Outline of Chapter 147:

         Introduction         An Introduction to Psalm 147

         Inscription            Psalm 147 Inscription

         vv.     1–

vv.

         Addendum          Psalm 147 Addendum

Charts, Short Doctrines and Maps:

         Introduction         Clarke’s Outline of Psalm 147

         Introduction         Bullinger’s Organization of Psalm 147

         Introduction         Should Psalm 147 be Two Psalms?

         Introduction         The Time and Place of Psalm 147

         Inscription 

         v.       3              What Happens When?

         v.       5              The Continuity of Psalm 147:2–5

         v.       6              Grace Orientation

         v.      20              Psalm 147:20b Text from the Greek Septuagint

         v.      20              The Greek and Hebrew of Psalm 147:20b side-by-side

         Addendum          Parallel Passages

         Addendum          A Complete Translation of Psalm 147A

         Addendum          A Complete Translation of Psalm 147B

An Introduction to Psalm 147

I ntroduction: Psalm 147 is the 2^nd hallelujah psalm (or psalms—see discussion below), and in the first few verses, the regathering and rebuilding of Israel is the first topic. As was discussed in Psalm 146 (and much of this will be repeated, so you will not have to go back and forth between these psalms), the Greek adds two names to the inscription—Haggai and Zachariah—which names correspond to two prophets of Israel during the rebuilding of Israel. This is the case throughout these final 5 or 6 psalms.

Like many psalms, I find myself struggling with this one—in this case, to grasp some overarching themes. This psalm, like many others, appears, on the surface, to simply be a collection of random thoughts. I come across this regularly, and, as I am working through the psalm word by word, suddenly the over-arching themes become quite clear if not obvious. No idea if that will happen with this psalm. Bullinger, genius that he is, does organize this psalm; however, the B and C categories seems rather vague.

As with Psalm 146, this psalm was probably written during the time of Haggai and Zechariah—by H and Z—during the time that the Jews were returning to the land after their dispersion from Judah. To give you a little history: first, the northern kingdom (properly called Israel after the kingdom divided) was overtaken and then taken out of the land in 721 b.c. by the Assyrians. These have become known as the lost 10 tribes of Israel. As R. B. Thieme Jr. has said on a number of occasions, these tribes are not lost; God knows exactly where they are. However, we don’t. There are a lot of theories as to where these Jews are; and there are groups of Jews throughout the world who claim to be from these 10 lost tribes. After this, in 586 b.c., the Southern Kingdom, Judah, was defeated and deported by Babylon, and they remained outside of the Land of Promise from 70 years. Quite obviously, there were those who were very young or born in Babylonia who simply did not retain the land of their fathers in their thinking. However, Persia conquered Babylon, and Cyrus the Great, the king of Persia, allowed the Jews to return to their land. Most exegetes believe that these psalms mark the return of the Jews to the land, as v. 2 of this psalm seems to suggest.

Keil and Delitzsch paint a more graphic picture of the history taking place when this psalm was written: In the seventh year of Artachshasta (Artaxerxes I Longimanus) Ezra the priest entered Jerusalem, after a journey of five months, with about two thousand exiles, mostly out of the families of the Levites (458 b.c.). In the twentieth year of this same king, that is to say, thirteen years later (445 b.c.), came Nehemiah, Artaxerexes’ cup–bearer. While Ezra did everything for introducing the Mosaic Law again into the mind and commonwealth of the nation, Nehemiah furthered the building of the city—particularly the walls and gates. We hear in Neh. 2:1 how indefatigably and cautiously he labored to accomplish this work. After having been again in the meanwhile in Susa, and there neutralized the slanderous reports that had reached the court of Persia, he appointed, at his second stay in Jerusalem, a feast in dedication of the walls (Neh. 12:27). The Levite musicians, who had settled down fore the most part round about Jerusalem, were summoned to appear in Jerusalem. Then the priests and Levites were purified; and they purified the people, the gates, and the walls, the bones of the dead being taken out of all the tombs within the city and buried before the city; and then came that sprinkling, according to the Law, with the sacred blood of the red heifer, which is said to have been introduced again by Ezra for the first time after the Exile. Next the princes of Judah, the priests, and Levite musicians were placed in the west of the city in two great choirs.

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This psalm seems to break down naturally into 3 parts, vv. 1–6, vv. 7–11, vv. 12–20, where each section begins with an imperative urging us to sing to Jehovah or to praise Jehovah. The overall theme of each section is more difficult to ascertain, as are the connections between the verses. In v. 1, we are enjoined to praise God, and this is followed by reasons why God deserves praise. In v. 2, God rebuilds Israel and He regathers those who have been exiled from the land. In v. 3, He heals those who are suffering physically and emotionally. In v. 4, God knows the number of all the stars and names them (at this point, I must admit to losing the connection, except in relation to reasons why we should praise Him). We are told that God is great, omnipotent and that His understanding is beyond our ability to comprehend (v. 5). God supports the afflicted and brings the wicked down in v. 6.

In the second part of this psalm, we are enjoined to sing a song to God with thanksgiving (v. 7). In vv. 8–9, the psalmist speaks of God’s provisions: rain for the earth and food for His animals. In v. 10, like v. 4, we seem to go off on another subject, where God is not impressed with the strength of animals or man. V. 11 tells us that God is gracious toward those who fear and respect Him, and for those who are willing to wait on His grace.

V. 12 begins the 3^rd part of this psalm, where specifically Zion and Jerusalem are called upon to praise God. In vv. 13–14, God’s provisions for Israel’s safety and prosperity are enumerated. Then we have a series of things which God sends to the earth: His Word (v. 15), snow and hoarfrost (v. 16), ice (v. 17) and then His Word again to melt the frozen stuff (v. 18). God’s statutes and laws are declared to Israel and not to any other nation (vv. 19–20).

Barnes: This psalm comprises two themes: praise to God for his goodness to his creatures generally; and special praise for his goodness to his people. These topics are intermingled in the psalm, but the former is more prominent in the first part of the psalm; the latter in the close. Both were proper themes at the rebuilding of the temple and the walls of the city.

Psalm 147 Inscription

In Psalms 146–150, the Greek and Latin attribute these psalms to Haggai and Zechariah; the Hebrew does not.

Ancient texts:

Dead Sea Scrolls                   [Praise] the Lord! The brackets indicate that this was probably in these scrolls but the scrolls had become too deteriorated to read that portion of the first word (Hallelujah).

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 A Psalm of Haggai and Zechariah, when they urged the completion of the temple of Jerusalem. The Hebrew and Chaldee lack inscriptions. Much of this psalm is found in the Dead Sea Scrolls and it lacks the inscription there.

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 (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 transalte the Greek to read A praising of Yah from Haggai and Zechariah.

Only a few Bibles—most notably, the REB, NAB, NJB, NLT and The Emphasized Bible treat this phrase as an inscription and/or title. When I get to v. 1, I will repeat and/or include this part of first verse. I am not aware of any English translation, apart from Breton’s, which mentions Haggai and Zechariah.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

New American Bible              Hallelujah!

New Jerusalem Bible             Alleluia!

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

New Century Version             Praise the Lord!

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

Updated Emphasized Bible    Praise Yah.

What is the gist of this verse? The two post-exilic prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, wrote a few psalms together to encourage those returning to Israel from captivity.

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 (in most cases, what remains of these 5–6 psalms in fragmentary in the Dead Sea Scrolls).

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 stuff and say it came from God (and some Catholics can distort Scripture mightily). 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 the basis for all religion. 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.

