Psalm 145
God is our king
God deserves to hear he’s great
A psalm of David. [1]
1I’m so thankful you’re my God and king.Forever I’ll be thanking you by name.
2Every day I’ll thank you.
Forever I’ll be thanking you by name.
3You, LORD, are great,
And you deserve to hear it.
But you’re greater than we can know.
We’ll tell God’s story
4We tell the story of wonders you’ve done,From one generation to the next.
5We memorize the wonders you’ve done,
And we marvel at your majesty.
6People talk about your awesome power
And the work that you have done.
7They celebrate your incredible goodness.
They sing happy songs of your kindness.
8You, LORD, are wonderfully compassionate,
Slow to get angry, and loaded with kindness.
9You, LORD, are good to everyone.
You made us all,
And you feel compassion for all of us.
God’s work speaks for itself
10Everyone you’ve made will thank you.All good people will praise you.
11They’ll brag about your kingdom
And talk about your power.
12They spread the word about what you’ve done
And about the majestic kingdom you rule.
13You are a king now and forever.
You’re the boss for all generations to come.
The LORD will do what he says he will do.
Everything he does
Is because of the loving devotion he has
For everything he made. [2]
God is a good provider
14You help everyone who stumbles into hard times.When they fall, you get them back on their feet.
15Everything alive depends on you.
When it’s time for them to eat,
They get their food from you.
16You’re generous in the portions you serve.
Every creature gets a full meal deal.
17Whatever you do, you do it right.
And do it with kindness, as well.
18You’re always near when your people call you,
When they’re sincere about what they’re asking.
19When we respectfully ask for something we want
You graciously grant our request.
You hear us when we pray for help,
And you come to the rescue, and save us.
20You guard those who love you.
But you destroy those who love evil.
21I’ll open my mouth to praise the LORD.
So will everyone else.
We’ll all thank you for who you are, [3]
And we’ll keep it going forever.
Footnotes
The subtitle wasn’t part of the original psalm. And the possible byline “of David,” isn’t necessarily a byline. The vague phrase could mean the song was written by David, about David, or was inspired by David. Almost half of the psalms are attributed to David in this way, 73 of 150. Ancient Jewish history tells of David playing a lyre and writing songs. For one, he wrote a song of mourning at the battlefield death of King Saul and his sons: “How have the mighty fallen!” (2 Samuel 1:19-27 New American Standard Bible). An ancient Jewish scroll from about the time of Jesus, discovered among the famous Dead Sea Scrolls, reports that David wrote 3,600 songs.
These lines are missing from most ancient manuscripts, including the one scholars leaned on to translate the King James Version of the Bible. But the lines do appear in one ancient Hebrew manuscript and two ancient translations.
More literally “we’ll bless his holy name.” But the idea isn’t that the songwriter loves the LORD’s Hebrew name, Yahweh. The writer seems to be praising the person behind the name. What the writer loves about the name of God is that the name represents all that God is. God is love (1 John 4:8).
Discussion Questions
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