What This Chapter Is About
Psalm 117 is the shortest psalm and the shortest chapter in the Bible — just two verses. It calls on all nations and all peoples to praise the LORD because His faithful love toward Israel is mighty and His faithfulness endures forever. Despite its brevity, the psalm makes a universalist claim that extends Israel's worship to the whole earth.
What Makes This Chapter Remarkable
The psalm's brevity is itself remarkable — it says everything that needs to be said in seventeen Hebrew words. But the theological weight is enormous: the nations are summoned to praise Israel's God. This is not a call for the nations to become Israelites but a declaration that the LORD's faithful love (chesed) toward Israel is so powerful that even the nations should recognize and celebrate it. The logic is: God's covenant love is so great that its effects spill beyond Israel and become visible to the whole world. Paul quotes this psalm in Romans 15:11 as evidence that God always intended to include the Gentiles in His praise.
Translation Friction
The psalm's call for all nations to praise Israel's God raises the question of why the nations would celebrate God's chesed toward Israel specifically. One answer is that the nations benefit from Israel's blessing — the Abrahamic promise included 'in you all the families of the earth will be blessed' (Genesis 12:3). Another is that the nations, having witnessed God's faithfulness to Israel, recognize that such a God is worthy of universal worship. The psalm does not resolve this tension but holds both ideas together.
Connections
Paul quotes Psalm 117:1 in Romans 15:11 as part of his argument that the Hebrew Scriptures always anticipated Gentile inclusion in the worship of Israel's God. The psalm is part of the Egyptian Hallel (113-118) and sits at the exact center of the collection. The pairing of chesed and emet echoes Exodus 34:6 and appears throughout the Psalter. As the middle chapter of the Bible (by chapter count), it has attracted attention from those who see its universalist theme as the Bible's structural center.