Personally, I was saved in two steps. A person witnessed to me, and it was the weirdest thing I had ever heard; I did not understand a word of what she said. However, I did know enough to know, I needed to make some kind of decision. Some time later, I began reading the book of John. Don’t ask me why I was reading that particular book, because I have no idea. I don’t even know what I was reading the Bible in the first place. However, you cannot read the book of John without coming across the phrase believe in Jesus Christ and you will be saved again and again. I believed, and I was saved. In fact, I believed on several more occasions after that to make certain, and I wasn’t any more saved, but I just wanted to make sure. ☺

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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, although I have also placed it above as the inscription. There is no doubling of Praise Yah!; it occurs only once at the beginning of v. 1.

Here is how others have handled this verse:

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text                       Praise Yah!

For it is pleasing to sing [to] our Elohim;

for pleasant and beautiful [is] a song of praise.

Septuagint                              Alleluia, [a Psalm] of Aggaeus and Zacharias. Praise the Lord: for psalm is a good thing; let praise be sweetly sung to our God.

Significant differences:           In the Greek, this is Psalm 146:1; and, in the Greek, there is, obviously, an inscription which is not found in the Hebrew. Although it appears as though God is placed in different phrases in the Greek, God occurs in the middle of these two phrases in both the Hebrew and the Greek.

The Greek inscription has already been discussed in great detail.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       Shout praises to the LORD! Our God is kind, and it is right and good to sing praises to him.

Good News Bible (TEV)         Praise the LORD! It is good to sing praise to our God; it is pleasant and right to praise him.

New American Bible              How good to celebrate our God in song;

how sweet to give fitting praise. The NAB, along with a handful of other translations, treats the Hallelujah! as a title or inscription.

New Living Testament           Praise the Lord!

How good it is to sing praises to our God!

How delightful and how right!

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             Give praise to the Lord; for it is good to make melody to our God; praise is pleasing and beautiful.

God’s Word™                         Hallelujah! It is good to sing psalms to our God. It is pleasant to sing his praise beautifully.

JPS (Tanakh)                         Hallelujah.

It is goo to chant hymns to our God,

it is pleasant to sing glorious praise.

NET Bible®                             Praise the LORD,

for it is good to sing praises to our God!

Yes, praise is pleasant and appropriate!.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible                Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our God, for He is gracious and lovely; praise is becoming and appropriate.

MKJV                                     Praise Jehovah; for it is good to sing praises to our God; for praise is delightful and becoming.

New King James Version       Praise the LORD!

For it is good to sing praises to our God;

For it is pleasant, and praise is beautiful.

NRSV                                     Praise the Lord!

How good it is to sing praises to our God,

for he is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting.

Updated Bible Version 2.11   Hallelujah; For it is good to praise our God; For it is pleasant to sing his praise.

WEB                                      Praise Yah, for it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant and fitting to praise him.

Young's Updated LT              Praise Jah! For it is good to praise our God, For pleasant--comely is praise.

What is the gist of this verse? The psalmist calls upon us to praise Jehovah because it is good and pleasant to praise Him, because such praise is delightful.

Translation: Praise Yah! The second of the 5 praise Jehovah psalms begins and ends with this short phrase. In each of these psalms, it may be reasonable to suggest that the psalm itself will give us good reason why we ought to praise God.

In all of these 5 psalms, we will be given reasons to praise God throughout. What God has done on our behalf is immeasurable. There is no way that we can repay Him. There is no way that we can deserve what we are given. The best that we can do is celebrate what God has done for us, which is what these psalms do.

Now, you might be thinking, yeah, but my life is crap! Perhaps you used a different word? It is very difficult for us to take personal responsibility for what we choose to do in this life. I can look back over my own life and much of my misery was self-inflicted; the mistakes which I made which made my life more difficult were a result of my own free will. Certainly, I have known people who have intentionally caused me harm, but there is no person that I know who has intentionally injected more difficulties into my life than me. Or, as the great theologian Pogo put it, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

Translation: [We praise Him] because [it is] pleasant [or, good] to sing to our Elohim;... We are told the reason why we ought to praise God in this portion of v. 1. We know that is the idea, because so far, we have only said Praise Jehovah, and then begun this phrase with for, that, because. Generally, this conjunction refers back to what has come before, and what came before is that we ought to praise Jehovah.

The reason here given is that it is pleasant, pleasing (to God) and good to praise Him. It is pleasant to us and pleasing to God. Now, God is not this mass of emotions, and the only way that He can be happy is for us to praise Him; that is not what is being said here. However, the focus on God instead of ourselves is the key. That is pleasant to us, pleasing to Him and good.

This may help us to understand the difference between the soul and the spirit. We are born soulish beings; that is, all people are born with a soul, and it is this soul which interacts with other people. It is through our souls that we may feel love, sympathy or empathy toward another person. In most cases, we feel these emotions because we know these people; and, in some cases, we know of these people. In any case, there is a connection of souls, based upon something which we know about these other people.

We are able to know God through our human spirit. God designed that as the repository of information about Him to which we may or may not react or respond. The better we know God, the easier it is to respond to Him; and, quite obviously, the easier it is to love God. Humans connect soul to soul, depending upon information which is in our souls. Man connects with God spirit to spirit, depending upon what is in our human spirit. So some people can sing a hymn, e.g., A Mighty Fortress is our Lord and have some kind of response because we know God in our human spirit. We can have an honest interest in Him and study His Word in order to know Him, based upon information which is already in our human spirit.

How does it actually start? It all begins very similarly to how human relationships begin. We might see a woman in the library, find her interesting for whatever reason (for instance, she looks hot) and we strike up a conversation with her to get to know what is in her soul. We may shoot the breeze with a next door neighbor, and decide, he seems alright and make more attempts to get out there and to shoot the breeze with this person again and again to get to know them better.

We all have a similar experience with God. At God-consciousness, we come to find out that God may exist and we may wonder what He is like. Later, at gospel hearing, we find out the Jesus Christ has paid the penalty for the sins which we have committed, and we believe in Him. At this point, we either become more interested in knowing Him or less interested in knowing Him (and our feelings may change at any time, sometimes on a dime).

Now, why would someone have roughly the same experience with God (God consciousness followed by salvation through faith in Christ), and yet have a radically different reaction? We already have a soul with a set of norms and standards. When I first began to learn about Who and What God is from R. B. Thieme Jr., there were some things which I did not like too much. I was raised to be anti-war (specifically, at the time, anti-Vietnam war), as well as being raised a liberal Democrat; so, some of the things which Thieme told me about God, I quite frankly did not like at first. When we studied the passage where Paul said it was a shame for a man to have long hair, I did not like that too much either. However, slowly but surely, God won me over; things which I did not particularly care for, I set those things aside to go back and check out later (like a new vegetable on my plate). We all have these various norms and standards, some of which line up with God and His essence and some which do not. At any point in time, we can come across something which we do not like and go negative towards doctrine and the plan of God.

Some people are even more affected by the influence of their old sin nature. They may have leanings toward lasciviousness or toward legalism, and what they want to do may be in stark contrast to God’s plan.

We run into this with people all the time. Some women meet a man, and, within a few minutes, develop a very strong opinion about that man—an opinion which often does not change. Based upon that opinion, they may or may not want to get to know that man better. We can react the same way to God. We may get saved, learn a few things about God, and then form an opinion where we may not want to know anything else about Him. With a person, our initial response and follow up is dependent upon our souls and their appearance (our bodies); and with God, our initial response and follow up is dependent upon our human spirits and our souls (as we cannot see God).

How did we get into this discussion? This psalm tells us that we ought to praise God and that it is pleasant. You may or may not feel as though this is a pleasant thing to do. The key to your response is, what is in your human soul and what is in your human spirit.

