect	Strong’s #982 BDB #105
b^e (׃) [pronounced b^eh]	in, into, through; at, by, near, on, upon; with, before, against; by means of; among; within	a preposition of proximity	Strong’s #none BDB #88
nâdîyb (בי ̣דָנ) [pronounced naw-DEE^BV]	a noble [person], a noble race [or station]; a prince; an aristocrat	masculine plural construct (also used as an adjective)	Strong's #5081 BDB #622
There is another word often rendered prince or leader, and that is nâgîyd (די̣גָנ) [pronounced naw-GEED], which focuses more on the virtues of a prince. Strong's #5057 BDB #617. Our word looks more at the richness of a noble person. Aristocracy might be a good rendering of the noun.

Translation: You should not trust in princes [or nobles],... It is important for believers to understand this—that our trust should never be in man.

Application: One of my interests is politics, and for this upcoming election (2008), there are a number of good men running for office on one side, and some of the worst presidential candidates ever on the other. This will not determine the outcome. If the right man gets elected, we believers cannot simply breathe a sigh of relief and figure everything is okay. We cannot relax our guard, start skipping Bible classes, etc. On the other hand, if a candidate who stands against all that we believe in is elected, this does not mean that all is lost. It might cause you to be more faithful in your intake of doctrine, but it does not mean the end of the world. In the next 40 or 50 years of my life, I know that there will be some horrid political leaders of this great country—there has to be. But our trust is not in princes, or nobles, or in political figures.

By the way, let me add that this is not strictly a Republican/Democrat thing; or even a conservative/liberal thing. I live in Texas, which is thought to be a fairly conservative state. Furthermore, we have had two recent conservative Republican governors (George Bush and Rick Perry). However, our property taxes are horrendous; our social services are out of control and bordering on the ridiculous; and our school systems (not completely a result of government involvement) suck. These are two men who, one would think, could actually do something about these problems.

Clarke comments: This may refer to Cyrus, who had revoked his edict for the rebuilding of Jerusalem. Perhaps they had begun to suppose that they were about to owe their deliverance to the Persian king. God permitted this change in the disposition of the king, to teach them the vanity of confidence in men, and the necessity of trusting in himself.

Psalm 146:3b
Hebrew/Pronunciation	Common English Meanings	Notes/Morphology	BDB and Strong’s Numbers
b^e (׃) [pronounced b^eh]	in, into, through; at, by, near, on, upon; with, before, against; by means of; among; within	a preposition of proximity	Strong’s #none BDB #88
bên (ן ֵ) [pronounced bane]	son, descendant	masculine singular construct	Strong’s #1121 BDB #119
âdâm (ם ָד ָא) [pronounced aw-DAWM]	a man, a human being, mankind, Adam	masculine singular noun	Strong's #120 BDB #9
she– (–∵ש) [pronounced sheh],	who, which, that	relative particle:	Strong’s #7945 (from #834) BDB #979
This appears to be a form of or a synonym of the relative pronoun ăsher (ר∵שֲא) [pronounced uh-SHER], which means that, which, when, who or how. Strong's #834 BDB #81. Its usage appears to be confined to later Hebrew and passages with a northern Palestine coloring.
êyn (ןי̤א) [pronounced ān]	nothing, not, [is] not; not present, not ready; expresses non-existence, absence or non-possession; there is no	particle of negation; substantive of negation	Strong’s #369 BDB #34
lâmed (ל) (pronounced l^e)	to, for, towards, in regards to, with reference to, as to, with regards to; belonging to; by	directional/relational preposition with the 3^rd person masculine singular suffix	No Strong’s # BDB #510
t^eshûw׳âh (הָעש ) [pronounced t^e-shoo-ĢAW]	deliverance, salvation	feminine singular noun	Strong’s #8668 BDB #448

Translation:...[nor should you trust] in the son of man, [as there is] no deliverance [or, salvation] with respect to him. We logically continue to verb from the previous half of v. 3. This is not a reference to Jesus Christ, as the Son of Man, from the gospel of Luke; this is simply a reference to man in general. In common man, there is no deliverance; you cannot find deliverance in the son of man. Jesus Christ is called the Son of Man but He is also called the Son of God. He is fully man but He is much more than this.

Perhaps the idea of the singular is, we are speaking of a particular person. That is, not trusting in princes is equivalent to not trusting in politicians or not depending upon a political system or party or governmental agency. Not putting one’s trust in the son of man refers to leaning upon a particular person—a parent, an older brother, a spouse. Now, don’t think that this means that you cannot depend, to some degree, on your parents or your spouse; however, you cannot depend upon them in relation to your deliverance or salvation. Furthermore, you must bear in mind that they will, at some point, let you down. We creatures are human and we have our failings.

Application: You cannot depend upon a compelling religious leader for your salvation. There are leaders and there are followers—do not be sucked into some religious cult where the focus is upon the greatness of some man. Your focus should always be on Jesus Christ as He is revealed in Scripture. The pastor of your church may be charismatic and inspiring and he may be as dull as dishwater; his personality is not an issue. What he teaches is the issue; are you focused on Jesus Christ as your Savior? Are you focused on the exegetical study of the Bible? Or, are you focused on the acts and words of some leader? Do not place your trust upon some son of man, for there is no deliverance or salvation in him.

People in this day and age—particularly rationalists, agnostics and atheists—like to place their faith in man. I recall listening to one on the radio the other day, in response to the great Mitt Romney religion speech, and that person said, “I am not faithless; I have faith in myself and I have faith in mankind.” This is not uncommon in the godless. It is normal to want to place your trust somewhere, and if not in God, there is only one other possible object for your faith.
Scripture Enjoins us to not Trust in Man
Passage	Text
Isa. 31:3	Egyptians are men, not God; their horses are flesh, not spirit. When the LORD raises His hand to strike, the helper will stumble and the helped will fall; both will perish together.
Psalm 33:16–18	A king is not saved by a large army; a warrior will not be delivered by great strength. The horse is a false hope for safety; it provides no escape by its great power. Now the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him--those who depend on His faithful love
Psalm 118:8–9	It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in nobles.
Psalm 146:3	Do not trust in nobles, in man, who cannot save.
Isa. 2:22	Put no more trust in man, who has only the breath in his nostrils. What is he really worth?
Jer. 17:5	This is what the LORD says: Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind, who makes human flesh his strength and turns his heart from the LORD.

The Bible is again and again accused of simply being the work of a bunch of men. It is interesting that none of these religious men spoke of placing our faith in ourselves or in mankind, but over and over again, we are enjoined not to put our trust in man, but in God. One may counter and say, well, these are religious men; what else would they say? Thousands upon thousands of religious men place their trust in man and encourage others to do as well.

Chapter Outline

Return to Charts, Maps and Short Doctrines

One of the great illustrations of this from Scripture is Joseph. Joseph was a servant to a nobleman and this man's wife tried to put the make on Joseph. When Joseph refused, she went on the offensive, said that he attempted to rape her, and he was thrown into prison. While in prison, Joseph spent time with two men who previously were under the Pharaoh of Egypt, who were both in prison as suspected seditionists. After Joseph interpreted their dreams, which they understood as accurate predictions, Joseph spoke to the chief cupbearer, the man whose business it was to remember names to feed to Pharaoh as he spoke to this or that dignitary; and Joseph said to the cupbearer, remember me. Here's the problem: Joseph was depending upon this man, whose job it was to remember people, to remember him. Joseph was trusting in man; he had put his faith in man. As a result, God let him cool his heels in prison a little while longer, to teach him to trust in God, and not in man.

As an aside, one of the interesting aspects of the Bible is, we are not beat over the head with the meaning of the history which is recorded. God recorded all of the history in Scripture to teach us; but, no writer of Scripture stops at the end of the narrative and adds, and the moral of this story is... If you read Gen. 40, the writer does not conclude by saying, And Joseph depended upon man rather than God, and so God left him in jail to think about his mistake. No; on the contrary, the last verse reads: Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but he forgot him (Gen. 40:23). This is one of the reasons you need to be under a pastor-teacher; because a pastor-teacher has had the proper training and orientation to take Gen. 40 and be able to explain not only what is going on, but what God expects for us to get out of it. It's not a deep lesson, but it is something that, if you think you are going to read through your Bible in 5 years, that you will miss (in fact, you miss about 95% of what is in the Bible when all you do is sit down and read it).

