Psalms 145:1-21

Psalms 107:150

Gordon Churchyard

An Alphabet of *Praise

Psalms 145

Jesus said, "Yours is the *kingdom, the power and the *glory, for always, *Amen" (Matthew 6:13). (This is the end of the *prayer that Jesus taught us to say to God. A *kingdom is the country that a king rules. "Amen" is a Hebrew word that means "we agree".)

Psalms 145

(This is) a psalm of David.

v1 Always I will *praise you, my God and my king,
and I will *bless your name!

v2 "*Bless you" I will say every day
and I will always *praise your name.

v3 Clearly the *LORD is great
and we can never *praise him enough.
We will never know how great he really is!

v4 Down from father to son people will say
what *wonderful things you have done.
They will tell each other how powerful you are.

v5 Everyone is talking about your *glory and your *beauty.
I will keep thinking about the *wonderful things that you do.

v6 Famous are the things that you have done.
People talk about them.
I also will say what great things you do.

v7 Good things are what everybody remembers about you.
They all sing about how kind you are.

v8 How full of *grace and *mercy is the *LORD.
He is slow to become angry and is full of kind love.

v9 It is the *LORD that is kind to everybody.
He shows his *mercy to everything that he has made.

v10 Joining together,
everything that you have made will *praise you, *LORD.
Your *saints will *bless you!

v11 "*Kingdom of *Glory" is where you rule.
People talk about it and about how powerful you are.

v12 Let everybody know the powerful things that you have done;
and the *glory and *beauty of your *kingdom.

v13 Many years, even for always, will your *kingdom remain.
You will always rule over it.

Now the *LORD will do as he has promised.
All that he does shows his *mercy.

v14 Out of trouble the *LORD will bring everybody.
He will give help to everyone that has fallen down.

v15 People and other living things look to you.
You give them food when they need it.

v16 Really, you open your hand.
And you give every living thing what it wants.

v17 So the *LORD is fair in all his ways.
Everything that he does shows us his *mercy.

v18 The *LORD is near to all that pray to him.
He is near to all that are honest when they pray to him.

v19 Very soon he will give what they need to those that love him.
He will hear what they say and save them.

v20 *Wicked people will the *LORD destroy.
But he will save the people that love him.

v21 You will hear me speak the *praises of the *LORD.
All that he has made will *bless his *holy name.

The Story of Psalms 145

We do not know when David wrote this psalm. Some Bible students think that Nehemiah wrote it 500 years after David died, using David’s notes. It is an acrostic. This means that verse 1 begins with A, verse 2 with B, and so on. We have used English letters. As there are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet, we have left out 4 English letters.

What Psalms 145 means

Because it is an acrostic, some of the verses are difficult to understand. It may give help if you change the words round like this in these verses:

1. I will always *praise you

2. I will say "*bless you" every day

4. From father down to son

6. The things that you have done are famous

7. Everybody remembers your good things

8. The *LORD is full of *grace and *mercy (leave out "how")

9. The *LORD is kind to everybody (leave out "it is" and "that is")

10. Everything that you have made will *praise you (leave out "joining together")

11. You rule the "*kingdom of *glory" (leave out "is where")

14. The *LORD will bring everybody out of trouble

16. Leave out "really"

17. Leave out "so"

19. Leave out "very"

20. The *LORD will destroy *wicked people

You can see from this that some words are there just to make the acrostic! They are not very important. They help in this special use of words that we call "poetry".

Other notes are:

Verse 1: "*Bless" here is another word for "*praise". "*Praise you" means "tell you that you are great".

Verse 3: "*LORD" is the *covenant name for God. A *covenant is when two people, or groups of people, agree. God agreed to love and give help to his people. His people agreed to love and obey God. "Clearly" means "in a clear way".

Verse 5: "*Glory" is a word that tells us how much God shines. He shines more than the sun!

Verse 8: *Grace and *mercy nearly mean the same. "*Grace" is being kind to someone. And "*mercy" is not hurting someone when you should.

Verse 10: "*Saints" is a word meaning "God’s people". In the *New Testament it means Christians. Here it translates a Hebrew word that means "people who have accepted God’s kind love". David wrote Psalms 145 in Hebrew.