Translation: ...because [He is] delightful, a song of praise [is] fitting [and/or beautiful]. The final word in this phrase is a noun, and often the final noun in a phrase is the subject. We have two adjectives here, and, although the latter one is identified as a feminine singular, which matches the subject, the first adjective is a masculine singular adjective, which does not match the subject. We do not expect a masculine singular and a feminine singular adjective to be applied to the same noun. Most translations ignore this, and render v. 1c: ...for it is pleasant and fitting to praise Him. This gives us an alternate, but messy translation: ...for [giving praise is] pleasant [and delightful]; a song of praise is proper [fitting and/or beautiful]. Or, perhaps more accurately: ...because [He is] pleasant [and agreeable], a song of praise is proper [fitting and/or beautiful]. In my paraphrase, I render this entire verse: Praise Jehovah! We praise Him because it is pleasant to sing to our God; a song of praise is both fitting and beautiful because He is delightful.

This explanatory conjunction (for, that, because) is essentially applied to two phrases in v. 1c. God is seen by the psalmist as being pleasant, agreeable, delightful, and generous; therefore, because this is God’s character, then our songs of praise to Him are both fitting and proper, as well as beautiful things. So we explain why we our songs praise to Jehovah are fitting proper and beautiful: it is because He is delightful.

One of the poor generalizations concerning the Bible is that the Old Testament God is legalistic, angry, vengeful and always out to kill the multitudes of heathen; and the God of the New Testament is presented as being loving, kind and forgiving. Such a generalization is completely false. For instance, we find out more about hell and the Lake of Fire in the New Testament than we do in the Old. In fact, this is one of the few doctrines which is barely touched upon in the Old Testament. There is a reason for this. Nothing could be more horrible than the Lake of Fire. Nothing could be more horrible than burning forever in a Lake of Fire. Therefore, Who better to speak to this awful end than Jesus Christ, our Savior, whose hand offers salvation free to us.

The key is, there are many aspects to God’s character, as there are to the character of the people that we know. Sometimes we see a person being kind, other times we may see that same person disciplining their child with a belt. It is the same person, but we do not see every characteristic of that person in each action. It is the same with God. When He destroys Sodom and Gomorrah, we may see this as an act of vengeance, righteousness and justice. Now, quite obviously, to the Jews in the land (at this time, Abraham and family), this was an act of love from God. However, to the unlearned, what God does not always reveal all aspects of His character, which leads us to sometimes make false generalizations.

Following this same thought out, there are doctrines and there are things about God which are more fully revealed in the New Testament than they are in the Old. The extent of God’s grace and His justice and love is spoken of in the Old Testament but much more fully developed in the New. This comes under the notion of progressive revelation. In the book of Genesis, for instance, we are presented with the seeds to almost every major doctrine in Scripture; however, quite obviously, these doctrines are not fully developed at this time. One more point: there are doctrines from the Church Age which we are not exposed to until the Church Age—these are known as the mystery doctrines.

I think that we will gather up the parallel passages at the end:

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text                       ...building Jerusalem Y^ehowah;

those thrown down from Israel, He gathers.

Septuagint                              The Lord is building up Jerusalem; and he will gather together the dispersed of Israel.

Significant differences:           Dispersed is a reasonable meaning for the word I have rendered thrown down. Therefore, there are no significant differences between the Greek and Hebrew.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       The LORD rebuilds Jerusalem and brings the people of Israel back home again.

Good News Bible (TEV)         The LORD is restoring Jerusalem; he is bringing back the exiles.

The Message                         GOD's the one who rebuilds Jerusalem, who regathers Israel's scattered exiles.

New American Bible              The Lord rebuilds Jerusalem,

gathers the dispersed of Israel.

New Jerusalem Bible             Yahweh, Builder of Jerusalem!

He gathers together the exiles of Israel.

New Living Testament           The Lord is rebuilding Jerusalem

and bringing the exiles back to Israel.

Revised English Bible            The Lord rebuilds Jerusalem;

he gathers in the scattered Israelites.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             The Lord is building up Jerusalem; he makes all the outlaws of Israel come together.

God’s Word™                         The LORD is the builder of Jerusalem. He is the one who gathers the outcasts of Israel together.

HCSB                                     The LORD rebuilds Jerusalem; He gathers Israel's exiled people.

NET Bible®                             The LORD rebuilds Jerusalem,

and gathers the exiles of Israel.

New Century Version             The Lord rebuilds Jerusalem;

he brings back the captured Israelites.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible                The Lord is building up Jerusalem; He is gathering together the exiles of Israel.

Updated Emphasized Bible    Yahweh is building Jerusalem;

The outcasts of Israel will be gathered together.

LTHB                                     Jehovah builds up Jerusalem; He gathers the outcasts of Israel.

Young's Updated LT              Building Jerusalem is Jehovah, The driven away of Israel He gathers.

What is the gist of this verse? God rebuilds Jerusalem and He gathers the Jews who have been exiled from the land.

Translation: Y^ehowah rebuilds Jerusalem;... The verb here means to build, to rebuild, to restore. This suggests to me that this psalm was designed to be sung to celebrate the rebuilding of Jerusalem, which took place during the time of Nehemiah and Ezra, which is also the time of the prophet Haggai and Zechariah, who are the possible authors of this psalm.

Recall that we have 5 (or possibly 6) praise the Lord psalms gathered together here at the end of the book of Psalms. This is one of the few lines which suggests the specific occasion for writing this psalm (apart from the Greek inscriptions, of course). Now, to be accurate, we have David also speaking of building up the walls of Jerusalem in Psalm 51:18 (see Psalm 51 inscription). David, early on in his kingship, conquered Jerusalem and then went about securing this city as the capital city of Israel. What helps to separate this psalm from the time of David is the next line:

Translation: ...and He gathers [together] the exiles of Israel. This phrase also comports well with the regathering of Israel under Ezra and Nehemiah. The nominal verb suggests a people who have been forced out or thrust out of an area. In fact, I do not think that there is another time in history where the Jews have been regathered to the land, apart from recently to the new Israel (and most of them were there already in the newly formed state of Israel); and in the end times, God will regather His people to the land.

I mentioned that this line clearly separates Psalm 147 from the time of David. The word which I have translated exiles is also used in Isa. 11:12 56:8 in exactly the same way (God is gathering those exiled from the land). The Jews which moved into Jerusalem with David had not been cast down or driven away. They were not exiles or outcasts in this same sense.

It is also likely that this speaks of what is happening at the time of the psalm (the Regathering of Israel) as well as the regathering of Israel by Jesus Christ. Much of what we find in Scripture speaks of the present and the future, so God regathering His people in the land after their captivity by Babylon and then Persia easily parallels the Jews outside of the land today. “When the Lord rebuilds Zion, He will appear in His glory.” (Psalm 102:16).

This verse also sets the stage for much of what follows, and ought to be seen in that light.

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text                       The one healing broken [into pieces] of heart;

and binding to their pain [or, wounds].

Septuagint                              The one healing the broken in heart, and binding up their wounds.

Significant differences:           None.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       He renews our hopes and heals our bodies.

Good News Bible (TEV)         He heals the broken-hearted and bandages their wounds.

New Living Testament           He heals the brokenhearted,

binding up their wounds.

Revised English Bible            It is he who heals the broken in spirit

and binds up their wounds.,..

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             He makes the broken-hearted well, and puts oil on their wounds.

God’s Word™                         He is the healer of the brokenhearted. He is the one who bandages their wounds.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible                He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds curing their pains and their sorrows. [Psalm 34:18 Isa. 57:15 61:1 Luke 4:18].