And while I am riffing, let me add this: one thing that makes a pastor great is, he can take the narrative of Scripture and make it come to life. I still recall R. B. Thieme Jr. teaching this passage about Joseph, or when he taught about David and Bathsheba, or when he taught about the sermon on the mount, and I found myself enthralled by what he taught and how he taught it. It became real to me; the narratives resinated with me, and the meanings and lessons of those narratives have remained with me for decades. The same goes for particular doctrines. Now, everyone has favorites, and, for whatever reason, I enjoy a variety of doctrines, e.g., the Essence of God, the Hypostatic Union, the Angelic Conflict, the Importance of Bible Doctrine. However, once Bob taught about eternal security, but in a way I had not heard before. He spoke of a pilot coming down, and how he landed with the wheels and wings coming off; and Bob concluded by saying, "And that is how some of you will end up in heaven." Now, I did not, in any way convey Bob's teaching here; I did a lame job of illustrating what he gave as a marvelous illustration. What I gave you was the wrong way to illustrate this principle, but roughly approximating what Bob stated, by means of the Holy Spirit, in a way which captured my imagination and got my attention; and in a way which has stuck with me for many decades. These are reasons why 99% of all believers need to be under the teaching ministry of a pastor-teacher.

Now, let's go back to our passage and what is being taught here. You do not depend upon man; you depend upon God. Now, does this mean the next time you go to a job interview, you show up slovenly and unprepared, but then you pray about it before and after? Of course not. We do what is right and honorable, We place our faith in God for the results, but we utilize all of our own resources and do the proper networking which logic dictates. I was a teacher for nearly 30 years, and, when my head was screw on right, I would pray for my students to do well on this or that test. However, I also did what I believed was the best job I could as a teacher. Furthermore, I also recognized that at play here was the volition of 25 teenagers who also interacted directly with another 10–50 other people, which could impact the end result. However, as a believer-teacher, my job was to teach them the very best way I knew how and to pray for their successful results. Now, I may have had dozens of students who did not believe that I desired for them to do well, but it was very gratifying for me to see good results.

I mentioned a job interview and trusting in God. I had one experience that I will never forget. I was driving around in my work clothes—what I might wear while working on my car—and I suddenly remembered I had a job interview to teach at a college. I had 20 minutes to get to the interview and I was 20 minutes away. How I could have forgotten about this interview—one of the most important in my life—I don't know. I drove there, fell all over myself apologizing for the way I was dressed, and proceeded with the interview. I got the job. Throughout my life, I can point at God ending this job for me, and giving me another job. Financially, God has blessed me; geographically, God has moved me around, and all for my blessing. When it came to changes in my vocation, God worked it all out for me. In retrospect, it is as clear as can be. Sometimes, during these changes, I had my doubts; but in retrospect, it appears as though God knew what He was doing. Depend upon Him and do not put your trust in man.

Goes out his breath;

he returns to his earth;

in the day the that have perished his thoughts [or, plans].

Psalm

146:4

[When] his breath departs,

he returns to the earth;

[and] his thoughts [and plans] are lost in that day.

...for when man breathes his last, he will return to the earth;

and in that day, all of his thoughts and plans perish from the earth.

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text Goes out his breath;

he returns to his earth;

in the day the that have perished his thoughts [or, plans].

Septuagint His breath shall go forth, and he shall return to his earth; in that day all his thoughts shall perish.

Significant differences: None.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV Once they die and are buried, that will be the end of all their plans.

Good News Bible (TEV) When they die, they return to the dust; on that day all their plans come to an end.

The Message Mere humans don't have what it takes; when they die, their projects die with them.

New Jerusalem Bible When his spirit goes forth he returns to the earth,

on that very day all of his plans come to nothing.

New Living Testament When their breathing stops, they return to the earth,

and in a moment all their plans come to an end.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English Man's breath goes out, he is turned back again to dust; in that day all his purposes come to an end.

God’s Word™ When they breathe their last breath, they return to the ground. On that day their plans come to an end.

HCSB When his breath leaves him, he returns to the ground; on that day his plans die.

JPS (Tanakh) His breath departs;

he returns to the dust;

on that day his plans come to nothing.

NET Bible® Their life's breath departs, they return to the ground;

on that day their plans die.

New International Version When their spirit departs, they return to the ground,

on that very day their plans come to nothing.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible When his breath leaves him he returns to his earth; in that very day his [previous] thoughts, plans and purposes perish. [1Cor. 2:6]

English Standard Version When his breath departs he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish.

LTHB His breath will go out, he returns to the earth; his thoughts perish in that day.

Updated Bible Version 2.11 His breath goes forth, he returns to his earth; In that very day his thoughts perish.

WEB His spirit departs, and he returns to the earth. In that very day, his thoughts perish.

Young’s Updated LT His spirit goes forth, he returns to his earth, In that day have his thoughts perished.

What is the gist of this verse? When the spirit leaves the body, and the body is placed into the earth, that man’s plans, aspirations, and dreams for what he will do on this earth come to an end. This is one of the reasons why we should not place our trust in man—he is ephemeral.

Psalm 146:4a
Hebrew/Pronunciation	Common English Meanings	Notes/Morphology	BDB and Strong’s Numbers
yâtsâ (אָצָי) [pronounced yaw-TZAWH]	to go out, to come out, to come forth; to rise; to flow, to gush up [out]	3^rd person feminine singular, Qal imperfect	Strong's #3318 BDB #422
rûwach (ַחר) [pronounced ROO-ahkh]	wind, breath, spirit, apparition	feminine singular noun with the 3^rd person masculine singular suffix	Strong’s #7307 BDB #924

Translation: [When] his breath departs,... The thrust of this psalm is to put your eyes upon that which is eternal; do not spend all of your time on earthly pursuits. The psalmist speaks of what happens to every man—at some point, every man, including you and I, will die. Every person will breathe their last. It is a biological certainty.

Our God is a Triune God, and He has made us in His image. Therefore, we are going to be the shadow-image even of the Trinity. God created man with a body, a soul and a spirit. The soul is the immaterial part of man which allows man to fellowship with man; the spirit is the immaterial part of man which allows man to fellowship with God. It is no accident that only one member of the Trinity has a body—Jesus Christ. We have each, one body. Our triune nature is a shadow image of God’s triune nature.

When Adam sinned in the garden, his ability to enjoy fellowship with God was disabled, and he and his woman hid from God. His human spirit was shut down; he was able to move and do things (his body still functioned); he was able to enjoy fellowship with Eve (his soul continued to function); but he was unable to enjoy fellowship with God, because the 3^rd portion of his being, his human spirit, had been shut down.

In this passage, we are dealing with man’s breath departing. When man’s breath goes out—when man breathes his last—he is dead. Our life and death are marked by breath. When we breathe our first breath, God—Y^ehowah—breathes life into our bodies. In fact, it is my opinion that God’s proper Old Testament name is related to the breath which He gives us. I believe that His name—Y^ehowah—is onomatopoetic. It is the sound of a breathing out; He breathes life into us at birth and we become a living being; when we breathe our last, our life on this earth ends.

Application: Now, before anyone misapplies this: the body which God prepares for us is important. God allows 9 months for the body and the electrical wiring to develop before He breathes life into us. In the womb, our bodies may not be alive in the technical sense (and, since we are born spiritually dead; when we are born, we are not fully alive after birth in the technical sense either). The body is not an afterthought; nor is the body unimportant. The body in the womb is not some random, meaningless mass of cells like a fingernail which can be removed at the whim of the mother carrying this little body. This body is the handiwork of God. When the mother gives birth, God will breathe life into this little body and this little person will become a unique individual in all respects. Never devalue the body that you have; never think that the body is unimportant. We will always have a body of some sort. Our ideal form is not some disembodied soul meandering around through space. That is Platonic philosophy; that is not Christianity.

Paul writes: Or do you not know that your bodies are a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is within you--the Spirit whom you have from God? (1Cor. 6:19). Even though Paul was making a different point—that we should not go off and fornicate with whomever, thinking that our bodies have little meaning—the same can be applied here. God spent time making Adam’s body; and God designed the body of the woman as the place where the body of man is formed. For You formed my inward parts; You knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are Your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in Your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them (Psalm 139:13–16). This is certainly a tangent from the general meaning of our passage, but God views our bodies as being important—this is why they are made with such incredible intricacy. Furthermore, when we die, we apparently will receive an interim body later followed by a resurrection body. Therefore, you cannot treat the body as meaningless; and this thinking could be reasonably applied to the fetus in the mother’s womb. If God is so involved in creation of our bodies, we ought not to discount them as unimportant or worthless. Again, that is Platonism.

Remind yourself of the previous verse: we are not to place our trust in important men—not even in the son of man—because our life is much more than this brief time on earth. It is this verse which reminds us that, when we breathe our last, our time on this earth is completed and whatever thoughts and plans and dreams that we had are all gone. The next generation will pick up and take it from there.

