Psalms / Chapter 146

Psalms 146

10 verses • Westminster Leningrad Codex

Translator's Introduction

What This Chapter Is About

The first of the five Final Hallel psalms (146-150) that close the entire Psalter. The psalm opens and closes with 'Halleluyah.' The psalmist commits to praising the LORD for the whole of his life, then issues a warning: do not put trust in human leaders — in princes or any mortal — because when their breath leaves them, they return to the ground and their plans die with them. In contrast, the one who is truly happy has the God of Jacob as his help. The psalm then catalogs what this God does: he made heaven and earth and sea, he keeps faith forever, he secures justice for the oppressed, gives food to the hungry, sets prisoners free, opens the eyes of the blind, lifts up the bowed down, loves the righteous, watches over the stranger, sustains the fatherless and the widow, and subverts the way of the wicked. The LORD reigns forever — your God, Zion, for all generations.

What Makes This Chapter Remarkable

This psalm contains one of the Hebrew Bible's most comprehensive catalogs of divine action on behalf of the vulnerable. The list in verses 7-9 reads like a manifesto: justice for the oppressed, food for the hungry, freedom for prisoners, sight for the blind, dignity for the bent-over, love for the righteous, protection for the immigrant, support for the orphan and widow, and frustration of the wicked. When Jesus reads from Isaiah 61 in the Nazareth synagogue (Luke 4:18-19) and announces that the Scripture is fulfilled in their hearing, he is invoking precisely this tradition — the God who acts for the powerless. The psalm's warning against trusting princes (vv. 3-4) is not anti-political but theological: no human institution lasts, because every human dies. Only the God who made everything endures.

Translation Friction

The psalm is anonymous — part of the Final Hallel collection that carries no authorial attribution. The LXX (Septuagint) assigns it to Haggai and Zechariah, possibly reflecting a post-exilic liturgical setting. The sharp contrast between mortal princes and the eternal God raises the question of whether the psalm is critiquing specific political leaders or making a general theological point. The catalog of divine acts in verses 7-9 closely parallels Isaiah 61:1-3, and many scholars see literary dependence in one direction or the other.

Connections

The warning against trusting princes echoes Psalm 118:8-9 ('It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes'). The catalog of God's actions for the vulnerable connects to the Exodus narrative (liberation of the oppressed), the wilderness provision (food for the hungry), and the prophetic tradition (Isaiah 42:7, opening blind eyes; Isaiah 61:1, setting captives free). Jesus's beatitudes in Luke 6:20-23 and his answer to John the Baptist in Matthew 11:4-5 draw on the same tradition. The final declaration 'The LORD reigns forever' connects to the enthronement psalms (93, 96-99).

Psalms 146:1

הַ֥לְלוּ יָ֨הּ ׀ הַלְלִ֣י נַ֭פְשִׁי אֶת־יְהוָֽה׃

Halleluyah! Praise the LORD, my soul.

KJV Praise ye the LORD. Praise the LORD, O my soul.

Notes & Key Terms 1 term

Key Terms

הַלְלוּ יָהּ halleluyah
"Halleluyah" — praise Yah; an imperative call to praise the LORD (Yah being a shortened form of YHVH)

Halleluyah is a liturgical exclamation that opens and closes each of the five Final Hallel psalms (146-150). It is one of the few Hebrew phrases that has passed into virtually every language on earth untranslated. The word itself is a command: hallelu ('praise!', plural imperative) + Yah (the divine name). It is not a statement but a summons.

Translator Notes

  1. The psalm opens with halleluyah ('praise Yah') — the imperative hallelu directed to an unspecified audience, combined with Yah, the shortened form of YHVH. Then the psalmist turns inward: halleli nafshi et YHVH ('praise the LORD, my soul'). The movement from public summons to private address establishes the psalm's pattern: communal call, personal response.
Psalms 146:2

אֲהַלְלָ֣ה יְהוָ֣ה בְּחַיָּ֑י אֲזַמְּרָ֖ה לֵאלֹהַ֣י בְּעוֹדִֽי׃

I will praise the LORD as long as I live. I will sing to my God while I still have breath.

KJV While I live will I praise the LORD: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The phrase be-chayyai ('in my life, while I live') and be-odi ('while I still exist, while I remain') commit the psalmist to lifelong praise. The two temporal markers are synonymous — the psalmist will praise until life ends. This sets up the contrast with verse 4: human breath eventually departs.
Psalms 146:3

אַל־תִּבְטְח֥וּ בִנְדִיבִ֑ים בְּבֶן־אָדָ֓ם ׀ שֶׁאֵ֖ין ל֣וֹ תְשׁוּעָֽה׃

Do not put your trust in princes, in a human being, who cannot save.

KJV Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The nedivim ('princes, nobles, generous ones') represent the highest tier of human power. The parallel ben adam ('son of man, human being') reduces even the prince to his species: he is merely human. The phrase she-ein lo teshu'ah ('in whom there is no salvation/deliverance') is absolute — no human being possesses the capacity to save. The verb batach ('to trust, to rely on') is redirected from humans to God.
Psalms 146:4

תֵּצֵ֣א ר֭וּחוֹ יָשֻׁ֣ב לְאַדְמָת֑וֹ בַּיּ֥וֹם הַ֝ה֗וּא אָבְד֥וּ עֶשְׁתֹּנֹתָֽיו׃

When his breath departs, he returns to his ground. On that day his plans come to nothing.