MKJV                                     He heals the broken-hearted, and binds up their wounds.

Young's Updated LT              ...Who is giving healing to the broken of heart, And is binding up their griefs.

What is the gist of this verse? God heals those who have had their hearts broken and He repairs our wounds.

Translation: [He is] the One Who heals a heart broken into pieces;... As we find often in the psalms, we appear to have a two-fold meaning here. If my interpretation is correct, then we have Israel returning from being enslaved to another country. They have been separated from their homeland, from the land which God gave to them. Obviously, living in a place which is not their own under terrible conditions (for some) is something which would cause one to have a broken heart; and God, in restoring His people, also heals their broken hearts.

Most of us have a definite feeling of place. Personally, I have strong emotional ties to the area where I used to live in the way that it used to be; and I have ties to various houses where I have lived, including the one where I live now. For the Jews, this was even more pronounced, as God had taken them out of slavery and He had given them the Land of Promise. So, taking this verse in context, in association with being gathered and returned to the land, God heals those who are broken hearted, having been separated from their homeland.

Such a strong emotional tie is even more important to an immigrant. Millions of people have moved to the United States in order to make their fortunes; however, that first generation will always remember their homeland with great fondness, despite the difficulties which made them move here to begin with. The Jews had been taken out of their land; their attachment to the land of their fathers did not have to be romanticized; and when removed from their homeland, they were brokenhearted. God, in regathering Israel and bringing them back to the Promised Land, was, in effect, healing their broken hearts.

This verse also speaks of Jesus Christ Who would come and would heal the hearts of those who were waiting for Him. In fact, He even quoted this passage (or, the gist of this passage) to disciples of John the Baptizer.

Translation: ...and He binds their wounds. I think to some degree, we are speaking of the wounds of a nation, more than we are speaking of the wounds of individuals here. Israel had been out of the Land of Promise for some period of time, and the war and the displacement was long over. However, Israel, as a country, had wounds, so to speak, and God wrapped these wounds in bandages, as it were.

It is interesting that, where we find God binding up the wounds of believers, this is generally after God has disciplined them and wounded them in the first place (Job 5:17–18 Isa. 1:5–6 Hosea 6:1–2). The Jews were not removed from the land simply due to a series of random events; they were removed from the land for disobeying God’s laws again and again and again and again. What is often mentioned is the non-observances of God’s Sabbaths (Ex. 31:13 Lev. 26:34–35, 43). However, this is, to some degree representative, and idolatry as well as other acts of disobedience are generally involved (Ezek. 20:16, 24 22:8 23:38). The fact that God is willing to regather His people and to bind their wounds indicates His willingness to forgive and His willingness to be gracious.

Also, in the future, Jesus Christ would heal those who came to Him, and this verse speaks of that as well.

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text                       Counting a number to the stars;

to all of them names He gives.

Peshitta                                  He counts the number of the stars; he calls them all by their names.

Septuagint                              He is numbering the multitudes of stars; and [calling] them all by [good?] names.

Significant differences:           The final word in the Greek text of this verse is καλν (the vocabulary form is καλός), which means, among other things beautiful, good, magnificent, excellent. There is another word, καλέω, which means to call, to name. What we would expect here is a participle form of the verb, but καλν is not any participial form of καλέω; in fact, it is not any Koine Greek form of the verb καλέω. Now, there might be a more ancient form or the Greek verb that I am unaware of; or this might be a copyist error, I don’t know. Brenton renders this verse as if the verb to call, to name is there; but both my Greek online Bible and my LXX in e-sword have the adjective here instead. Since the Hebrew text seems to make sense and since it lines up with the Latin and the Syriac texts, I am going to assume that there is an error in the Greek text.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       He decided how many stars there would be in the sky and gave each one a name.

The Message                         He counts the stars and assigns each a name.

New Living Testament           He counts the stars

and calls them all by name.

Revised English Bible            ...who numbers the stars one by one

and calls each by name.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             He sees the number of the stars; he gives them all their names.

God’s Word™                         He determines the number of stars. He gives each one a name.

JPS (Tanakh)                         He reckoned the number of the stars;

to each He gave its name.

NET Bible®                             He counts the number of the stars;

he names all of them.

New Century Version             He counts the stars

and names each one.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible                He determines and counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by their names.

A Conservative Version         He counts the number of the stars. He calls them all by names.

English Standard Version      He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names.

NRSV                                     He determines the number of the stars;

he gives to all of them their names.

Young's Updated LT              Appointing the number of the stars, To all them He gives names.

What is the gist of this verse? God knows how many stars there are and He has named them all.

Translation: He counts the number of the stars;... This seems to be an unusual departure from the topic at hand. God is regathering Israel, He is rebuilding Jerusalem, and He is soothing the broken hearted and tending to the wounds of His people; and suddenly, here, He is counting the number of stars. Perhaps the idea is that, He is able to do all that He says He will, as He is great in many ways. These next few lines will speak to God’s essence. In order to be able to count the stars, God must be omnipresent, as they are scattered billions of miles across space; and He must be omniscient—with a mind able to do such a thing.

When the Bible speaks of stars in the ancient world, it was not necessarily as impressive as it is today. The number of Israelites was compared both to the number of stars and to the sand of the sea. Now, we know just by walking along any beach and picking up a handful of sand, that there is a tremendous amount of sand. Comparing anything to the number of grains of sand along the sea is somewhat like saying that we are dealing with an infinite number. In the ancient world, man would look into the sky and, on a clear night, see several hundred or several thousand stars. Now that time has gone by and now that we have the ability to see how many stars are in the sky, it is beyond our comprehension. Their size, their distance, their number is quite difficult to fathom; it is reasonable to think that maybe there are a huge number of stars in the sky, comparable to the number of sand along the sea shore.

Here, God is said to have counted the number of stars in the sky. Quite honestly, I have no idea if space and the number of stars is infinite; that is beyond my ability to grasp; I’ve heard some scientists theorize that space is constantly expanding and increasing. However, no matter—God is able to count them.

Barnes comments: God counts all of the stars. Only God can do this. The stars are so numerous that no astronomer can count them; they lie so far in the depths of space, and are so remote from each other, that no man can be so presumptuous as to suppose that he has even seen any considerable part of them, even by the aid of the most powerful telescopes.

Now this may pertain or not. There are things in this world which are countable and things which are not. In mathematics, some groups are considered countable, even if infinite; and some groups are considered both uncountable and infinite. Stars are countable, even if there is an infinite number of them (or, insofar as we humans can grasp, an infinite number of them).

Translation: ...He gives names to all of them. God is not just able to count the stars in the sky, He is also has named them and He knows the names of these billions of stars which are in our universe.

I believe that R. B. Thieme III has made the point that, when you name something, you have power or authority over that thing. God is not only able to comprehend the number of stars and He is not only able to number the stars, but He also has absolute control over them as well. In fact, as Gill put it, God has as perfect, distinct, and exact knowledge of [each and every star]. God knows each of these stars right down to their very last molecule and He continues in every second to have perfect knowledge of all these stars.

Matthew Henry writes: The stars are innumerable...and yet He counts them, and knows the exact number of them, for they are all the work of His hands and the instruments of His providence. Their bulk and power are very great; but He calls them all by their names, which shows His dominion over them and the command He has them at, to make what use of them He pleases. They are His servants, His soldiers; He musters them, He marshals them; they come and go at His bidding, and all their motions are under His direction. He mentions this as one instance of many, to show that great is our Lord and of great power (He can do what He pleases), and His understanding is infinite.

