Psalm 146 is the 146th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the

King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...

, "Praise ye the LORD. Praise the LORD, O my soul". In Latin, it is known as "Lauda anima mea Dominum". In the slightly different numbering system used in the Greek

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond ...

version of the Bible, and in the Latin

Vulgate The Vulgate (; also called (Bible in common tongue), ) is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. The Vulgate is largely the work of Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels u ...

Vulgata Clementina The Sixto-Clementine Vulgate or Clementine Vulgate () is the edition promulgated in 1592 by Pope Clement VIII of the Vulgate—a 4th-century Latin translation of the Bible that was written largely by Jerome. It was the second edition of the V ...

, this psalm is Psalm 145. Psalm 146 is used as a regular part of

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

, Anglican and other Protestant liturgies. It has often been

set to music Set, The Set, SET or SETS may refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics Mathematics *Set (mathematics), a collection of elements *Category of sets, the category whose objects and morphisms are sets and total functions, respectively Electro ...

, paraphrased in hymns such as Paul Gerhardt's German "" (You my soul sing), and used in cantatas such as Bach's early (Praise the Lord, my soul).

Text

Hebrew Bible version

The following is the Hebrew text of Psalm 146:

King James Version

# Praise ye the LORD. Praise the LORD, O my soul. # While I live will I praise the LORD: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being. # Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. # His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish. # Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God: # Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth truth for ever: # Which executeth judgment for the oppressed: which giveth food to the hungry. The LORD looseth the prisoners: # The LORD openeth the eyes of the blind: the LORD raiseth them that are bowed down: the LORD loveth the righteous: # The LORD preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and widow: but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down. # The LORD shall reign for ever, even thy God, O Zion, unto all generations. Praise ye the LORD.

Background

Psalm 146 is the first of five final concluding praise Psalms in the Book of Psalms. These psalms are not attributed to

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

; in the Septuagint, Psalms 145 (this psalm) to 148 are given the title "of

Haggai Haggai (; he, חַגַּי – ''Ḥaggay''; Koine Greek: Ἀγγαῖος; la, Aggaeus) was a Hebrew prophet during the building of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, and one of the twelve minor prophets in the Hebrew Bible and the author of ...

and Zechariah". Kirkpatrick, A.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
on Psalm 146, accessed 6 July 2022 Psalms 146 and 147 are seen by some as twin Psalms. Both psalms draw on images from

Isaiah 61 Isaiah 61 is the sixty-first chapter of the Book of Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. This book contains the prophecies attributed to the prophet Isaiah, and is one of the Books of the Prophets. Chapters 56 ...

(which Jesus takes as applying to himself in

Luke 4 Luke 4 is the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament of the Christian Bible, traditionally attributed to Luke the Evangelist, a companion of Paul the Apostle on his missionary journeys. This chapter details Jesus' three temptat ...

), such as setting captives free and opening blind eyes in Psalm 147, and healing the brokenhearted in Psalm 148. Besides Isaiah 61, the themes in this Psalm are also found on Leviticus 25 (the

year of Jubilee A jubilee is a particular anniversary of an event, usually denoting the 25th, 40th, 50th, 60th, and the 70th anniversary. The term is often now used to denote the celebrations associated with the reign of a monarch after a milestone number of y ...

). This is one of six Psalms involving preaching to self, with the evocative phrase "O my soul" being used. Preaching to self was highly recommended by Welsh Minister

Martyn Lloyd-Jones David Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899–1981) was a Welsh Protestant minister and medical doctor who was influential in the Calvinist wing of the British evangelical movement in the 20th century. For almost 30 years, he was the minister of Westminste ...

as he said "Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself?"

Verse 2

:''While I live I will praise the Lord; :''I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. The wording of Psalm 104:33 is "almost identical".

Uses

Judaism

*The psalm in its entirety is recited during Pesukei Dezimra, the initial section of the daily morning prayer service. *The blessings ''Pokeiakh Ivrim'' ("gives sight to the blind"), ''Matir asurim'' ("releases the bound"), ''Zokef kefufim'' ("straightens the bent"), from the

Birkat HaShachar Birkot hashachar or Birkot haShachar ( he, ברכות השחר, , morning blessings' or 'blessings fthe dawn) are a series of blessings that are recited at the beginning of Jewish morning services. The blessings represent thanks to God for a r ...

are derived from Psalm 146:7-8. *Verse 10 is part of Kedusha, and is a part of the third blessing of the High Holidays Amidah.

