147 1 The Prophet praiseth the bounty, wisdom, power, justice, and providence of God upon all his creatures. 2 But specially upon his Church, which he gathereth together after their dispersion, 19 Declaring his word and judgment so unto them, as he hath done to none other people.
1 Praise ye the Lord, for it is good to sing unto our God: for it is a [a]pleasant thing, and praise is comely.
2 The Lord doth build up [b]Jerusalem, and gather together the dispersed of Israel.
3 He healeth those that are [c]broken in heart, and bindeth up their sores.
4 He [d]counteth the number of the stars, and calleth them all by their names.
5 Great is our Lord, and great is his power: his wisdom is infinite.
6 The Lord relieveth the meek, and abaseth the wicked to the [e]ground.
7 Sing unto the Lord with praise: sing upon the harp unto our God,
8 Which [f]covereth the heaven with clouds, and prepareth rain for the earth, and maketh the grass to grow upon the mountains:
9 Which giveth to beasts their food, and to the young ravens that [g]cry.
10 He hath no pleasure in the [h]strength of an horse, neither delighteth he in the legs of man.
11 But the Lord delighteth in them that fear him, and attend upon his mercy.
12 Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem: praise thy God, O Zion.
13 For he hath made the bars of the gates [i]strong, and hath blessed thy children within thee.
14 He setteth peace in thy borders, and satisfieth thee with the [j]flour of wheat.
15 He sendeth forth his [k]commandment upon earth, and his word runneth very [l]swiftly.
16 He giveth snow like wool, and scattereth the hoary frost like ashes.
17 He casteth forth his ice like morsels: who can abide the cold thereof?
18 He sendeth his word and melteth them: he causeth his wind to blow, and the waters flow.
19 He showeth his [m]word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel.
20 He hath not dealt so with every nation, neither have they [n]known his judgments. Praise ye the Lord.
Footnotes
- Psalm 147:1 He showeth wherein we ought to exercise ourselves continually, and to take our pastime: to wit, in praising God.
- Psalm 147:2 Because the Lord is the founder of the Church, it cannot be destroyed, though the members thereof be dispersed, and seem as it were for a time to be cut off.
- Psalm 147:3 With affliction, or sorrow for sin.
- Psalm 147:4 Though it seem to man incredible, that God should assemble his Church, being so dispersed, yet nothing can be too hard to him that can number and name all the stars.
- Psalm 147:6 For the more high that the wicked climb the greater is their fall in the end.
- Psalm 147:8 He showeth by the examples of God’s mighty power, goodness, and wisdom, that he can never want most just occasion to praise God.
- Psalm 147:9 For their crying is as it were a confession of their need, which cannot be relieved, but by God only, then if God show himself mindful of the most contemptible souls, can he suffer them to die with famine, whom he hath assured of life everlasting?
- Psalm 147:10 Though to use lawful means is both profitable and pleaseth God, yet to put our trust in them, is to defraud God of his honor.
- Psalm 147:13 He doth not only furnish his Church with all things necessary, but preserveth also the same, and maketh it strong against all outward force.
- Psalm 147:14 Hebrew, fat.
- Psalm 147:15 His secret working in all creatures is as a commandment to keep them in order, and to give them moving and force.
- Psalm 147:15 For immediately and without resisting all things obey him.
- Psalm 147:19 As before he called God’s secret working in all his creatures his word: so he meaneth here by his word the doctrine of life everlasting, which he hath left to his Church as a most precious treasure.
- Psalm 147:20 The cause of this difference is God’s free mercy, which hath elected his in his Son Christ Jesus to salvation: and his just judgment, whereby he hath appointed the reprobate to eternal damnation.