God has the universe functioning as per a series of laws which He invented and put into motion. There is gravity, centrifugal force, the speed of light, motion and acceleration—all of these things which guide the stars and their planets and rules over all of the chemical and nuclear reactions which occur billions of times per second all over a universe so vast as to be beyond our own comprehension.

I received an email twice which contained size comparisons between the planets of our solar system, which are compared to the sun in size, which are then compared to other stars; and the comparison is amazing. Our own planet is huge. I have heard it said that we could take the entire world population and move them all to Texas and that they would be less crowded than New York City. I think we lose the appreciation for the hugeness of the earth because transportation by airplane has become commonplace. I drove from California to Texas, and, once that drive was completed, I made a vow never to drive that far again. I believe it took me two days on the road. However, I can hop into a plane and make the same trip in about 5 hours. So, we do lose perspective as to just how vast our planet is in size. However, compared to Jupiter, our planet is of a meager size; and compared to the sun, our planet is absolutely dwarfed in size. But our own sun, which provides us with the power and energy each day for one entire planet of 6 billion people, is actually a rather small star compared to what is out there. And the God of Israel created all of this and knows His entire creation, down to every grain of sand and as far as every star in the sky.

I think the idea is, the God Who knows all of this and created all of this is able to bring Israel back into the Land of Promise. God, Who has named every star, also knows each and every Israelite, and where each one is living, and He has the ability to retrieve these Israelites from all over the world. When we find ourselves in a jam, we must also recognize that this same God is our God; and that He has made provision for us.

Keil and Delitzsch connect the dots in a similar fashion: The connection of the thoughts, which the poet now brings to the stars, becomes clear from the primary passage, Isa_40:26–27 (Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing. Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God"?). To be acquainted with human woe and to relieve it is an easy and small matter to Him who allots a number to the stars, that are to man innumerable (Gen_15:5—He took him outside and said, "Look at the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them." Then He said to him, "Your offspring will be that numerous."), i.e., who has called them into being by His creative power in whatever number He has pleased, and yet a number known to Him.

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text                       Great [is] our Adonai;

and great [is His] power;

to His intelligence, [it is] not counted.

Septuagint                              Great is our Lord, and great is his strength; and his understanding is infinite.

Significant differences:           None.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       Our LORD is great and powerful! He understands everything.

The Message                         Our Lord is great, with limitless strength; we'll never comprehend what he knows and does.

New American Bible              Great is our Lord, vast in power,

with wisdom beyond measure.

New Jerusalem Bible             Our Lord is great, all-powerful,

his wisdom beyond all telling.

New Living Testament           How great is our Lord! His power is absolute!

His understanding is beyond comprehension!

Revised English Bible            Mighty is our Lord and great his power,

his wisdom is beyond all telling.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             Great is our Lord, and great his power; there is no limit to his wisdom.

God’s Word™                         Our Lord is great, and his power is great. There is no limit to his understanding.

NET Bible®                             Our Lord is great and has awesome power;

there is no limit to his wisdom.

New Century Version             Our Lord is great and very powerful.

There is no limit to what he knows.

New International Version      Great is our Lord and mighty in power;

his understanding has no limit.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible                Great is our Lord and of great power; His understanding is inexhaustible and boundless.

Updated Emphasized Bible    Great is our Lord and of abounding strength,

And His knowledge cannot be expressed.

LTHB                                     Our Lord is great and of great might; there is no limit to His understanding.

NRSV                                     Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;

his understanding is beyond measure.

World English Bible                Great is our Lord, and mighty in power. His understanding is infinite.

Young's Literal Translation     Great is our Lord, and abundant in power, Of His understanding there is no narration.

What is the gist of this verse? God is great and powerful; and His intelligence is beyond our ability to comprehend.

Translation: Our Adonai [is] great... The first portion of this verse is fairly easy to translate; we have to insert a verb, which is common when dealing with a phrase with no verbs. The psalmist asserts that great or mighty [in power, nobility, wealth; in number, or magnitude and extent], loud, older, important, distinguished; vast, unyielding, immutable, significant, astonishing. Almost all of these adjectives can be reasonably applied to God.

Translation: ...and [He is] abundant [in] power;... The second phrase is more difficult to render. We can insert the verb, but we must infer the subject as being God. The adjective here is quite similar to that in the previous portion of this verse. I think that the idea is that God’s power, strength and ability are super-abundant. There is no reason to doubt God’s ability to be able to do anything. Not only has God counted and named all of the stars, but He created them as well. Therefore, we know that His power and ability are beyond human imagination.

Translation: ...His wisdom [intelligence] [can] not be measured. Again, this is moderately difficult to translate, but the idea is, God is able to count or number the stars; however, we are unable to count or number His intelligence. The idea here is, God’s intelligence is beyond our comprehension, and we sometimes use the phrase that His intelligence is infinite. The idea is, there is no limit to God’s intelligence. It is boundless; at no point does God reach a point at which, he loses track of this or that. God not only never forgets a name nor does He ever lose His keys, but He knows every molecule which makes up every physical thing in this universe, and he knows how this or that molecule interacts with every other molecule through all of the laws which He has designed.

No scientist could, for instance, take apart a television or a computer—man-made contraptions—and go through, part by part, circuit by circuit, and explain how each and every thing works, and what it does, and how it relates to the television or to the computer as a whole; yet God can do that with each and every molecule of each and every thing in this universe. Not only that, but God knows all the component parts of a molecule and can break them down into their component parts beyond what man is able to do.

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text                       Is restoring grace orientated [types] Y^ehowah;

casting down malevolent ones as far as the land.

Septuagint                              The Lord is lifting up the meek; but bringing sinners down to the ground.

Significant differences:           No significant differences.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       The LORD helps the poor, but he smears the wicked in the dirt.

Good News Bible (TEV)         He raises the humble, but crushes the wicked to the ground.

The Message                         GOD puts the fallen on their feet again and pushes the wicked into the ditch.

New American Bible              The Lord sustains the poor,

but casts the wicked to the ground.

New Living Testament           The Lord supports the humble,

but he brings the wicked down into the dust.

Revised English Bible            The Lord gives support to the humble

and brings evildoers to the ground.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             The Lord gives help to the poor in spirit; but he sends sinners down in shame.

EasyEnglish (Churchyard)     The LORD gives help to poor people

(but) he throws *wicked people to the ground.

God’s Word™                         The LORD gives relief to those who are oppressed. He brings wicked people down to the ground.

HCSB                                     The LORD helps the afflicted but brings the wicked to the ground.

JPS (Tanakh)                         The Lord gives courage to the lowly,

and brings the wicked down to the dust.

NET Bible®                             The LORD lifts up the oppressed,

but knocks the wicked to the ground.

Today’s NIV                          The LORD sustains the humble

but casts the wicked to the ground.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible                The Lord lifts up the humble and downtrodden; He casts the wicked down to the ground.

Updated Emphasized Bible    Yahweh relieves those who have been humbled!

Casting the lawless down to the earth.

LTHB                                     Jehovah relieves the meek; He throws the wicked down to the ground.

WEB                                      Yahweh upholds the humble. He brings the wicked down to the ground.

Young's Literal Translation     Jehovah is causing the meek to stand, Making low the wicked unto the earth.

What is the gist of this verse? God lifts up those who are grace-oriented, and He crushes those who are evil.

Translation: Y^ehowah restores [or, confirms] the grace-oriented types... Here, we have two lines of the psalm which are contrasted. One half of the verse should give us insight as to the other half. We have two commonly used nouns in both verses: grace oriented types and malevolent and lawless types. Although we easily recognize these as being on opposite sides, these are not exactly the opposite in meaning. Someone who is grace oriented recognizes who he is and recognizes who God is, and how much God has done on our behalf. We recognize His perfect character and grace. This involves some spiritual growth (actually, a lot of spiritual growth). Those who are lawless, corrupt and wicked sound like they are more than just unbelievers, but like they are unbelievers firmly established in their negative volition.