Psalm 146:4b
Hebrew/Pronunciation	Common English Meanings	Notes/Morphology	BDB and Strong’s Numbers
shûw^bv (בש) [pronounced shoo^bv]	to return, to turn, to turn back, to reminisce, to restore something, to bring back something, to revive, to recover something, to make restitution	3^rd person masculine singular, Qal imperfect	Strong's #7725 BDB #996
lâmed (ל) (pronounced l^e)	to, for, towards, in regards to, with reference to, as to, with regards to; belonging to; by	directional/relational preposition	No Strong’s # BDB #510
ădâmâh (הָמָד ֲא) [pronounced uh-daw-MAWH]	ground, soil, dirt, earth, tillable earth, land, surface of the earth	feminine singular noun with the 3^rd person masculine singular suffix	Strong's #127 BDB #9

Translation: ...he returns to the earth;... Our bodies are made up of the same chemicals which are found in the soil. God reached down into the earth and formed Adam’s body, building it, taking a variety of matter, and then He breathed life into this body.

We were formed from the chemicals of the earth; and when we die, our bodies will break down into the chemicals of the earth. Obviously, this is theoretically speaking, given the sorts of caskets which we have today; but throw a body into the earth, and eventually, time will erode that corpse and it will become one with the earth again. This is what is meant by man returning to the earth.

Application: Let’s say, somehow, you were there during God’s creation of man, and you observed God building man out of the elements of the earth. Would you have had the right to destroy Adam’s body before God breathed life into it? I have no idea how long the process took, whether God did this instaneously or whether God created man in a matter of a few hours; no matter what the case, there was a period before God breathed life into Adam’s body where Adam did not really exist. All that was there was this lifeless body, into which God would breathe life. Now, did anyone have the right to destroy this lifeless body before God breathed life into it? I would hope that even the person with the least amount of spiritual knowledge would recognize that, no one has such a right. God spent 5 days preparing the proper environment for man, then He made man from the dust of the earth, and then God breathed life into man. God had a purpose for Adam; God did not casually create Adam, body and then soul and spirit. This was not some whim where God came along, played around with a little soil, breathed life into His creation, and then wandered off to some other project elsewhere in the universe. The creation of man was a dramatic moment in angelic history, which predates our history. No angel had the right to come along and destroy the body of Adam before God breathed life into it. Likewise, you do not have the right to destroy the body of a child which is growing within you. That is God’s handiwork. God may have created Adam immediately; and the children of Adam mediately; but we are all still God’s handiwork, body, soul and spirit. The fact that God is willing to devote 9 months to the creation of a child’s body should indicate to us just how important this little life is.

Gill remarks: The breath of a son of man, of any and everyone of the princes; it goes forth continually, and is drawn in again as long as a man lives; but at death it goes forth, and returns no more till the resurrection: the breath which the Lord breathed into man, and which is in his nostrils while he lives, and is very precarious. And when it is taken away, he dies, and he returns to his earth...he may have had many large estates and possessions, and he may have ruled over many kingdoms and countries, yet his property of earth is now no more than the length and breadth of a grave; he returns to earth as soon as he dies, becoming but a lump of clay.

Or, as Solomon wrote many centuries ago: The dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it (Eccles. 12:7). And even long before that, God told Adam, “By the sweat of your face you will eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you will return.” (Gen. 3:19).

Psalm 146:4c
Hebrew/Pronunciation	Common English Meanings	Notes/Morphology	BDB and Strong’s Numbers
b^e (׃) [pronounced b^eh]	in, into, through; at, by, near, on, upon; with, before, against; by means of; among; within	a preposition of proximity	No Strong’s # BDB #88
yôwm (םי) [pronounced yohm]	day; time; today (with a definite article)	masculine singular noun with the definite article	Strong’s #3117 BDB #398
hûw (אה) [pronounced hoo]	that, this	masculine singular, demonstrative pronoun (with the definite article)	Strong’s #1931 BDB #214
The bêyth preposition, yôwm and hûw (with definite articles) mean in that day, on that day, in [on] the same day.
âbad (דַבָא) [pronounced aw^b-VAHD]	to be lost, to lose oneself, to wander; to perish, to be destroyed; to be ready to perish, to be wretched [miserable or unfortunate]	3^rd person plural, Qal perfect	Strong's #6 BDB #1
׳esh^etônôwth (תנֹ ש∵ע) [pronounced ģesh^e-toh-NORTH]	thoughts, ideas; intentions; plans	feminine plural noun with the 3^rd person masculine singular suffix	Strong’s #6250 BDB #799
Although this noun occurs only here, it comes from a verb which means to manufacture, to fabricate; to carefully fabricate a thought in the emind. Therefore, these meanings are reasonable.

Translation:...[and] his thoughts [and plans] are lost in that day. This is what happens to each and every one of us, on the day that we die. Our thoughts, our plans, our intentions, our dreams and our desires die with us. They are lost; they perish. For a few of us, this describes our state of mind right after we have slept for 6 or 7 hours.

Job spoke of this: “My spirit is broken; my days are extinct; the graveyard is ready for me. My days are past; my plans are broken off, [as are] the desires of my heart.” (Job 17:1, 11).

Spurgeon writes: Men's ambitions, expectations, declarations, and boastings all vanish into thin air when the breath of life vanishes from their bodies. This is the narrow estate of man, his breath, his earth, and his thoughts; and this is his threefold climax therein, - his breath goes forth, to his earth he returns, and his thoughts perish. Is this a being to be relied upon? Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. To trust it would be a still greater vanity.

Now, properly speaking, our dreams, thoughts, plans and intentions with respect to our life on earth are lost forever; this does not end our lives in all respects, but we move on into a different realm, so to speak. Interestingly enough, even though we will be apparently able to recognize other people in the life which is to follow, our remembrances of this life fade away. Although you may find that disturbing to some degree, right now, you might not know where you put your keys, or where you set down your wallet or purse. You’ve met people in this past month whose names you have forgotten, whose faces no longer register in your memory. Despite all that you have experienced in your life, including your dream life, you can’t even recall 1% of it. That may be true of our memory in eternity. However, what has been developed in our human spirit—the true doctrine which we have learned about God—is going to stay with us. God does leave us on this earth after salvation for a number of reasons. In many ways, we fulfill His purpose for our lives; we exercise our spiritual gifts, whatever they may be. However, we also grow spiritually, and that spiritual growth, in some form, goes with us.

Apparently some have seized upon this verse to say that this verse tells us that, once man dies, that’s it—he no longer has a functioning soul, since his thoughts perish. Scripture has to be compared with Scripture and you cannot grab onto one piece of Scripture and hold onto it for dear life, thinking that it is the end all, be all of Scripture. When one does that, cultic behavior is the result (1Cor. 13:1 is a terrific example of this). When we understand that, at death, man’s thoughts, plans and ideas stop in relation to this world, then we rightly understand this verse, and it can be squared with everything else in Scripture (e.g., the Lake of Fire being a place where the worm dies not; e.g., our Lord’s descriptions of Hades and the thoughts and desires of those in Hades).

The key to understanding Scripture is to interpret this or that verse in the light of its context and in relationship to the rest of the Bible. You cannot make a verse absolute in all respects, particularly when that is not the thrust of the context. The context here is why you cannot put your trust in man. The couple verses of this context all go to support that position.

Our government is a good example of this. Our founding fathers, with all their foibles, set up one of the greatest systems in the world (if not the greatest), once which has served the United States well for over 200 years. However, we have had a number of things happen in our government which were not intended. It was never intended that our court system could establish law, but judges have done so with respect to gay marriage (in some states) and with respect to abortion. Our forefathers would have rolled over in their grave, not because they would hate those particular decisions (although they would), but that these came about by twisting our constitution to meaning something that it does not. When I first began teaching school in Texas, and we teachers were about to sit down to a communal meal, there was a prayer generally offered by a principle or a superintendent, thanking God for the meal. As that went by the wayside, so did many other things in our school, including high scholastic standing and discipline. This was a result of suits being filed all over the United States attacking any public institution for mentioning God in any way. Now, had a law been passed, that would be one thing; but for the courts to have such an effect, that was something totally other, and not what the framer’s of our constitution expected. Their thoughts and dreams and expectations for this nation, although many of them survive in a great document, many have gone by the wayside as well. What survives in this document are the hopes, thoughts and dreams of we who are alive. We have clung to some aspects of our constitution, we have lost others, and we are in a fight to preserve (or change) others. In any case, the courts were never designed to make law; yet they have done so again and again.

We might draw an analogy here. When we are born, we are not completely equal to the baby who is next to us in the hospital baby area (yeah, I can’t recall what it is called). No child in that ward is born equal to any other child in there. We are going to look different; some will have a natural ability to grow muscles; some will tan easily; some will understand things more quickly. We will begin crawling, walking, and talking on different days, even though we are born on the same day. When we step into the other side of death, there is again this inequality—the only difference is, this time, we have some say in the matter. We have 50 years, or 60 or 80 years during which we can impact our lives on the other side of death. With respect to our life on this earth, when we die, all of our plans, thoughts and dreams with respect to this world pass away with us; but we enter eternity with what is in our human spirit.

