By Yahweh's Word the Heavens Were Made
1 Rejoice in Yahweh, you righteous! Praise is fitting for the upright. 2 Give thanks to Yahweh with the lyre. Sing praises to him with the harp of ten strings. 3 Sing to him a new song. Play skillfully with a shout of joy! 4 For Yahweh’s word is right. All his work is done in faithfulness. 5 He loves righteousness and justice. The earth is full of the loving kindness of Yahweh. 6 By Yahweh’s word, the heavens were made: all their army by the breath of his mouth. 7 He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap. He lays up the deeps in storehouses. 8 Let all the earth fear Yahweh. Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. 9 For he spoke, and it was done. He commanded, and it stood firm. 10 Yahweh brings the counsel of the nations to nothing. He makes the thoughts of the peoples to be of no effect. 11 The counsel of Yahweh stands fast forever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations. 12 Blessed is the nation whose God is Yahweh, the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance. 13 Yahweh looks from heaven. He sees all the sons of men. 14 From the place of his habitation he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth, 15 he who fashions all of their hearts; and he considers all of their works. 16 There is no king saved by the multitude of an army. A mighty man is not delivered by great strength. 17 A horse is a vain thing for safety, neither does he deliver any by his great power. 18 Behold, Yahweh’s eye is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his loving kindness, 19 to deliver their soul from death, to keep them alive in famine. 20 Our soul has waited for Yahweh. He is our help and our shield. 21 For our heart rejoices in him, because we have trusted in his holy name. 22 Let your loving kindness be on us, Yahweh, since we have hoped in you.
Creation by speech, and a survey of everything nations rely on that turns out not to work.
Sing to him a new song. Play skillfully with a shout of joy!
One of the few psalms in the first book with no heading. It opens by asking for skill — the shout of joy is not offered as a substitute for competence, and the temple musicians were trained professionals.
By Yahweh’s word, the heavens were made: all their army by the breath of his mouth.
The verse compresses the first chapter of Genesis into a line. What is emphasized is the method: not labor, not struggle against a rival, but speech. For he spoke, and it was done. He commanded, and it stood firm Psalms 33:9.
The surrounding cultures told creation stories in which the world was assembled out of the corpse of a defeated monster. This psalm has God gathering the sea together as a heap and laying up the deeps in storehouses Psalms 33:7 — the ocean as inventory, stored where it is wanted.
10 Yahweh brings the counsel of the nations to nothing. He makes the thoughts of the peoples to be of no effect. 11 The counsel of Yahweh stands fast forever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.
The same word, counsel, applied to both sides. The contrast is not between God's power and human weakness but between two sets of plans, and only one of them survives the drafting stage.
13 Yahweh looks from heaven. He sees all the sons of men. 14 From the place of his habitation he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth, 15 he who fashions all of their hearts; and he considers all of their works.
The survey of the fourteenth psalm returns, and here it is extended: he made the hearts he is inspecting. That is a considerable claim — the examiner is also the manufacturer, which is why nothing can be explained to him.
16 There is no king saved by the multitude of an army. A mighty man is not delivered by great strength. 17 A horse is a vain thing for safety, neither does he deliver any by his great power.
Three securities, taken in descending order of scale, and each is dismissed. This is the twentieth psalm's line about chariots stated as a general principle. The psalm is not claiming that armies never win battles; it is claiming that none of these things is what saves, which is a narrower and much harder point.
18 Behold, Yahweh’s eye is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his loving kindness, 19 to deliver their soul from death, to keep them alive in famine.
Against the army, the strong man and the horse, an eye. And the two deliverances named are the two that arms cannot supply: death and hunger.
Our soul has waited for Yahweh. He is our help and our shield.
The psalm ends in the first person plural, which it has been building toward — a congregation that has just been told nothing it owns will save it, saying so together.
settled What this mark means