The verb found in this verse is somewhat difficult: If we understand this to mean restore, we who have been saved by grace and live by grace cannot be restored to a former state, because our former state was to be born into sin and in a helpless situation. Therefore, we must interpret this to mean that we are restored to the way God made Adam—with a spirit, soul and body, and without sin. In this life, we have our spirit restored, allowing us fellowship with God; and in the next life, we are restored to Adam’s sinlessness. I believe that this understanding will help to explain the second half of this verb.

Our Lord is the model of being grace-oriented. He submitted to God’s plan entirely, voluntarily restricting the use of His Deity (for instance, when being tempted by Satan, who tried to get Him to use His Deity). In the end, He submitted to the trials and the humiliations; the beatings and the cursings of man—of the very men for whom He would give Himself. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (Philip. 2:8). This was the greatest act of humility in our Lord, coming into contact with the punishment for our sins. It is hard to parallel this. If you were dressed in a tuxedo or a beautiful wedding dress, but decided to take a quick dip in an open septic tank right before the wedding—that may help to understand the filth which our Lord exposed Himself to. If you are about to do a great favor for a person you do not know—a favor which involves a great deal of personal sacrifice—and right before you do this for him, he insults you and yells at you and slaps you several time. I do not know what repels you the most: swimming in black water filled with leaches, or sitting down in a den filled with hundreds of poisonous snakes, or laying down in a condemned apartment on a mattress soaked in urine, surrounded by rats. These are barely similar to what our Lord did on our behalf, humbling Himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even the death on a cross. This is the humility, or the grace-orientation which He had. What He asks of us is simply graciousness and grace-orientation. When someone wrongs you, do you seek some sort of revenge? Do you run around and tell everyone you know your side of the story? Do you also tell everyone you see what a low-life that other person is? Do you slander and malign them? Do you imagine in your head a variety of painful circumstances that this person might be in? Do you hate them? Are you bitter toward them? Are you angry with them? That is the opposite of grace-orientation.

Application: Now, you have to balance this with your position in life. You may have some sort of authority—you may be a teacher, a coach, a drill sergeant, the head of a company, a pastor-teacher. You cannot allow others to simply walk all over you like a doormat. That is not the proper application of grace orientation. In Scripture, there is a proper balance, and the more doctrine you know, the easier it is to strike a balance. A teacher cannot let his students walk all over him, thinking this is grace orientation. When a drill sergeant feels a little resistence, then he needs to sweat the recruit’s shadow into the wall. These actions are in the best interests of those whom you serve as the authority over them. How do you distinguish? When do you let something go and when do you hold a person accountable for their actions? Here is where you examine your own motivation. Do you desire to pursue a particular course of action because you are mad or angry at them? That is the wrong motivation and very likely, the wrong course of action. When you exercise your authority over someone, do you do it, thinking, “I’ll show you, you puny sap. You’ll pay for that remark.” When someone wrongs you, your response should be tempered with doctrinal application. Your response should be tempered with some introspection as to your own motivation. Your response should consider who else is there witnessing what is going on and how this affects them. Let me give you an example from a teacher’s perspective. I have allowed, on occasion, and in private primarily, a student to unload on me. However, had that student behaved the same way toward me in a classroom, in front of a number of other students, that is something which I could not let go without a proper and measured response. Children expect limits—upon themselves and upon their peers—and even a student who likes you will lose respect for you if you do not set limits, which includes discipline. This is in the best interest of the student being disciplined and those in observance. The same goes for you and your child. You are going to have to set limits and discipline them at times; and, once and awhile, you might let them get away with something, allowing the natural consequences for their actions to kick in instead.

But back to the original standard for graciousness, Jesus Christ. He found a balance as well. The Jesus Christ Who said, “Turn the other cheek” also physically ejected the money changers from the Temple. The Jesus Christ Who allowed Himself to be hit and spat upon when walking to the cross, also called the pharisees and sadducees a pit of vipers. Since He acted at all times without sin, this would indicate to us that the standard response is not to simply roll over and to be submissive.

Over the years, we have gotten a distorted view of Jesus Christ, Who is our model of graciousness and grace orientation. Somehow, the hippies of the 60's claimed our Lord as a sandal-wearing, anti-war, anti-authority revolutionary; and we have never completely gotten away from that image of our Lord. Therefore, when we use Him as our guide, our focus should be upon the Biblical Jesus, not upon the hippie, radicalized version of Him. While on this tangent, it should also be noted that, when speaking to the centurion, Jesus did not upbraid him for his warlike ways, but rather paid him the highest compliment, saying, “I have not found such a faith in all of Israel.” If Jesus was anti-military, speaking to a centurion while in a crowd would have been the ideal time to unload anti-war and anti-military sentiment upon this man. Instead, our Lord compliments the centurion for his faith and for his authority orientation.

What may better help to integrate this verse into the psalm—and explain it as well—is to recall the time and place of this psalm. The Jews who have been exiled from their own land are being brought back; they are being restored to their land. As should be clear, not every single Jew returned to Judah at this time; in fact, not every single Jew under Persian rule returned to Judah. In fact, a smaller population of Jews returned to Israel from Persia than went into Israel in the first place in the Exodus. These Jews had not lived in the land for 70 years. Most of them were born in Babylon, under Persian rule, and they had known nothing else. The God of the Jews? The Land of Promise? Remember the book of Esther? God is not mentioned even once in this book. Clearly, God has His fingerprints all over the disposition of Israel during the book of Esther, and yet, none of them seem to fully recognize it. They remember or they remember vaguely some ritual of fasting, and so, the people fast in the book of Esther, but there is no acknowledgment of Who God is. There is no desire expressed in this book to return to the land of their fathers, the land which God gave to them. We have a huge number of Jews outside their land thinking, “You know, we like it here just fine. You guys want to trek on over to the land of Canaan? That is fine with us. Send us a postcard when you get there.” (I forget which verse this is). Who is restored to the land? The grace-oriented types. Those who know God and understand that they have a place in this world which might be somewhat different than any of their Persian rulers.

It is my opinion that the book of Esther is going to be a primary evangelizing tool in the Tribulation. When all believers are removed from this earth, Jews are going to revisit this book of Esther (a book which most Jews know relatively well and a book which most Christians do not know); and they will be struck by two things: (1) Even though the God of the Jews is clearly behind the scenes protecting His people, this will not be clear to those in the book of Esther. They do not even think about God or speak of Him. (2) The Jews in that day will suddenly realize, this is us! We are the Jews outside of the land who have rejected our Savior, the God of Israel, the God of the Jews, Jesus Christ. God has been here all the time, working in our lives, behind the scenes, and we did not even recognize or acknowledge Him.

Translation:...[and] He casts down those who are malevolent even to the ground. It should be easy to understand the verb and the object of the verb: God will cast down or bring low those who are malevolent, corrupt and lawless. However, the last preposition and noun are not what we expect: they will be cast down even to the earth or ground. The noun erets has other meanings as well, and it can mean earth as opposed to heaven. Although I have the possible meanings above as under the ground [Sheol], this usage is from Job 10:21–22, and surrounding words make it pretty clear that we are speaking of Sheol as opposed to some place upon the earth—however, the key there is the additional verbiage with erets. In this context, although the easy way out would be to so interpret its usage here, I don’t know that we can do that apart from other defining words. Therefore, I don’t think that this means to case the malevolent into Sheol—even though that will be their eventual reward—but that this simply refers to a man being thrown down to the ground or being brought as low as the ground. It is disgrace and degradation as opposed to grace and restoration. As is so often found in poetry, these two halves of v. 6 are contrasted with one another. The grace-oriented types are restored and the malevolent types are cast down.