KJV His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The return to adamah ('ground') is a direct allusion to Genesis 3:19 ('for dust you are, and to dust you will return'). The word eshtonot ('plans, thoughts') occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible; its meaning is inferred from context and from the related Aramaic root. The 'that day' (ha-yom ha-hu) is the day of death — a single day undoes a lifetime of planning.
Psalms 146:5

אַשְׁרֵ֗י שֶׁ֤אֵ֣ל יַעֲקֹ֣ב בְּעֶזְר֑וֹ שִׂ֝בְר֗וֹ עַל־יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהָֽיו׃

Happy is the one whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope rests on the LORD his God —

KJV Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The beatitude ashre ('happy, blessed') contrasts with the warning of verses 3-4. The one whose hope (siver, 'expectation, hope') rests on YHVH Elohav ('the LORD his God') is blessed precisely because this God does not die, does not return to the ground, does not lose his plans. The title 'God of Jacob' recalls the patriarch who wrestled and was renamed — a God who engages with struggling, imperfect people.
Psalms 146:6

עֹשֶׂ֤ה ׀ שָׁ֘מַ֤יִם וָאָ֗רֶץ אֶת־הַיָּ֥ם וְאֶת־כׇּל־אֲשֶׁר־בָּ֑ם הַשֹּׁמֵ֖ר אֱמֶ֣ת לְעוֹלָֽם׃

the maker of heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them — the one who keeps faith forever,

KJV Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth truth for ever:

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The three-part creation formula — shamayim va-arets, ha-yam, ve-et kol asher bam ('heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them') — encompasses the totality of the created order. The God who made everything is the same God who shomer emet le-olam ('keeps faith/truth forever'). The word emet ('truth, faithfulness, reliability') stands in contrast to the eshtonot ('plans') of the prince that perish: God's commitments are permanent.
Psalms 146:7

עֹשֶׂ֤ה מִשְׁפָּ֨ט ׀ לָעֲשׁוּקִ֗ים נֹתֵ֣ן לֶ֭חֶם לָרְעֵבִ֑ים יְ֝הוָ֗ה מַתִּ֥יר אֲסוּרִֽים׃

who secures justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free.

KJV Which executeth judgment for the oppressed: which giveth food to the hungry. The LORD looseth the prisoners:

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The catalog of divine action begins. Three acts in rapid succession: mishpat la-ashuqim ('justice for the oppressed'), lechem la-re'evim ('bread for the hungry'), mattir asurim ('releasing the bound/imprisoned'). Each act addresses a different form of powerlessness: systemic injustice, physical deprivation, and captivity. The pattern moves from legal to material to physical liberation.
Psalms 146:8

יְהוָ֤ה ׀ פֹּ֘קֵ֤חַ עִוְרִ֗ים יְ֭הוָה זֹקֵ֣ף כְּפוּפִ֑ים יְ֝הוָ֗ה אֹהֵ֥ב צַדִּיקִֽים׃

The LORD opens the eyes of the blind. The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down. The LORD loves the righteous.

KJV The LORD openeth the eyes of the blind: the LORD raiseth them that are bowed down: the LORD loveth the righteous:

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. Jesus's healings of the blind (Mark 10:46-52, John 9) are understood in the gospel tradition as fulfillments of this and similar prophetic declarations. The triple YHVH creates a liturgical cadence — this is a creed being recited, each line beginning with the name of God.
Psalms 146:9

יְהוָ֤ה ׀ שֹׁ֘מֵ֤ר אֶת־גֵּרִ֗ים יָת֣וֹם וְאַלְמָנָ֣ה יְעוֹדֵ֑ד וְדֶ֖רֶךְ רְשָׁעִ֣ים יְעַוֵּֽת׃

The LORD watches over the stranger. He sustains the fatherless and the widow. But the way of the wicked he twists to ruin.

KJV The LORD preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and the widow: but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The three most vulnerable categories in Israelite society — the ger ('stranger, resident alien'), the yatom ('fatherless, orphan'), and the almanah ('widow') — are singled out for God's protection. These are the three groups most frequently named together in Torah legislation (Deuteronomy 10:18, 24:17). The verb ye'odded ('he sustains, he supports, he encourages') describes active, ongoing care. The final line reverses the pattern: derekh resha'im ye'avvet ('the way of the wicked he makes crooked, he twists'). The God who straightens the bent-over (v. 8) bends the path of the wicked into ruin.
Psalms 146:10

יִמְלֹ֤ךְ יְהוָ֨ה ׀ לְעוֹלָ֗ם אֱ֘לֹהַ֤יִךְ צִיּ֗וֹן לְדֹ֣ר וָ֭דֹר הַֽלְלוּ־יָֽהּ׃

The LORD reigns forever — your God, O Zion, for all generations. Halleluyah!

KJV The LORD shall reign for ever, even thy God, O Zion, unto all generations. Praise ye the LORD.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The psalm closes with a declaration of eternal kingship: yimlokh YHVH le-olam ('the LORD will reign forever'). The address to Zion personalizes the declaration — this is not abstract theology but a message to a specific community. The closing halleluyah mirrors the opening, framing the psalm as an act of praise from beginning to end.
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