As Far as the East Is From the West
1 By David. Praise Yahweh, my soul! All that is within me, praise his holy name! 2 Praise Yahweh, my soul, and don’t forget all his benefits, 3 who forgives all your sins, who heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies, 5 who satisfies your desire with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. 6 Yahweh executes righteous acts, and justice for all who are oppressed. 7 He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the children of Israel. 8 Yahweh is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness. 9 He will not always accuse; neither will he stay angry forever. 10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor repaid us for our iniquities. 11 For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his loving kindness toward those who fear him. 12 As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. 13 Like a father has compassion on his children, so Yahweh has compassion on those who fear him. 14 For he knows how we are made. He remembers that we are dust. 15 As for man, his days are like grass. As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. 16 For the wind passes over it, and it is gone. Its place remembers it no more. 17 But Yahweh’s loving kindness is from everlasting to everlasting with those who fear him, his righteousness to children’s children, 18 to those who keep his covenant, to those who remember to obey his precepts. 19 Yahweh has established his throne in the heavens. His kingdom rules over all. 20 Praise Yahweh, you angels of his, who are mighty in strength, who fulfill his word, obeying the voice of his word. 21 Praise Yahweh, all you armies of his, you servants of his, who do his pleasure. 22 Praise Yahweh, all you works of his, in all places of his dominion. Praise Yahweh, my soul!
A man instructs his own soul to remember, and the list he produces is the fullest account of God's character in the collection.
By David. Praise Yahweh, my soul! All that is within me, praise his holy name!
The psalm opens and closes with the same command, addressed by a man to himself. Praise is being organized rather than felt, and all that is within me concedes that some of it was not participating.
Praise Yahweh, my soul, and don’t forget all his benefits,
The reason for the self-address. Forgetting is the danger, and the remedy is a list.
3 who forgives all your sins, who heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies, 5 who satisfies your desire with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Five participles, each beginning with who, and they run from the deepest need to the most ordinary. Forgiveness first, then healing, then rescue, then a crown, then satisfaction — and the last is the most surprising item on any list of divine benefits.
Yahweh is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness.
The self-description from Sinai Exodus 34:6, which this collection quotes more often than any other sentence in the law.
He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor repaid us for our iniquities.
A plain statement that what has been received is not what was earned, and it is followed by three comparisons that are among the most quoted in Scripture.
As the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his loving kindness Psalms 103:11 — an immeasurable distance, used to measure something.
As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
North and south have poles and therefore a maximum distance. East and west do not; travel far enough in either and the distance never closes. The choice of axis is deliberate.
Like a father has compassion on his children, so Yahweh has compassion on those who fear him.
For he knows how we are made. He remembers that we are dust.
The most tender verse in the Psalter, and it explains the three before it. The compassion is grounded in an accurate assessment. He is not overestimating anyone, and the memory of what a human being is made of is what stands between the race and what it deserves — the same reason given in the seventy-eighth psalm Psalms 78:39.
15 As for man, his days are like grass. As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. 16 For the wind passes over it, and it is gone. Its place remembers it no more.
Even the ground forgets. Against which: Yahweh's loving kindness is from everlasting to everlasting with those who fear him Psalms 103:17.
20 Praise Yahweh, you angels of his, who are mighty in strength, who fulfill his word, obeying the voice of his word. 21 Praise Yahweh, all you armies of his, you servants of his, who do his pleasure. 22 Praise Yahweh, all you works of his, in all places of his dominion. Praise Yahweh, my soul!
The psalm widens from one man's soul to the whole created order and then returns, in its last three words, to where it started.
settled What this mark means