There is actually a double-parallelism here: the proud and malevolent hold themselves up as being better or as being greater than someone else; a malevolent person wants to bring down those he hates. God brings down those who are malevolent. The grace oriented type does not seek to exalt himself; he does not seek to place himself on any sort of a pedestal; so God uplifts the grace oriented; God exalts the grace oriented.

Although I will list the parallel Scriptures at the end, this verse matches up well with Psalm 146:8–9: The LORD opens the eyes of the blind. The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down; the LORD loves the righteous. The LORD watches over the sojourners; He upholds the widow and the fatherless, but the way of the wicked He brings to ruin. This close parallel with the previous psalm does provide one more reason to assume that these psalms were composed by the same person or persons (Haggai and Zechariah).

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Latin Vulgate                          Sing to the Lord with praise; sing to our God upon the harp.

Masoretic Text                       Answer to Y^ehowah in thanksgiving;

sing to our Elohim in a lyre.

Septuagint                              Begin the song with thanksgiving to the Lord; sing praises on the harp to our God,...

Significant differences:           I cannot locate the first verb of the LXX and a second word is also not found. Therefore, although I have Brenton’s English rendering of this verse, I do not know just how accurate it is. However, the Latin and Syriac are in agreement with the Hebrew text.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       Celebrate and sing! Play your harps for the LORD our God.

Good News Bible (TEV)         Sing hymns of praise to the LORD; play music on the harp to our God.

The Message                         Sing to GOD a thanksgiving hymn, play music on your instruments to God,...

New American Bible              Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving,

with the lyre celebrate our God.

New Living Testament           Sing out your thanks to the Lord;

sing praises to our God, accompanied by harps.

Revised English Bible            Sing to the Lord a song of thanksgiving,

sing psalms to the lyre in honour of our God.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             Make songs of praise to the Lord; make melody to our God with instruments of music.

Complete Apostles’ Bible      Begin the song with thanksgiving to the Lord; sing praises on the harp to our God;...

Easy English (Churchyard)    Sing to the LORD and thank him (for what he has done).

Make music to our God with a harp.

God’s Word™                         Sing to the LORD a song of thanksgiving. Make music to our God with a lyre.

JPS (Tanakh)                         Sing to the Lord a song of praise,

chant a hymn with a lyre to our God,...

NET Bible®                             Offer to the LORD a song of thanks!

Sing praises to our God to the accompaniment of a harp!.

Today’s NIV                          Sing to the LORD with grateful praise;

make music to our God on the harp.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

A Conservative Version         Sing to LORD with thanksgiving. Sing praises upon the harp to our God,...

Updated Emphasized Bible    Respond to Yahweh with thanksgiving,

Make melody to our God with the lyre.

English Standard Version      Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; make melody to our God on the lyre!

Young's Updated LT              Answer to Jehovah with thanksgiving, Sing to our God with a harp.

What is the gist of this verse? We are urged to give thanks to God in song.

Translation: Sing responsively to Y^ehowah in a procession;... Two of the key words in this first phrase can be understood in a number of different ways. The psalmist could be calling upon those in his hearing to sing, to chant, to testify, or to sing in a response. The content of this singing may be a confession, an admission or it could be thanksgiving or praise or it could be simple done while in a procession. I believe that these final 5 psalms of Scripture all sound as though they were sung in public and probably during some sort of celebration or procession; therefore, I rendered v. 7a as above. However, Sing to Jehovah with thanksgiving [or, praise] is also a legitimate rendering of this half-verse. What God does will follow in the remainder of this psalm, so understanding this to mean thanksgiving or praise is very reasonable.

Translation: ...sing [or, make music] to our Elohim with a hand-harp. One of the reasons I rendered the above verse Sing responsively to Jehovah in a procession is this half-verse here. Instead of citing a reason for this psalm, we are given mechanics—a specific musical instrument to be used. Therefore, above, I rendered v. 7a with mechanics in mind, rather than with content.

What we should understand is, there are many who are involved in this singing and celebration, and some of them have musical instruments. Furthermore, God designed us so that we could enjoy music.

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text                       ...Who covers heavens in clouds;

Who sets up to the earth rain;

Who makes sprout hill grass.

Septuagint                              ...who covers the heaven with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who causes grass to spring up on the mountains, and green herb for the service of men;...

Significant differences:           The Greek has a preposition before mountains, as we would have expected from the Hebrew. The Greek has an additional phrase not found in the Hebrew.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       He fills the sky with clouds and sends rain to the earth, so that the hills will be green with grass.

Good News Bible (TEV)         He spreads clouds over the sky; he provides rain for the earth and makes grass grow on the hills.

The Message                         ...Who fills the sky with clouds, preparing rain for the earth, Then turning the mountains green with grass,...

New Jerusalem Bible             He veils the sky with clouds,

and provides the earth with rain,

makes grass grow on the hills

and plants for people to use.

New Living Testament           He covers the heavens with clouds,

provides rain for the earth,

and makes the green grass grow in mountain pastures.

Revised English Bible            He veils the sky in clouds

and provides rain for the earth;

he clothes the hills with grass.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             By his hand the heaven is covered with clouds and rain is stored up for the earth; he makes the grass tall on the mountains.

Complete Apostles’ Bible      ...who covers the heaven with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who causes grass to spring up on the mountains, and green herb for the service of men;...

Easy English (Churchyard)    He puts clouds into the sky.

He sends rain to the earth.

He makes the grass grow on the hills.

HCSB                                     ...who covers the sky with clouds, prepares rain for the earth, and causes grass to grow on the hills.

NET Bible®                             He covers the sky with clouds,

provides the earth with rain,

and causes grass to grow on the hillsides.

The Scriptures 1998              ...Who covers the heavens with clouds, Who prepares rain for the earth, Who makes grass to sprout on the mountains,...

Today’s NIV                          He covers the sky with clouds;

he supplies the earth with rain

and makes grass grow on the hills.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

WEB                                      ...Who covers the sky with clouds, Who prepares rain for the earth, Who makes grass grow on the mountains.

Young's Literal Translation     ...Who is covering the heavens with clouds, Who is preparing for the earth rain, Who is causing grass to spring up on mountains,...

What is the gist of this verse? God is the One Who sends rain to the earth to cause the grass to grow in the mountains.

Translation: ...Who clothes the heavens with clouds,... In the previous verse, we are enjoined to sing responsively to God, and in this verse, He begins to give us reasons why we should. What we have in this verse are reasons in nature to sing to God. God places the clouds into the skies.

The weather is an extraordinarily fascinating and complex topic. We have a variety of winds which operate in several directions on a variety of elevations. Somehow related to this is the pressure, which is such a tiny measurement, but can mean the difference between clear blue skies and great storms. The low pressure sucks in whatever storms are in the area (or, does it help to form these storms?); and the high pressure tends to keep the skies clear and the air relatively dry. Clouds seem to form in dozens of different sets of patterns, and sometimes they take their time, and sometimes they are sudden. During this year (2007) we have had a half dozen tropical storms suddenly spring up, one right after the other, and, at the time that I write this (September), the hurricane season is not yet over.

