☰ Psalms 146
146
1  Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
2  I will praise the Lord as long as I live!
I will sing praises to my God as long as I exist!
3  Do not trust in princes,
or in human beings, who cannot deliver!1
4  Their life’s breath departs, they return to the ground;
on that day their plans die.2
5  How blessed is the one whose helper is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord his God,
6  the one who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them,
who remains forever faithful,3
7  vindicates the oppressed,4
and gives food to the hungry.
The Lord releases the imprisoned.
8  The Lord gives sight to the blind.
The Lord lifts up all who are bent over.5
The Lord loves the godly.
9  The Lord protects those residing outside their native land;
he lifts up the fatherless and the widow,6
but he opposes the wicked.7
10  The Lord rules forever,
your God, O Zion, throughout the generations to come!8
Praise the Lord! 9
1 146:3 sn: Psalm 146. The psalmist urges his audience not to trust in men, but in the Lord, the just king of the world who cares for the needy. 2 146:4 tn: Heb “in a son of man, to whom there is no deliverance.” 3 146:6 tn: Heb “his spirit goes out, it returns to his ground; in that day his plans die.” The singular refers to the representative man mentioned in v. 3b. 4 146:7 tn: Heb “the one who guards faithfulness forever.” 5 146:8 tn: Heb “executes justice for the oppressed.” 6 146:9 tn: Perhaps “discouraged” (see Ps 57:6). 7 146:9 sn: God is depicted here as a just ruler. In the ancient Near Eastern world a king was responsible for promoting justice, including caring for the weak and vulnerable, epitomized by resident aliens, the fatherless, and widows. 8 146:10 tn: Heb “he makes the way of the wicked twisted.” The “way of the wicked” probably refers to their course of life (see Prov 4:19; Jer 12:1). God makes their path tortuous in the sense that he makes them pay the harmful consequences of their actions. 9 146:10 tn: Heb “for a generation and a generation.”
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