Psalm146, Creator of All Mankind

After the eight psalms of David, we close out the psalter with five hymns of praise. Each begins and ends with hal·lū-YAH ("Hallelujah!")

Psalm 146:1-2, Sing praises

 Praise the LORD. 

Praise the LORD, O my soul.

 I will praise the LORD all my life; 

I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

 

As in the previous psalm, the singer is ecstatic, insistent on praising YHWH. 

The Hebrew word zamar (זָמַר) means "to sing praises."

Psalm 146:3-4, Useless mortal men

Do not put your trust in princes, 

in mortal men, who cannot save.

 When their spirit departs,

they return to the ground; 

on that very day 

their plans come to nothing.

Princes, who are mere mortal men, are suddenly gone at the moment of their death. Put no trust in them!

As in Genesis 3:19, there is wordplay, for "man" (adam, אָדָם) returns to "dust" (adamah, אֲדָמָה.)

Psalm 146:5-6, God of Jacob

 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, 

whose hope is in the LORD his God,

 the Maker of heaven and earth, 

the sea, and everything in them-- 

the LORD, who remains faithful forever.

The God of Jacob is YHWH, the Creator of all the universe. Those who rely on Him are "blessed" (asher, אֶשֶׁר, happy.)

Psalm 146:7-9, Oppressed, hungry, blind,..

 He upholds the cause of the oppressed 

and gives food to the hungry. 

The LORD sets prisoners free,

 the LORD gives sight to the blind, 

the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down,

 the LORD loves the righteous.

 The LORD watches over the alien 

and sustains the fatherless and the widow, 

but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.

God is the God of the vulnerable: the oprressed, hungry, imprison, blind, bowed down, alien, widow, fatherless, ..., but, in a last line, He is opposed to the wicked.   (See also Isaiah 61:1-2 and Luke 4:16-21.)

As Alter points out, the Hebrew scriptures have a certain "geometric" view of righteousness. Throughout the Psalms and Proverbs, the way of the righteous person is a straight line while the wicked travel in crooked, stumbling paths. The Hebrew word avath (עָוַת), translated "frustrates" by the NIV, means "to bend", "to turn upside-down", "to pervert."

Psalm 146:10, Everlasting God

 The LORD reigns forever, 

your God, O Zion, for all generations. 

Praise the LORD.

YHWH, God of Zion, is eternal. The psalm ends as it began, with a final Hallelujah!

First published December 2, 2025; updated December 2, 2025