Psalm 146
This psalm contains, (1.) Pleasant engagements and encouragements to the hearty and constant praises of God, ver. 1-2, 10. (2.) Earnest dissuasives from trusting in man, who is so weak and short-lived, ver. 3-4. (3.) Powerful persuasives to trust in God, whose power and goodness appear so remarkable in creation, providence, and redemption, ver. 5-10.
While I sing, be stirred up, my soul, and all that is within me, to bless his holy name; to depend on him alone, who is my Maker, my faithful Friend, my kind and righteous Protector, my bountiful Provider, my almighty Deliverer, my gracious Enlightener, my seasonable Restorer, my perpetual Preserver, and the just punisher of my foes my King, my God, and my all.
1 Praise God. The Lord praise, O my soul.
2 I’ll praise God while I live;
While I have being to my God
in songs I’ll praises give.
3 Trust not in princes, nor man’s son,
in whom there is no stay:
4 His breath departs, to’s earth he turns;
that day his thoughts decay.
5 O happy is that man and blest,
whom Jacob’s God doth aid;
Whose hope upon the Lord doth rest,
and on his God is stayed:
6 Who made the earth and heavens high,
who made the swelling deep,
And all that is within the same;
who truth doth ever keep:
7 Who righteous judgment executes
for those oppressed that be,
Who to the hungry giveth food;
God sets the pris’ners free.
8 The Lord doth give the blind their sight,
the bowed down doth raise:
The Lord doth dearly love all those
that walk in upright ways.
9 The stranger’s shield, the widow’s stay,
the orphan’s help, is he:
But yet by him the wicked’s way
turned upside down shall be.
10 The Lord shall reign for evermore:
thy God, O Zion, he
Reigns to all generations.
Praise to the Lord give ye.