God does this, and I believe that He has set up a series of laws which govern the behavior of weather, and these myriad of factors make it virtually impossible to give a much better forecast than, “See what it is like today? Probably tomorrow will be about the same.” Now, quite obviously there are long establish patterns, e.g., the Houston area in the summer will range from 78 to 95° with 90% humidity and a 40% chance of rain, and a weatherman could give that prediction from June through September, and be right 70% of the time (with the exception of this past summer, which has been unusually cool).

In fact, when it comes to science, as man, we can only begin to discover all of the factors involved in one discipline, no matter how narrowly we choose to define the discipline. We can make some predictions and we can define a few laws and make a few observations, but no matter what area you choose to examine, there is more information out there on that area than you can digest in a lifetime, and, in the next generation, there will be many times as much information available on that discipline.

I went into the area of abstract mathematics, not realizing that this field is always expanding without end, that each year, a huge number of new mathematics are being developed, which are often later integrated with physical laws and natural phenomena...and these concepts essentially proceed simply from the thinking of man. There seems to be no end in sight, as we continue to develop more fields of abstract mathematics, each field suggesting a number of other mathematical pursuits still to be discovered.

This seems to be the case with all that is around us. No matter how far we examine this or that phenomenon, more tangents and more areas of study seem to appear, and we never seem to come to a point in any discipline where a scientist pronounces, “Well, that is as far as we can take this. We know all there is to know about this phenomenon.” No scientist in his right mind would ever say this, as our universe was created by an infinite God who stamps His infinity upon everything we see and upon everything we cannot see.

Translation: ...Who establishes rain for the earth,... We have more than God simply sending rain to the earth. God establishes or sets up rain for the earth. I think we need to understand this as a rain pattern, as the laws of precipitation, which man tries so very hard to understand, and which surface we have barely scratched. God set into motion all of the laws which pertain to precipitation upon this earth, with the intent of, throughout history, producing specific results during specific historical periods (we find weather as being a factor of God’s plan many times in the historical books). There is nothing random about weather; it obeys God’s laws, and those laws are complex and those laws allow God to accomplish His purpose on this earth.

Translation:...[and] Who makes grass to spout [upon] the hills. I believe that grass here is symbolic of all plant life, including trees, bushes, fruits, vegetables, and grass; and the rain which God brings to the earth also causes the grass to spring up. The key difference between a desert and an oasis is water; the key difference between a desert and a tropical forest is rain.

I have not been to the Middle East, but so many places there seem to be so bleak and dry; and it is not a coincidence that this lack of blessing seems to be directed at Israel’s enemies, whose intense negative volition is difficult to comprehend. Their hatred is so consuming, that they turn it against one another when they cannot find a Jew to hate and persecute; and their weather seems to beat down on them, as judgment from God.

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text                       ...giving to a beast her bread,

to sons of ravens which call out.

Septuagint                              ...and gives cattle their food, and to the young ravens that call upon Him.

Significant differences:           The LXX adds that these young ravens are calling Him. Strictly speaking, I don’t know that we could make a theological argument for animals being able to contact God to ask for food. In the general sense of calling out in hunger, which is what we find in the Hebrew, is more easily supported.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       He provides food for cattle and for the young ravens, when they cry out.

The Message                         ...feeding both cattle and crows.

New Living Testament           He feeds the wild animals,

and the young ravens cry to him for food.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             He gives food to every beast, and to the young ravens in answer to their cry.

Complete Apostles’ Bible      ...and gives cattle their food, and to the young ravens that call upon Him.

Easy English (Churchyard)    He gives food for the animals.

He feeds the young ravens when they cry.

HCSB                                     He provides the animals with their food, and the young ravens, what they cry for.

JPS (Tanakh)                         ...who gives the beasts their food,

to the raven’s brood what they cry for.

NET Bible®                             He gives food to the animals,

and to the young ravens when they chirp.

New Century Version             He gives food to cattle

and to the little birds that call.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible                He gives to the beast his food, and to the young ravens that for which they cry.

A Conservative Version         He gives to the beast his food, [and] to the young ravens which cry.

WEB                                      He provides food for the cattle, And for the young ravens when they call..

Young's Literal Translation     ...Giving to the beast its food, To the young of the ravens that call.

What is the gist of this verse? .

Translation: ...giving food to animals [lit., to an animal her bread],... God sees to the needs of animals. Let me see if I can explain this: God provided in the proper areas plants and other animals as food for each type of animal. God provided a reasonable balance of plants and animals to keep these various animals alive for millenniums. We have already seen what happens when some animals invade a land where no such balance is offered already by God (e.g., the infestation of nutria into the southern regions of the United States).

Translation: ...[even] to young ravens which cry out. Here, I think we have a picture of animal helplessness. We have sons of ravels (literally), which reasonably refers to young or baby ravens. They do not necessarily know how to fly and they don’t necessarily even know what they should eat. God has genetically predisposed their mothers and fathers to properly feed them through gathering food, chewing it and then offering it to their babies (I don’t know if all bird do this; I know that some do); and then God has hard-wired these birds to go out and search for themselves (whether this is learned behavior or whether this is instinctive, I really don’t know). However, God set this up so that these helpless young ravens, through a combination of nature and nurture, will grow to adulthood.

This also provides us a picture of the importance of the family. Now, quite frankly, I do not know the exact habits of ravens, but this strikes me that running a nest and raising chicks is probably a two person job. Someone has to build the nest; someone has to sit on the eggs, and someone has to get food for the baby chicks. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that, in cases like this, we are probably dealing with a mother and father raven who share these duties in order to raise their chicks.

It is quite interesting that the same people who often proclaim the wonders and perfection of nature and question man’s interference with nature (and believe that we should be doing things to preserve nature) are often closely related to those who suggest that we have two-father or two-mother homes, despite the fact that everything in nature seems to indicate just exactly the opposite. Furthermore, we have observed in human nature that boys and girls are quite different, from birth; and that the guidance of a mother and father for a child of either gender is ideal.

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text                       Not in strength of the horse He takes pleasure;

not in [two] legs of the man He delights;...

Septuagint                              He will not take pleasure in the strength of a horse; neither is he well–pleased with the legs of a man.

Significant differences:           None.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       The LORD doesn't care about the strength of horses or powerful armies.

Good News Bible (TEV)         His pleasure is not in strong horses, nor his delight in brave soldiers;...

The Message                         He's not impressed with horsepower; the size of our muscles means little to him.

New Living Testament           The strength of a horse does not impress him;

how puny in his sight is the strength of a man.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Easy English (Churchyard)    He has no pleasure because a horse is so strong,

nor in the legs of a man (who is riding the horse).

God’s Word™                         He finds no joy in strong horses, nor is he pleased by brave soldiers.

HCSB                                     He is not impressed by the strength of a horse; He does not value the power of a man.

JPS (Tanakh)                         He does not prize the strength of horses,

nor value the fleetness of men;...

NET Bible®                             He is not enamored with the strength of a horse,

nor is he impressed by the warrior's strong legs.

New Century Version             He is not impressed with the strength of a horse

or with human might.

Today’s NIV                          His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse,

nor his delight in the power of human legs;...

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

NRSV                                     His delight is not in the strength of the horse,

nor his pleasure in the speed of a runner [Hebrew: legs of a person].

WEB                                      He doesn't delight in the strength of the horse. He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man.

Young's Updated LT              Not in the might of the horse does He delight, Not in the legs of a man is He pleased.

What is the gist of this verse? God is not impressed with things on earth that may seem powerful to us.

Translation: He does not take pleasure in the strength of a horse,... God is not impressed with the power of man. I believe here, what the psalmist has in mind is the power of the military, horses once being an integral part of the military. When man sees himself as being at his most powerful, using his most powerful animal, God is not impressed; nor does He take pleasure in this.