Christianity

* Verse 6 is quoted in the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...

Acts The Acts of the Apostles ( grc-koi, Πράξεις Ἀποστόλων, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; la, Actūs Apostolōrum) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of its message ...

;

* Since the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, this psalm was recited or sung during the

vespers Vespers is a service of evening prayer, one of the canonical hours in Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic (both Latin and Eastern), Lutheran, and Anglican liturgies. The word for this fixed prayer time comes from the Latin , meanin ...

office on Thursday, according to the

Rule of St. Benedict The ''Rule of Saint Benedict'' ( la, Regula Sancti Benedicti) is a book of precepts written in Latin in 516 by St Benedict of Nursia ( AD 480–550) for monks living communally under the authority of an abbot. The spirit of Saint Benedict's Ru ...

, established in 530 AD. In the modern

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

Liturgy of the Hours The Liturgy of the Hours (Latin: ''Liturgia Horarum'') or Divine Office (Latin: ''Officium Divinum'') or ''Opus Dei'' ("Work of God") are a set of Catholic prayers comprising the canonical hours, often also referred to as the breviary, of the ...

, Psalm 139 is recited at Vespers, and also Wednesdays in the fourth and final week of the cycle of liturgical prayers. In the liturgy of the Mass, it is played or sung for the feast of St. John the Baptist.

Musical settings

Psalm 146 was paraphrased in Paul Gerhardt's hymn in German "" (You my soul sing), published in 1667 with a melody by Johann Georg Ebeling in the collection (Spiritual devotions by Paul Gerhardt).

Heinrich Schütz Heinrich Schütz (; 6 November 1672) was a German early Baroque composer and organist, generally regarded as the most important German composer before Johann Sebastian Bach, as well as one of the most important composers of the 17th century. He ...

composed a four-part setting of a metric German version for the

Becker Psalter The ''Becker Psalter'' is a German metrical psalter authored by the Leipzig theologian Cornelius Becker and first published by Jakob Apel in Leipzig in 1602 under the title ''Der Psalter Davids Gesangweis''. Several composers set the psalms cont ...

, " (My soul shall praise God the Lord), SWV 251.

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...

based an early church cantata, (Praise the Lord, my soul), on verses from the psalm.

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (8 March 1714 – 14 December 1788), also formerly spelled Karl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, and commonly abbreviated C. P. E. Bach, was a German Classical period musician and composer, the fifth child and sec ...

included a setting for voice and in his collection of 42 psalms, ''Psalmen mit Melodien'', H. 733, completed in 1774. The psalm is titled "Es werde Gott von uns erhoben!" (God shall be exsultet by us).

Alan Hovhaness Alan Hovhaness (; March 8, 1911 – June 21, 2000) was an American- Armenian composer. He was one of the most prolific 20th-century composers, with his official catalog comprising 67 numbered symphonies (surviving manuscripts indicate over 70) a ...

set portions of this text, along with portions of Psalms 33 and 150, for his work ''Praise the Lord with Psaltery''. Norma Wendelburg set the psalm to music in 1973, as ''Praise the Lord'' for mixed chorus and optional organ. Peter Heeren wrote a setting for mixed choir and piano in 2012, ''Der 146. Psalm''.

Notes

References

External links

* * * Text of Psalm 146 according to th
1928 Psalter

text in Hebrew and English, mechon-mamre.org
Psalm 146 – Praise to the LORD, Worthy of Our Trust
text and detailed commentary, enduringword.com
Praise the LORD, my soul; I will praise the LORD all my life
Text and footnotes, usccb.org United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

introduction and text, biblestudytools.com
Refrain: The Lord shall reign for ever.

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

Psalm 146
at biblegateway.com * Hymnary.org
Hymns for Psalm 146
* Kilnam Cha
Psalms 146-150: The Final Hallelujah Psalms as a Fivefold Doxology to the Hebrew Psalter
baylor-ir.tdl.org {{Jewish prayers 146 Pesukei dezimra Siddur of Orthodox Judaism