I think that there is more to it than we simply die and are then with God. I believe that knowing God from where we are and learning Bible doctrine, and developing certain characteristics, e.g., faith, will have some impact on the life to come. What we do in life seems to impact what happens later in life; it does not seem that God would start us in the new life from scratch. I don’t know that I can produce evidence for this, apart from the analogy to our own lives here on earth.

Chapter Outline

Charts, Maps and Short Doctrines

After reading Spurgeon, I realized that this is a very carefully written three-fold ending for all men. [When] his breath departs, he returns to the earth; [and] his thoughts [and plans] are lost in that day. Strictly speaking, this is the spirit, body and soul of man.
The Psalmist Speaks of the Three-fold Nature of Man
Scripture	Incident
His breath departs	In the beginning, God breathed into Adam the breath of lives, and he became a living creature Gen. 2:7b). When man dies, the spirit returns to God Who gave it (Eccles. 12:7b). This refers to the spirit of man, his life and his relation to God.
he returns to the earth	“By the sweat of your face you will eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you will return.” (Gen. 3:19). At death, the dust returns to the earth as it was (Eccles. 12:7a). This is obviously the body, which is returned to the earth at death, and decomposes to the lifeless chemicals from which it was originally made. You return man to dust and say, "Return, O children of man!" (Psalm 90:3).
his thoughts [and plans] are lost in that day	And the soul of man passes from this earth—some men may live in the hearts of others for a few years, but his own thoughts, aspirations, dreams and desires all fade away. Job, before he thought he was about to die, said, “My days are past; my plans are broken off, the desires of my heart.” (Job 17:11).

And a couple parallel passages:
Job 14:10	But a man dies and is laid low; man breathes his last, and where is he?
Psalm 104:29–30	When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. When you send forth your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground.

Paul later writes about the wisdom taught to the spirit of man, as opposed to the plans of men wrought from the soul: Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away (1Cor. 2:6). And, in a doxology written to the Thessalonians, he says, Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (1Thess. 5:23).

To clear up one thing: our soul on the earth is gone, so our dreams, plans and aspirations in relation to the earth come to a halt. Our soul does not simply vanish, however. At he resurrection, we will have an uncorrupted soul, spirit and body.

Chapter Outline

Return to Charts, Maps and Short Doctrines

God's Great Deeds

Happinesses of which an Êl Jacob in his help;

his hope upon Y^ehowah his Elohim,...

Psalm

146:5

Blessings [or, happinesses] [to him] whose help [is] the God of Jacob;

whose hope [rests] upon Y^ehowah his Elohim,...

Blessings and happinesses to the one whose help is the God of Jacob

and whose hope rests upon Jehovah his God,...

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text Happinesses of which an Êl Jacob in his help;

his hope upon Y^ehowah his Elohim.

Septuagint Blessed is he whose helper is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God.

Significant differences: The Greek adds a definite article before God of Jacob. I do the same in my almost literal translation, as is done in the English rendering of the Latin and Syriac. In the Greek, the end of this verse literally reads ...upon a Lord the God of his. Again, there is an additional definite article, but that is how some languages roll—in one language, a definite article may not seem to be apropos; and in another, it reads roughly without one. Let me give you a simple example from this verse: in the English, if we use the proper name of God (Jehovah or Y^ehowah), a definite article would be out of place. However, if we use the designation the Lord his God; a definite article is called for. When you read these little paragraphs about the significant differences, you may wonder from time to time, why don’t you just let it go? Why spend any amount of time with this minutia? I am hoping that you will develop an appreciation for how close the text of the Hebrew is to its translation into the Latin, Greek and Syriac. At least 95% of the differences are really not all that important and have no effect upon the meaning of the verse. This is important because you have 4 independent entities preserving the text of the Bible—at times, some of these entities have even been at odds with one another. However, what is not radically different? The text of the Hebrew, Greek, Latin and Syriac. At the beginning of this psalm, we have observed one of the most dramatic differences between the texts: the Greek and Latin attribute this psalm to Haggai and Zechariah; this text has apparently dropped out of the Hebrew text, and, subsequently, out of the Syriac text. That is a dramatic difference; does it affect our understanding of this psalm? Not one whit.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV The LORD God of Jacob blesses everyone who trusts him and depends on him.

Good News Bible (TEV) Happy are those who have the God of Jacob to help them and who depend on the LORD their God,...

The Message Instead, get help from the God of Jacob, put your hope in GOD and know real blessing!

New Jerusalem Bible How blessed is he who has Jacob’s God to help him,

his hope is in Yahweh his God.

New Living Testament But happy are those who have the God of Israel [Hebrew of Jacob] as their helper,

whose hope is in the Lord their God.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

God’s Word™ Blessed are those who receive help from the God of Jacob. Their hope rests on the LORD their God,...

JPS (Tanakh) Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help,

whose hope is in the Lord his God,...

NET Bible® How blessed is the one whose helper is the God of Jacob,

whose hope is in the LORD his God,...

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible Happy — blessed, fortunate, [enviable] — is he who has the God of [special revelation to] Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his god;... [Gen. 32:30]

LTHB Blessed is he who has the God of Jacob in his help; his hope is on Jehovah his God,...

A Voice in the Wilderness Blessed is he who has the Mighty God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in Jehovah his God,...

Young’s Updated LT O the happiness of him Who has the God of Jacob for his help, His hope is on Jehovah his God.

What is the gist of this verse? The man who places his trust in the God of Jacob and his confidence upon Jehovah is happy.

Psalm 146:5a
Hebrew/Pronunciation	Common English Meanings	Notes/Morphology	BDB and Strong’s Numbers
ash^erêy (י̤ר ְשַא) [pronounced ahsh^e-RAY]	blessedness, blessings, happinesses	masculine plural construct	Strong’s #835 BDB #80
ash^erêy is only found in the masculine plural construct. It is generally rendered happiness [to], blessed [is, are]. It means that either the subject is happy or they are in a desirable position and is reasonably rendered blessings [and happiness to].
she– (–∵ש) [pronounced sheh],	who, which, that	relative particle:	Strong’s #7945 (from #834) BDB #979
This appears to be a form of or a synonym of the relative pronoun ăsher (ר∵שֲא) [pronounced uh-SHER], which means that, which, when, who or how. Strong's #834 BDB #81. Its usage appears to be confined to later Hebrew and passages with a northern Palestine coloring.
Êl (ל ֵא) [pronounced ALE]	God, god, mighty one, strong, hero	masculine singular noun	Strong’s #410 BDB #42
Ya׳ăqôb (בֹקֲע-י) [pronounced yah-ģuh-KOH^BV]	supplanter; insidious, deceitful; to circumvent and is transliterated Jacob	masculine proper noun	Strong’s #3290 BDB #784
b^e (׃) [pronounced b^eh]	in, into, through; at, by, near, on, upon; with, before, against; by means of; among; within	a preposition of proximity	No Strong’s # BDB #88
׳êzer (ר∵זֵע) [pronounced ĢAY-zer]	help, aid	masculine singular noun with the 3^rd person masculine singular suffix	Strong’s #5828 BDB #740

Translation: Blessings [or, happinesses] [to him] whose help [is] the God of Jacob;... First, let me cover a bit of the syntax. The word help has a 3^rd person masculine singular suffix; but also in this phrase, we have the poetic relative pronoun. I believe that this allows us to render the two together as whose (which I did in v. 5b).

In the previous verse, we spoke of a man passing away, whose dreams and aspirations pass away with his final breath. In this verse, we suddenly begin speaking about someone having blessings or happiness; it is reasonable that this applies to the man who has passed away. We have the masculine plural construct of happiness, but we have nothing to affix it to. In the Hebrew, we expect this to be followed by a noun, but it is not; it is followed by a relative pronoun. My guess is (and this is only a guess), the correct noun comes from the person from the previous verse, and perhaps the meter of the Hebrew worked better without the insertion of a noun or pronoun. Or, in the alternative, maybe the relative pronoun here takes the place of such a noun or pronoun. In any case, I think that it is reasonable to say that this applies to the man of the previous verse; and, in all respects, to all men, as we all draw breath, we all have the opportunity to believe in Jesus Christ, and we will all, at some point, draw our last breath.

With this verse, we change gears. We go from trusting in man to trusting in the God of Jacob. This also defines salvation for us.

Here, such a man who is greatly blessed makes the God of Jacob his help. The name Jacob is often employed to indicate grace. For those who have studied Jacob, we know that his spiritual growth was quite limited. When it came to contrasting him with his brother Esau, Esau appears to have been a whole lot nicer fellow. Whatever we want to say about Jacob, most people can readily agree that he did not deserve the blessing which God gave him. There is little in the history of Jacob which recommends him to anyone. Therefore, when we speak of anyone’s relationship to the God of Jacob, we are speaking of grace; complete, unmerited favor.

