Biblion Bible Commentary
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Yahweh Is Gracious and Full of Compassion
Psalms 145:1-21
1 A praise psalm by David. I will exalt you, my God, the King. I will praise your name forever and ever. · WEB
The last psalm attributed to David is an alphabet of praise, and its central claim is that the mercies extend to everything he made.
I will exalt you, my God, the King. I will praise your name forever and ever Psalms 145:1.
The last psalm in the collection bearing David's name, and it is an acrostic — the final and most orderly of them. Everything after this psalm is praise without a signature.
Great is Yahweh, and greatly to be praised! His greatness is unsearchable Psalms 145:3.
The word means it cannot be found out by searching. It is the psalm's one concession, made early, before twenty verses of description.
One generation will commend your works to another, and will declare your mighty acts Psalms 145:4.
The transmission chain of the seventy-eighth psalm, stated in a line.
Yahweh is gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and of great loving kindness Psalms 145:8.
The self-description from Sinai Exodus 34:6 for the last time in the Psalter, and the next verse extends it further than any other quotation of it does.
Yahweh is good to all. His tender mercies are over all his works Psalms 145:9.
The widest statement in the collection. Not good to Israel, or to the righteous, or to those who fear him — good to all, and the mercies cover everything he has made. It is the ground of the argument that God gives sun and rain to the unjust as well Matthew 5:45.
Yahweh upholds all who fall, and raises up all those who are bowed down Psalms 145:14.
The first specific act named after the general claim, and it concerns people who are already down.
The eyes of all wait for you. You give them their food in due season. You open your hand, and satisfy the desire of every living thing Psalms 145:15–16.
The hundred and fourth psalm's table, and the same open hand. Every living thing is not a figure of speech in that psalm and is not one here.
Yahweh is near to all those who call on him, to all who call on him in truth Psalms 145:18.
The qualification in the second clause is the psalm's only one, and it is not about worthiness. In truth means actually meaning it.
My mouth will speak the praise of Yahweh. Let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever Psalms 145:21.
The last verse of the last psalm of David, and it hands the subject to everybody. What follows in the collection is five psalms doing exactly that.
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