Psalms 150:1-6

Psalms 107:150

Gordon Churchyard

God Is The Best!

Psalms 150

The Last *Hallelujah Psalm

Jesus said, "If people *held their *peace, the stones would immediately start shouting" (Luke 19:40). ("Held their *peace" means "they said nothing".)

Psalms 150

v1 *Hallelujah!
Shout, "You are the best" to God the *LORD.
Do it in his *temple. Do it in the skies.

v2 Shout, "You are the best" to him because he is very strong.
Shout, "You are the best" to him because he is very powerful.

v3 Sing, "You are the best" to him with music.
Use *horns and *harps and *guitars.

v4 Sing, "You are the best" to him with music.
Use dancing and *drums, *strings and *pipes.

v5 Sing, "You are the best" to him with music.
Use big and small *cymbals.

v6 Everything that is alive, shout to the *LORD, "You are the best".
*Hallelujah!

The Story of Psalms 150

Christians and *Jews say that this is a very special psalm. Someone wrote it to finish the Book of Psalms. This was perhaps after the *exile. The *exile was 600 years before Jesus came to the earth. Babylon was a country 800 kilometres east of Jerusalem. Today we call it Iraq. The army of Babylon destroyed Jerusalem. They also destroyed the *temple in Jerusalem. The *temple was God’s house in Jerusalem. The army of Babylon took many *Jews to Babylon. They made them live there. This was the *exile.

The *Jews went back to their own land 70 years later. They built Jerusalem and the *temple again. Then the *Jews made the Book of Psalms. It was to sing in the new *temple. They used psalms by Moses, by David, by Isaiah, by the sons of Korah and by many other people. But Bible students think that they wrote two new psalms for their book. They were Psalms 1 and Psalms 150. Maybe they wrote other psalms also, perhaps Psalms 146 - 149.

What Psalms 150 means

The *Jews spoke Hebrew and wrote their psalms in Hebrew. The word hallelu is in every verse of this psalm in the Hebrew Bible. We usually translate it "*praise", or "tell someone that they are great". But here we translated it "you are the best". Nobody is better than God. *LORD is another name for God. It is his *covenant name. A *covenant is when two people, or groups of people, agree. Here, God agreed to love and send help to his people. His people agreed to love and obey God.

Many Christians still use the Hebrew word *hallelujah. This means:

Halel	u	jah
tell someone that they are great *PRAISE	all of you YOU	a name for God that we translate "*LORD" THE *LORD

You will see that the *Jews spelled *hallelujah as "halelujah" in this psalm.

The psalm says that we must shout to God. We must sing to him and make music. To make music we use *musical instruments. In Bible times, there were three groups of instruments:

• the ones that you hit; examples are drums and cymbals.

• the ones that you blew into; examples are horns and pipes.

• the ones that had *strings; examples are harps and guitars.

The *Jews did not have guitars. We translated "lyre" as "*guitar". Today we also have *musical instruments that use electricity, such as the electric *guitar. *Strings now include the violin and the cello. Christians believe that we should use these new instruments to *praise the *LORD, as well as the old ones!

Music in the Bible

The people of God have always praised him. This means that they have always told him that he is very great! There is nobody else as good as he is. God is the best!

In Exodus 15:1 we read, "Moses and all the people sang this song to the *LORD. They said, I will sing to the *LORD". This was after God led them out of Egypt. In Judges 5:1-2 we read, "Then Deborah and Barak sang this song, *Praise the *LORD". This was when God beat their enemies. These enemies were the Canaanites. We believe that David wrote many songs. We call them psalms. David wrote in Psalms 18:3, "The *LORD is someone that I always *praise". Psalms 18 is one of the best psalms that David wrote. Try to study it.

After the *exile, the *Jews put 150 psalms into a book. We call it The Book of Psalms. They sang them in the *temple in Jerusalem. They sang them in other places also. Jesus knew the psalms. We read in Matthew 26:30, "When they had sung a psalm, Jesus and his friends went out into the *Mount of Olives". There the soldiers caught him. They took him away and crucified (killed) him.

We believe that Jesus still sings in Church with his friends! Why? Because Jesus said in Hebrews 2:12, "In the Church I will sing *praise". Paul told us, "Make music in your *heart to the *Lord. Sing psalms and *hymns and songs about God" (Ephesians 5:19). The word "*Lord" here means "master" or "someone with authority". At the end of the Bible, John saw a picture of *heaven, where God lives. John tells us that "they sang a new song" (Revelation 5:9). One day we will sing that song in *heaven if we believe in Jesus Christ... *hallelujah!

Something to do

Make up some music for Psalms 150. If your friends can make music, get them to help you. Then you can sing a new song!
Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews spoke; they wrote the Psalms in Hebrew.
hallelujah ~ say that the LORD is great. (Jah is Hebrew for LORD.)
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.
peace ~ when we are friends with God and with other people; or when we have no trouble in our minds; when there is no war and everybody is happy.
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.
temple ~ a place where people meet to worship God.
horn ~ hard bone on head of animal; it shows that it is strong; people used them to make *musical instruments.
harp ~ a musical instrument.

musical instrument ~ something that makes music when you hit it (cymbals, drum), blow in it (flute, trumpet, horn, shofar) or touch it in a quiet way (harp, lyre). Many of these are in Psalm 150 in Book 5 of The Psalms of David.
guitar ~ a musical instrument.

musical instrument ~ something that makes music when you hit it (cymbals, drum), blow in it (flute, trumpet, horn, shofar) or touch it in a quiet way (harp, lyre). Many of these are in Psalm 150 in Book 5 of The Psalms of David.
drums ~ *musical instruments that you hit.
string ~ very long and very thin piece of material.
cymbals ~ a musical instrument.

musical instrument ~ something that makes music when you hit it (cymbals, drum), blow in it (flute, trumpet, horn, shofar) or touch it in a quiet way (harp, lyre). Many of these are in Psalm 150 in Book 5 of The Psalms of David.
Jew ~ a person who is born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children; a person who has the faith of the Jews, called Judaism.
faith ~ belief in someone or something; in the Psalms, belief in God.
exile ~ away from your own country.
praise ~ to say how great someone is; or, words that say how great someone is.
covenant ~ two people have agreed what each should do (here, God and his people). Look in Psalm 120 about the covenant.
hallelujah ~ say that the LORD is great. (Jah is Hebrew for LORD.)
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.
praise ~ to say how great someone is; or, words that say how great someone is.
string ~ very long and very thin piece of material.
praise ~ to say how great someone is; or, words that say how great someone is.
Mount ~ a short word for mountain; small mountain.
heart ~ (in Hebrew poems), "heart" means "mind", the part of us that thinks.
heart ~ part of the body. Jews believed that you thought in your heart.
poem ~ using words in a special (often very beautiful) way.
Jew ~ a person who is born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children; a person who has the faith of the Jews, called Judaism.
faith ~ belief in someone or something; in the Psalms, belief in God.
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.
hymn ~ song that shows our love for God; some are in the book of Psalms [see psalm] and in the Bible.
heaven ~ the home of God.