Now, to make the God of Jacob your help indicates that you have some level of spiritual growth. We do not automatically lean upon God. Oh, sure, when we are in a difficult fix and nothing seems to work, we might pray fervently to God; but, for the most part, we do not depend upon God...except for those who have some modicum of spiritual growth.

Application: Our growth in this life is very much akin to the growth of your own child. Obviously, your child from his earliest years, is completely dependent upon you for all things. However, as he grows up, you help him to do things for himself. You teach him a variety of skills which are skills you and he hope will help to serve him for the rest of his life. You do not want a 35 year old kid calling you on the telephone asking you to come over and tie his shoes for him. God also raises us up to some similar form of growth. We begin by being completely and totally dependent upon Him. However, God does not want for us to send up a fervent prayer to Him every time we need Him to tie our spiritual shoe laces. God wants us to grow spiritually. We will always be dependent upon Him; but, at the very least, we ought to be able to tie our own spiritual shoelaces.

The big picture here is, the person who depends upon Jesus Christ, the God of Jacob, who makes Him his help, is a man who will be happy, despite the fact that, at some point, he will take his last breath, and all of his earthly dreams and aspirations will fade away.

Psalm 146:5b
Hebrew/Pronunciation	Common English Meanings	Notes/Morphology	BDB and Strong’s Numbers
sêber (ר∵ב̤) [pronounced SAY-behr]	hope	masculine singular noun with the 3^rd person masculine singular suffix	Strong’s #7664 BDB #960
׳al (לַע) [pronounced ģahl ]	upon, beyond, on, against, above, over, by, beside	preposition of proximity	Strong’s #5921 BDB #752
YHWH (הוהי) [pronunciation is possibly yhoh-WAH]	transliterated variously as Jehovah, Yahweh, Y^ehowah	proper noun	Strong’s #3068 BDB #217
Ělôhîym (מי ̣הֹלֱא) [pronounced el-o-HEEM]	gods, foreign gods, god; God; rulers, judges; superhuman ones, angels; transliterated Elohim	masculine plural noun with the 3^rd person masculine singular suffix	Strong's #430 BDB #43

Translation: ...whose hope [rests] upon Y^ehowah his Elohim,... This continues the thought from above and is parallel to it. Our hope and confidence rests upon Jehovah God, and there is happiness promised to us.

Salvation is not as clearly presented in the Old Testament as it is in the New (particularly in the book of John). However, the means of salvation is presented again and again in the Old Testament. In the book of John, salvation is presented with great clarity, as it was Jesus Christ speaking to those who were positive at God consciousness. However, throughout the Old Testament, the means of salvation—the mansard side—is given again and again.

The key to salvation is, in Whom do you trust? Who is your hope? Where do you place your confidence? Whom do you believe in? Whom do you fear? In the New Testament, the one who believes in Jesus Christ receives salvation; and, in the Old Testament, the one placing his hope in Jehovah Elohim is saved.
Salvation Presented in the Old Testament
Scripture Group	Quotations
The Law	And Abraham believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness (Gen. 15:6). "[Miracles will be performed at the hand of Moses] that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you." (Ex. 4:5). And the people believed; and when they heard that the LORD had visited the people of Israel and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshiped (Ex. 4:31). Israel saw the great power that the LORD used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in his servant Moses (Ex. 14:31). And the LORD said to Moses, "How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? (Num. 4:11).
The Historical Books	There is none holy like the LORD; there is none besides You; there is no Rock like our God (1Sam. 2:2). He trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him (2Kings 18:5). And the Rabshakeh said to them, "Say to Hezekiah, 'Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours? Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me? Behold, you are trusting now in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. But if you say to me, "We trust in the LORD our God," is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, "You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem"? (2Kings 18:19–22). And they rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. And when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, "Hear me, Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the LORD your God, and you will be established; believe his prophets, and you will succeed." (2Chron. 20:20).
Job	There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil (Job 1:1; see also Job 1:8–9). In order to fear Jehovah Elohim, Job had to believe in Him. Job also offered up burnt offerings to God in Job 1:5.
The Psalms	Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, for His wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in Him (Psalm 2:12). You are blessed to take refuge in the Son (Jesus Christ); which saves one from His wrath. The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold (Psalm 18:2). Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! (Psalm 34:8). And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you. Deliver me from all my transgressions. Do not make me the scorn of the fool! (Psalm 39:7–8). Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved (Psalm 55:22). Faith rest is also related to these passages; you believe initially in Jehovah Elohim, and then you retain trust in Him in your life of faith. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us (Psalm 62:7–8). For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O LORD, from my youth (Psalm 71:5). O LORD of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you! (Psalm 84:12). Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever (Psalm 125:1). Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps [their] faith forever (Psalm 146:5–6). Happiness is promised to the one who places his hope in Jehovah ELohim, the Creator of all things, the One Who preserves this faith which is places in Him.
Proverbs	Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths (Prov. 3:5–6). Again, salvation is the first part of the life of he believer, and this is followed by the faith rest life. Whoever gives thought to the word will discover good, and blessed is he who trusts in the LORD (Prov. 16:20).
The Prophets	"Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation." (Isa. 12:2). Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock (Isa. 26:4). You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock (Isa. 26:4–5). But Israel is saved by the LORD with everlasting salvation; you shall not be put to shame or confounded to all eternity (Isa. 45:7). Only in the LORD, it shall be said of me, are righteousness and strength; to him shall come and be ashamed all who were incensed against him (Isa. 45:24). Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of his servant? Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God (Isa. 50:10). Thus says the LORD: "Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD. Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD (Jer. 17:5, 7). For I will surely save you, and you shall not fall by the sword, but you shall have your life as a prize of war, because you have put your trust in Me, declares the LORD (Jer. 39:18). Though I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, yet if he trusts in his righteousness and does injustice, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered, but in his injustice that he has done he shall die (Ezek. 33:13). Do not trust in your own righteousness. Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered His servants, who trusted in Him, and set aside the king's command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God (Daniel 3:28). You have plowed iniquity; you have reaped injustice; you have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you have trusted in your own way and in the multitude of your warriors (Hosea 10:13). Again, the key is, you do not trust in your own righteousness or your own way to God. What profit is an idol when its maker has shaped it, a metal image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation when he makes speechless idols! (Habak. 2:18).

No matter where you go in the Old Testament, the writers understood faith in Jehovah Elohim as did the people. Satan and his minions probably understood this, but did not know how this could be squared with God’s justice.

Chapter Outline

Return to Charts, Maps and Short Doctrines

...making [two] heavens and earth

the sea and all which [is] in them,

the One keeping truth to perpetuity,...

Psalm

146:6

...the One Who made the heavens and the earth;

[and] the sea and all that [is] in them,

the One Who preserves [His] truth forever;...

...the One Who created the heavens and the earth,

along with the sea and all that is in them;

the One Who preserves His truth forever;...

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text ...making [two] heavens and earth

the sea and all which [is] in them,

the One keeping truth to perpetuity,...

Septuagint ...who made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all things in them; who keeps truth for ever,...

Significant differences: None.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV God made heaven and earth; he created the sea and everything else. God always keeps his word.

Good News Bible (TEV) ...the Creator of heaven, earth, and sea, and all that is in them. He always keeps his promises;...

The Message GOD made sky and soil, sea and all the fish in it. He always does what he says--...

New Living Testament He is the one who made the heaven and earth,

the sea, and everything in them.

He is the one who keeps every promise forever,...

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

God’s Word™ ...who made heaven, earth, the sea, and everything in them. The LORD remains faithful forever.

HCSB ...the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them. He remains faithful forever.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible Who made Heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, Who keeps truth and is faithful for ever;...

English Standard Version ...who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever;...

New King James Version Who made heaven and earth,

The sea, and all that is in them;

Who keeps truth forever,....

Young's Updated LT ...Who made the heavens and earth, The sea and all that is in them, Who is keeping truth to the age,...

What is the gist of this verse? This verse refers back to the previous verse; Jehovah Elohim made the heavens, the earth, the seas, and all that is in them, Who guards His truth throughout the ages; in this Jehovah Elohim, do we place our confidence (v. 5).