Verse 13a: (The first part of verse 13) Christians believe that God’s *kingdom will never have an end.

Verse 13b: This part is not in old Hebrew Bibles. This means letter N is not in their acrostic! It is in the old Greek Bible, and a Hebrew one found in 1947 at Qumran near Jerusalem. If you see an old King James Bible, it is not there.

Verse 20: "*Wicked" means "very, very bad".

Verse 21: "*Holy" means "very, very good". Only God is really *holy.

Something to do

Learn to say verses 15 and 16. Here they are not as part of an acrostic:

Every living thing looks to you. And you give them food when they need it. You open your hand. And you give them everything that they want.

Then say these words before you eat a meal.

Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews spoke; they wrote the Psalms in Hebrew.
praise ~ to say how great someone is; or, words that say how great someone is.
kingdom ~ the country that has a king.
glory ~ something that shines very much, maybe heaven: God has glory because his righteousness shines from inside him.
heaven ~ the home of God.
righteousness ~ what you have when you are righteous.
righteous ~ very good (only God is really righteous). God says that the people who love and obey him are righteous. Sometimes we say they are "the righteous", meaning "righteous people". Look after Psalm 5 in Book 1 of the Psalms of David for more about the word "righteous".
amen ~ we agree!
prayer ~ you say a prayer when you speak to God.
praise ~ to say how great someone is; or, words that say how great someone is.
bless ~ say good things, or do good things, to someone.
Lord ~ a name for God; it means he has authority, or "master"; It is the word "Adonai" in Hebrew. Look also at LORD below.
LORD ~ a special name for God that his people use. It is the covenant name of God. In Hebrew it is Yahweh or Jehovah. Look after Psalm 25 in Book 1 of the Psalms of David for more about the names of God.
lord ~ someone with authority.
LORD ~ the covenant name for God (in a covenant you agree with someone).
Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews spoke; they wrote the Psalms in Hebrew.
covenant ~ two people have agreed what each should do (here, God and his people). Look in Psalm 120 about the covenant.
Yahweh ~ the covenant name for God. Most Bibles translate it LORD with 4 capital letters. It means something like "I am" or "always alive".
Jehovah ~ how some languages say Yahweh, one of the names of God in Hebrew.
wonderful ~ great and surprising.
beauty ~ lovely to look at.
grace ~ when someone (here God) is kind. And he forgives when he does not have to.
forgive ~ take away the results of sin. (But look in the notes on Psalm 85:2.)
sin ~ not obeying God; or what you do when you do not obey God.
mercy ~ being kind when you do not have to be kind.
saints ~ people that have received God’s love; his people.
glory ~ something that shines very much, maybe heaven: God has glory because his righteousness shines from inside him.
heaven ~ the home of God.
righteousness ~ what you have when you are righteous.
righteous ~ very good (only God is really righteous). God says that the people who love and obey him are righteous. Sometimes we say they are "the righteous", meaning "righteous people". Look after Psalm 5 in Book 1 of the Psalms of David for more about the word "righteous".
holy ~ all good with no bad in it; separate from sin; very, very good; only God is really holy. The land where he lives with his people is also holy. This is because he is there.
sin ~ not obeying God; or what you do when you do not obey God.
wicked ~ very, very bad.
bless ~ say good things, or do good things, to someone.
covenant ~ two people have agreed what each should do (here, God and his people). Look in Psalm 120 about the covenant.
grace ~ when someone (here God) is kind. And he forgives when he does not have to.
forgive ~ take away the results of sin. (But look in the notes on Psalm 85:2.)
sin ~ not obeying God; or what you do when you do not obey God.
saints ~ people that have received God’s love; his people.'New Testament ~ the last part of the Bible, which the writers wrote after the life of Jesus. It is about the things that Jesus did and taught. It is also about what Christians believe and do.
wicked ~ very, very bad.
holy ~ all good with no bad in it; separate from sin; very, very good; only God is really holy. The land where he lives with his people is also holy. This is because he is there.
sin ~ not obeying God; or what you do when you do not obey God.