Psalm 146:6a
Hebrew/Pronunciation	Common English Meanings	Notes/Morphology	BDB and Strong’s Numbers
׳âsâh (הָָע) [pronounced ģaw-SAWH]	doing, making, constructing, fashioning, forming, preparing	Qal active participle	Strong's #6213 BDB #793
shâmayîm (ם̣י ַמ ָש) [pronounced shaw-MAH-yim]	heavens, skies	masculine dual noun	Strong’s #8064 BDB #1029
w^e (or v^e) (ו) [pronounced weh]	and, even, then; namely; when; since, that; though	simple wâw conjunction	No Strong’s # BDB #251
erets (ץ ∵ר ∵א) [pronounced EH-rets]	earth (all or a portion thereof), land	feminine singular noun; pausal form	Strong's #776 BDB #75
êth (ת ֵא) [pronounced ayth]	generally untranslated; occasionally to, toward	indicates that the following substantive is a direct object	Strong's #853 BDB #84
yâm (ם ָי) [pronounced yawm]	sea, lake, river, seaward, west, westward	masculine singular noun with the definite article	Strong’s #3220 BDB #410
w^e (or v^e) (ו) [pronounced weh]	and, even, then; namely; when; since, that; though	simple wâw conjunction	No Strong’s # BDB #251
êth (ת ֵא) [pronounced ayth]	generally untranslated; occasionally to, toward	indicates that the following substantive is a direct object	Strong's #853 BDB #84
kôl (לֹ) [pronounced kohl]	the whole, all, the entirety, every	masculine singular noun	Strong’s #3605 BDB #481
ăsher (ר ∵ש ֲא) [pronounced ash-ER]	that, which, when, who, whom	relative pronoun	Strong's #834 BDB #81
Together, kôl ăsher mean all whom, all that [which]; whomever, all whose, all where, wherever.
b^e (׃) [pronounced b^eh]	in, into, through; at, by, near, on, upon; with, before, against; by means of; among; within	a preposition of proximity with the 3^rd person masculine plural suffix	No Strong’s # BDB #88

Translation: ...the One Who made the heavens and the earth; [and] the sea and all that [is] in them,... There is an unusual construction here, which I can explain, but I cannot explain the reason for it. Prior to the sea and prior to all that is in them is the sign of the direct object, but this same sign of the direct object is not found before the heavens or before the earth. In the English, we do not translation the sign of the direct object; however, it is spoken in the Hebrew, and perhaps it helps with the meter of the Hebrew (that is pure conjecture on my part).

In any case, the God of Jacob and Jehovah Elohim are presented as the Creator of the two heavens, the earth, the sea and all that is in them. The 3^rd person masculine plural suffix affixed to the preposition in refers to all that is in the heavens, the earth and the seas. Sea is in the singular, as all of the oceans and seas and rivers and lakes are taken as one, and so that we understand that there is a reference here to all that is in these three categories rather than just within the sea. Given the structure of this sentence (the two direct objects where they are), if sea was in the plural, we might then infer that all that is in them refers only to all that is in the seas; however, the masculine plural suffix must therefore take in something more than the masculine singular sea. It is not a deep point, nor is it as complex as I may have made it out to be. However, I am just trying to be precise.

We have here the dual noun heavens, which refers both to the atmosphere of the earth and to the space beyond the earth. We know that there is a distinct difference between our atmosphere and space; the earth holds onto our atmosphere and the nature of our atmosphere is important to every aspect of our lives. Space, on the other hand, is a whole different thing. It is fascinating that from the very beginning, God differentiates between these two heavens, yet there would be little reason for man to do so.

The God of Israel is always known as the Creator of the universe: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1). You are the LORD, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you (Neh. 9:6). By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host (Psalm 33:6). Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars! Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens! Let them praise the name of the LORD! For he commanded and they were created. And he established them forever and ever; he gave a decree, and it shall not pass away. Praise the LORD from the earth, you great sea creatures and all deeps, fire and hail, snow and mist, stormy wind fulfilling his word! Mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars! Beasts and all livestock, creeping things and flying birds! (Psalm 148:3–10). Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you (Jer. 32:17). He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together (Col. 1:15–17). This passage in Colossians clearly equivocate Jesus Christ with the God of Israel, as Creator of the heavens and the earth. See also Psalm 136:5–9 Jer. 10:11–12 John 1:1–3 Rev. 14:7.

There are a huge number of people who have no proper appreciation for the earth. Now, they might run around and think that they are saving the planet earth, but they have no appreciation of it. Many will tell you at the drop of a hat that, given the size of the universe, that there might be many such earths out there, with a variety of life forms which have evolved just as we have evolved. However, the earth contains an abundance of one of the rarest things in all the universe, in a state which is even more rare: water. Our earth is covered with water, the liquid form of which could only be found in a place where a huge number of things must all be true together. One set of things which must be true is, we must be exactly the proper distance from our sun so that the water does not freeze entirely or turn entirely to steam; and our orbit must be such that, the greater part of the H₂O on this planet remains in a liquid state. This is crucial to all life on this planet. Given the temperature range of water—which, coincidentally, also roughly corresponds to our livable temperature range—and given the temperature range of the universe, it is a rare thing to find any place in the universe where such a consistent temperature range exists.

To give you an idea of how finely tuned our earth is, over the past decade or so, people have gone into a moderate panic mode because the earth’s temperature has changed overall by 1°F. A considerable number of people, including scientists, believe that the end result is going to be a sudden (relatively speaking) melting of the polar ice caps and a subsequent substantial rise in our ocean levels. Some even predict that much of Florida will be under water, as well as New York City. Now, God knew about this in eternity past. He is not surprised by this; He has known in eternity past just how much our earth would warm at this point in time and when the warming trend would turn around and what all of the causes would be.

God created all of the life which is in the sky, on the earth and in the seas. This is all given to us back in Gen. 1. I made a big deal of how important water is; the second verse of the Bible has God the Holy Spirit brooding over the earth, which is packed in ice, so that the ice melts and forms the great oceans, rivers and lakes which we have. Then God filled these rivers and seas with life, as He did the earth itself. This was, in fact, the first instance of serious global warming.

Psalm 146:6b
Hebrew/Pronunciation	Common English Meanings	Notes/Morphology	BDB and Strong’s Numbers
shâmar (ר ַמ ָש) [pronounced shaw-MAR]	a keeper of, a guard of, a watcher of, a preserver of	Qal active participle with the definite article	Strong's #8104 BDB #1036
ěmeth (ת∵מֱא) [pronounced EH-meth]	firmness, faithfulness, truth, certainty, stability, perpetuity, fidelity, reliable, stable, dependable	feminine singular noun	Strong’s #571 BDB #54
lâmed (ל) (pronounced l^e)	to, for, towards, in regards to, with reference to, as to, with regards to, belonging to	preposition	No Strong’s # BDB #510
׳ôwlâm (םָלע) [pronounced ģo-LAWM]	long duration, forever, perpetuity, antiquity, futurity	masculine singular noun	Strong’s #5769 BDB #761
׳ôwlâm together with the lâmed preposition mean forever.

Translation: ...the One Who preserves [His] truth forever;... As great and as important is God’s creation, so is His truth, which He preserves forever. We find His truth preserved in His Word. It is by His word that we are able to know all that we need to know about God while on this earth.

─────────

The last portion of v. 7 should actually be placed with v. 8—syntactically, this is how these verses should be arranged. There is nothing magical or inspired about the chapter or verse divisions, something which was added long after the text was written. Therefore, I will present the text in that way (which is in keeping with Young’s text, but not with anyone else’s).

...doing justice to the oppressed,

giving food to the hungry ones.

Psalm

146:7

...Who executes justice for those who have been oppressed [or, wronged];

[and] Who gives food to those who are hungry.

...Who gains justice for the oppressed;

and Who gives food the hungry.

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text ...doing justice to the oppressed,

giving food to the hungry ones.

Septuagint ...who executes judgment for the wronged: who gives food to the hungry.

Significant differences: Wronged is one legitimate translation for the Hebrew word I have rendered oppressed. The final word in the Hebrew is an adjective used as a noun; the final word in the Greek is a verb which appears to be used as a noun (he is hungry is actually the literal rendering of the Greek). The Greek verse is just like the Hebrew verse in length; I cut off the final portion and added it to v. 8.

In all of the translations which follow, I place the final line of this verse with v. 8. When we get to v. 8, this slight alteration will make much more sense.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV He gives justice to the poor and food to the hungry.

Good News Bible (TEV) ...he judges in favor of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry.

The Message ...he defends the wronged, he feeds the hungry.

New American Bible secures justice for the oppressed,

gives food to the hungry.

NET Bible [...the one who] vindicates the oppressed [Heb “executes justice for the oppressed.”],

and gives food to the hungry.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English Who gives their rights to those who are crushed down; and gives food to those who are in need of it:...

HCSB ...executing justice for the exploited and giving food to the hungry.

JPS (Tanakh) ...who secures justice for those who are wronged,

gives good to the hungry.

New International Version He upholds the cause of the oppressed

and gives food to the hungry.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible ...Who executes justice for the oppressed; Who gives food to the hungry.

MKJV ...who carries out judgment for the mistreated; who gives food to the hungry.

WEB ...who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry.

Young's Updated LT ...Doing judgment for the oppressed, Giving bread to the hungry.

What is the gist of this verse? God gives ultimate justice to the oppressed or mistreated; and He gives food to those who are hungry.

Psalm 146:7a
Hebrew/Pronunciation	Common English Meanings	Notes/Morphology	BDB and Strong’s Numbers
׳âsâh (הָָע) [pronounced ģaw-SAWH]	doing, making, constructing, fashioning, forming, preparing	Qal active participle	Strong's #6213 BDB #793
mîsh^epâţ (ט ָ ׃ש ̣מ) [pronounced mish^e-PAWT]	judgement, justice, a verdict rendered by a judge, a judicial decision, a judicial sentence, a verdict, the judgement of the court; the act of deciding a case, the place where a judgement is rendered	masculine singular noun	Strong's #4941 BDB #1048
lâmed (ל) (pronounced l^e)	to, for, towards, in regards to, with reference to, as to, with regards to, belonging to	preposition	No Strong’s # BDB #510
׳âshaq (ק ַש ָע) [pronounced ģaw-SHAHK]	the exploited, the oppressed ones, those who have been wronged [extorted from]	masculine plural, Qal passive participle; with the definite article	Strong's #6231 BDB #798

Translation: ...Who executes justice for those who have been oppressed [or, wronged];... In this life, there are those who are oppressed, exploited and wronged. I am one of those people and you are too, probably. This life is filled with injustices and some of us spend our lives running around trying to fix these injustices. You will be accused of cheating, lying, mistreating others; you will be sued and you will find out that your actions and character have been misrepresented by someone else. Now, although once and awhile, you might find it necessary to correct these misunderstandings, most of the time, you need to let it go. God is going to take your case; God is going to render a just verdict; God is going to correct the wrongs committed against you.

Application: God will right all wrongs. You do not need to run around and explain yourself to everyone that you know and to everyone that you don’t know, but you think may have a wrong impression about you. Now, this is not going to suddenly happen (although that is the case now and again). You need to allow God to take His time and for Him to do things when He deems these things necessary to do. Patience is a Christian virtue; being able to wait for God to act is a virtue. We need to allow Him to act when He chooses to act; and when we are wronged, it is not always necessary for us to run around and try to fix this.

Now let me remind you of the probably time and place of this psalm: we may be speaking of Israel during the time of the diaspora (the dispersion). We could be referring to Israelites who had been hauled away from the Land of Promise, many of them put into chains to serve the Babylonians who had conquered them. However, the Persians conquered the Babylonians, and some Jews went to Cyrus the Great, pointing out where the Bible at mentioned him prophetically—and now God has allowed these men to return to the Land of Promise and to rebuild the Jerusalem walls and to erect a new Temple of God. Therefore, a phrase like this—God executes justice for those who have been oppress—has great and significant meaning for those Jews who had an historical perspective. Those who conquered the Jews were conquered; those who had oppressed the Jews were they themselves oppressed. And now, the new ruler in this portion of the Middle East, was willing to let the Jews go. This particular historical background fits quite well with this verse and those which follow.

Psalm 146:7b
Hebrew/Pronunciation	Common English Meanings	Notes/Morphology	BDB and Strong’s Numbers
nâthan (ן ַתָנ) [pronounced naw-THAHN]	to give, to grant, to place, to put, to set; to make	Qal active participle	Strong's #5414 BDB #678
lechem (ם∵ח∵ל) [pronounced LEH-khem]	literally means bread; used more generally for food	masculine singular noun	Strong’s #3899 BDB #536
lâmed (ל) (pronounced l^e)	to, for, towards, in regards to, with reference to, as to, with regards to, belonging to	preposition	No Strong’s # BDB #510
râ׳êb (ב̤ע ָר) [pronounced raw-ĢAY^BV]	those who are hungry, the hungry ones, the ravenous, the starving, the hungry	masculine plural adjective/substantive; with the definite article	Strong’s #7457 BDB #944

Translation:...[and] Who gives food to those who are hungry. God looks after those who are hungry. God does not do this directly, but He handles these things indirectly through His Own people.

Application: One of the most controversial aspects of today’s society in the United States is welfare. Let me offer a few observations. God used the laws of Israel to provide for the poor. He did not set up food banks, food store, or anything along these lines; but He did require that a person leave his field partially un-harvested (is there a word for this?), and those who are poor were allowed to pick the fruit and produce in order to feed themselves. Note that God did not utilize the government of Israel in order to provide this; and notice that those who wanted to eat had to do some work in order to feed themselves. The constitution of Israel required that the people of Israel do something about the poor; but the poor were required to do some work in order to be fed. There are a huge number of people who do not work; they sit at home and collect a government check (or checks). Now, for those who are unable to work, I have no problem with this. However, I know quite a number of people who are able to work, but they choose not to, and our governmental programs make this possible. Even though, one obvious concern is, money here is wasted; even more importantly, their souls are wasted. There is nothing more debilitating to a soul than to not work. When we as a people allow this to happen to large segments of our population, then we are not being compassionate, but lazy and hurtful. When politicians do this in order to bribe large segments of our population to vote for them, they are just giving full reign to their power lust.

Just so we are absolutely clear on this: God is concerned about the poor and helpless and He did set up in His constitution for Israel a way to deal with poverty. Furthermore, we have an illustration of this in the short book of Ruth. However, the same Bible which sets up such a system, also tells us, If one does not work, then he should not eat (2Thess. 3:10). This is the natural balance of things. It is okay for a government to have some sort of a welfare system. However, it should not be a system where government does everything for the people who need the help.

Now, although we may want to give a double meaning to this particular phrase, I think we will interpret it strictly in a literal sense. The previous phrase was literal, and therefore, we ought to take this phrase literally. Now, what follows, jumps out at you from the Hebrew, and the next five lines might reasonably be understood to have two meanings.

The Bible gives us some specific examples of God feeding the hungry: when Israel was in the desert wilderness, having left Egypt, there was nothing for them to eat, and this continued until the people complained about it. God, in His grace, provided manna and quail from heaven to feed His people. There are two instances in the gospels of Jesus feeding those who were with Him when he first fed 5000 and later when He fed 4000. We have a few examples of Elijah whom God found food for. This line of the psalm tells us that God will provide food for the hungry. This obviously cannot be true for all people; when it comes to His people and it suits His purposes, God will provide. Jesus did explain this on at least one occasion: “Because of this I say to you, do not worry about your life—what you shall eat, or what you shall drink—nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap, nor do they gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth more than they?” (Matt. 6:25–26). If God has a purpose for your life, which He does for all growing believers, then He will keep us alive. People do starve to death, so this is obviously not a blanket protection which God promises to all men. However, if a man desires to know God, God will not allow that man to starve until God brings to him the gospel.

Again, let’s go back to the time and place of this psalm: as has been discussed on several occasions, this psalm fits in well with the dispersion and then return of Israel (properly, Judah, the Southern Kingdom) to the land. When one people militarily defeat and some are even enslaved, hunger is often a common result. God herein responds by feeding the hungry. We do not know the circumstances, nor do we know all the circumstances of any person. I recall that, in my early years, I was quite poor. At no time did I ever go hungry, but I recall selling many things which were of value to me and trying to keep track of every single dollar.

Chapter Outline

Charts, Maps and Short Doctrines

The Great Chorus: Salvation and Messiah to Come

The last portion of v. 7 I prefixed to v. 8, as it belongs there syntactically. I also added v. 9a to this verse for the exact same reason (vv. 7c–9a should either be one or two verses, set apart from the rest of vv. 7 and 9).

Y^ehowah setting free those who are bound;

Y^ehowah opening [the eyes] of blind ones;

Y^ehowah raising up those who are bent over;

Y^ehowah desiring righteous ones;

Y^ehowah watches over the immigrant.

Psalm

146:8

[7c–9a]

Y^ehowah sets free those who are bound up;

Y^ehowah opens the eyes of the blind;

Y^ehowah raises up [or, comforts] those who are bent over [or, afflicted];

Y^ehowah delights in [His] righteous ones;

[and] Y^ehowah watches over [and protects] the immigrant.

Jehovah sets free those who have been bound up

Jehovah opens the eyes of the blind;

Jehovah comforts those who are afflicted and raises up those who are bent over from exhaustion;

Jehovah loves and delights in His righteous ones

Jehovah watches over and protects the immigrant.

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Latin Vulgate The Lord loosens them that are fettered;

the Lord enlightens the blind;

the Lord lifts up them that are cast down;

the Lord loves the just;

the Lord keeps the strangers,...

Masoretic Text Y^ehowah setting free those who are bound;

Y^ehowah opening [the eyes] of blind ones;

Y^ehowah raising up those who are bent over;

Y^ehowah desiring righteous ones;

Y^ehowah watches over the immigrant.

Peshitta The Lord releases the prisoners; the Lord opens the yes of the blind; the Lord raises those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous; the Lord takes care of the poor;...

Septuagint The Lord unbinds the fettered ones; the Lord gives wisdom to the blind; The Lord sets up the broken down; the Lord loves the righteous; the Lord preserves the strangers.

Significant differences: All of the verbs in vv. 7c–9a are participles in the Hebrew. The Greek verbs are, for the most part, present active indicatives. Some of the objects are participles in the Greek (a participle can act like a verb, adjective or noun). The English rendering above for both the Greek and Hebrew is reasonably accurate. The English rendering of the Syriac and Latin appear to follow the Greek in this regard.

Now, more specifically, in the 2^nd phrase, the Hebrew reads opening [the eyes] of the blind ones; and the Greek reads gives wisdom to the blind. The latter phrase is based entirely upon Brenton’s rendering of the LXX, as there are two words used here which are not found in Strong’s (ανορθοι and κατερραγμενουν). Therefore, it is difficult for me to make any comments on the slight differences. My Greek version (from Online Bible) appears to have these phrases in a slightly different order (unlike Brenton’s English translation, which seems to be quite close to the Hebrew).

Apart from these things, the greatest difference appears to be that the Lord takes care of the poor in the Peshitta; but He takes care of the immigrants in the other ancient texts.

Although, syntactically, v. 7c and 9a belong affixed to v. 8, most translators simply took the verses as they were and made the best of it. Therefore, even though we have 5 like phrases which go together, some translators treated v. 7c as a continuation of the previous portion of v. 7; and almost all translators took v. 9a as a part of v. 9 rather than as a continuation from v. 8. I don’t often mess with the verse divisions (although they are not inspired) and sometimes I fear that I make things worse by doing so. However, in this case, such a change is warranted.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV The LORD sets prisoners free and heals blind eyes. He gives a helping hand to everyone who falls. The LORD loves good people and looks after strangers...

Good News Bible (TEV) The LORD sets prisoners free and gives sight to the blind. He lifts those who have fallen; he loves his righteous people. He protects the strangers who live in our land;...

The Message GOD frees prisoners-- he gives sight to the blind, he lifts up the fallen. GOD loves good people, protects strangers,...

New Living Testament The Lord frees the prisoners.

The Lord opens the eyes of the blind.

The Lord lifts the burdens of those bent beneath their loads.

The Lord loves the righteous.

The Lord protects the foreigners among us

Revised English Bible ...and sets the prisoner free.

The Lord restores sight to the blind

and raises those who are bowed down;

the Lord loves the righteous

and protects the stranger in the land;...

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English ...the Lord makes the prisoners free The Lord makes open the eyes of the blind; the Lord is the lifter up of those who are bent down; the Lord is a lover of the upright. The Lord takes care of those who are in a strange land;.

HCSB The LORD frees prisoners. The LORD opens the eyes of the blind. The LORD raises up those who are oppressed. The LORD loves the righteous. The LORD protects foreigners...

NET Bible® The LORD releases the imprisoned.

The LORD gives sight to the blind.

The LORD lifts up all who are bent over [Perhaps “discouraged” (see Psalm 57:6)].

The LORD loves the godly.

The LORD protects those residing outside their native land;...

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible The Lord sets free the prisoners; the Lord opens the eyes of the blind; the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the [uncompromisingly] righteous — those upright in heart and in right standing with Him. [John 9:7, 32 Luke 13:13] The Lord protects and preserves the strangers and temporary residents;...

Updated Emphasized Bible Yahweh who liberates prisoners;

Yahweh who opens [the eyes of] the blind;

Yahweh who raises those who are prostrate;

Yahweh who loves the righteous;

Yahweh who prospers the immigrants.

MKJV Jehovah lets the prisoners loose; the Lord opens the eyes of the blind; Jehovah raises those who are bowed down; Jehovah loves the righteous; Jehovah preserves the strangers;...

WEB Yahweh frees the prisoners. Yahweh opens the eyes of the blind. Yahweh raises up those who are bowed down. Yahweh loves the righteous. Yahweh preserves the foreigners.

Young's Updated LT Jehovah is freeing the prisoners, Jehovah is opening (the eyes of) the blind, Jehovah is raising the bowed down, Jehovah is loving the righteous, Jehovah is preserving the strangers

What is the gist of this verse? Jehovah frees those who are imprisoned; He opens the eyes of the blind; he raises up those who are bowed down; He loves the righteous, and He provides for the immigrants.

The last phrase of v. 7 and the first phrase of v. 9 clearly belong with v. 8. These are 5 thoughts which are syntactically differentiated from the rest of the psalm. Therefore, I have included them with v. 8 and have done the translations above to match.

The set up is, we have 5 lines, all which begin with God’s proper name, YHWH, followed by a participle, followed by the object of the participle; so each line is made up of 3 words. The only deviation from this is v. 9a (my v. 8e), which inserts the sign of a direct object. God’s name was not pronounced, after a time, but originally it was, and I have suggested previously that the pronunciation may have been yhoh-WAH, which is an onomatopoetic sound which imitates breathing (possibly in and out?). Then we have a 2 syllable participle verb followed by a 3 syllable object. The final object in v. 8e (9a) is only 2 syllables, which is possibly which the sign of the direct object was inserted.

Musically, these 5 lines were probably a break from the meter and the melody of the rest of the psalm, but were sung each with the same tune and cadence, possibly increasing or decreasing in volume with each line.

Psalm 146:8a [actually Psalm 146:7c]
Hebrew/Pronunciation	Common English Meanings	Notes/Morphology	BDB and Strong’s Numbers
YHWH (הוהי) [pronunciation is possibly yhoh-WAH]	transliterated variously as Jehovah, Yahweh, Y^ehowah	proper noun	Strong’s #3068 BDB #217
nâthar (רַתָנ) [pronounced naw-THAHR]	to cause to tremble; to cause to start; to shake off [a yoke], to unfasten, to loose, to free; to set free, to unbind	Hiphil participle	Strong’s #5425 BDB #684
This would be a good word for a word study.
âçar (רַסָא) [pronounced aw-AWHR]	those who are bound; the ones who have been tied [up, together, to]; those who have been imprisoned, prisoners; men who are held captive; those who are restrained	masculine plural, Qal passive participle	Strong’s #631 BDB #63

Translation: Y^ehowah sets free those who are bound up;... Immediately I see two ways for this line to be interpreted, which possibly sets the stage for the dual interpretation of what follows. There are those in life who are improperly imprisoned or held captive. We look at this from the standpoint of crime, but in the ancient world, most crimes were dealt with by execution. I cannot recall a single example of someone in the Bible being imprisoned for a crime in Israel (except in the New Testament, like the book of Acts), nor can I recall any Mosaic Law where imprisonment is the punishment required for this or that crime. However, in the ancient world, when the psalms were written, people were held captive when their nation or city was invaded and plundered. Sometimes all of the inhabitants would be killed, but most of the time, the inhabitants were taken as slaves, and they remained slaves for the rest of their lives, unable to buy themselves out of slavery (since they were plundered, already their possessions had all been taken from them). Sometimes the Jews faced this sort of thing. Recall that Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers. God promises to some that He will set them free; that He will remove their restraints. This is not a blanket statement which God is issuing to all men who have been enslaved; but God is in the business of freeing some who have been enslaved, and God does this throughout history.

Obviously, there is a spiritual interpretation which may be applied here: we are all in the slave market of sin. Adam’s sin has been imputed to us; Adam’s sin nature has been passed down to us, and it affects every cell of our bodies; and every single one of us has committed sins. In fact, I don’t care whether you think of sin as the Bible does or even if you just make up your own code and try to live by that—you will sin. I recall a friend of mine who, when discussing the issue of sin, told me, “I believe that we should simply treat all men with respect.” (or words to that effect). I did not bother to point out that the husband and children of the woman he was sleeping with were not getting the respect he thought was essential to a moral life. In any case, we have imputed sin, we have a sin nature, and we have committed personal sins. There is no way we can get around this. From a human standpoint, we are too deep in a hole to dig ourselves out. If God is truly holy and righteous, then He cannot accept us because we have sinned, because our very nature is polluted with a sin nature, and because imputed to our very being is Adam’s sin. There is nothing that we can do, under these curses, to neutralize them—not before a righteous God. We cannot buy our way out of this slave market of sin. We are not slaves to God; we are slaves to sin. Jesus Christ buys us out of this slave market. He provides the capital; He provides us with our righteousness. Our Lord paid for our sins and the sins of Adam; the