This article is about Psalms, praising God is a complicated task when you don’t know how to find the right words, and it can create some problems. In Psalm 145 you will find a powerful prayer of praise and in this article of Your Online Bible we are going to explain its meaning.
Psalm 145 kjv
Our human condition makes us imperfect and subject to temptation, which we must avoid if we want to have a happy and uncomplicated life.
Fortunately, the Lord is at our side to protect us and offer us a deep love that we can never imagine in our best dreams. This is why we should praise God and be grateful for his mercy.
There are many well-known prayers of praise, though few come close to matching the one found in Psalm 145 of the Bible. It is easy to see how important this text is and how much we can learn from it.
From Your Online Bible, we want to show you all that Psalm 145 can teach you with many different perspectives. Take advantage of this article to introspect, pray, and thank God for all that He gives us.
Psalm 145 of the Bible in English and large print
Praise for God’s goodness and power.
Psalm of praise; of David.
1 I will exalt you, my God, my King,
And I will bless your name forever and ever.
2 Every day I will bless you,
And I will praise your name forever and ever.
3 Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised;
And its greatness is inscrutable.
4 Generation to generation will celebrate your works,
And will announce your mighty deeds.
5 In the beauty of the glory of thy magnificence,
And on your marvelous deeds I will meditate.
6 Of the power of thy mighty acts men shall speak,
And I will publish your greatness.
7 They will proclaim the memory of your immense goodness,
And they will sing of your righteousness.
8 The LORD is gracious and merciful,
Slow to anger, and great in mercy.
9 Jehovah is good to all,
And his mercies upon all his works.
10 Let all thy works praise thee, O LORD,
And may your saints bless you.
11 The glory of thy kingdom say,
And talk about your power,
12 To make known to the sons of men his mighty deeds,
And the glory of the magnificence of his kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is the kingdom of all ages,
And your lordship in all generations.
14 The LORD upholds all who fall,
And he lifts up all the oppressed.
15 The eyes of all wait upon you,
And you give them their food in their own time.
16 You open your hand,
And you shower blessing on every living thing.
17 Righteous is Jehovah in all his ways,
And merciful in all his works.
18 Jehovah is near to all who call upon him,
To all those who truly invoke him.
19 He will fulfill the desire of those who fear him;
He will also hear their cry and save them.
20 Jehovah keeps all those who love him,
But he will destroy all the wicked.
21 The praise of the LORD shall my mouth proclaim;
And may all bless his holy name eternally and forever.
Explanation and meaning of Psalm 145
The following is the biblical commentary on Psalm 145 in a concrete and detailed way. The intention of this analysis is to give you a guide for prayer and reflection, which you can supplement with your own thoughts and background knowledge.
This commentary is made up of blocks of verses that are related to each other, highlighting the most important points of each one of them. We hope you find it helpful!
- Psalm 145:1-2
“I will exalt you, my God, my King,
And I will bless your name forever and ever.
Every day I will bless you,
And I will praise your name forever and ever.“
Already from the first verse of Psalm 145, David addresses God directly, speaking to him on a one-to-one basis, as you can see in “I will exalt you” or “your name” among others.
This tells us a lot about the power of the psalm and how we should pray. When we pray, it is important to speak to God with an open heart, without looking for alternative routes. He hears us when we speak to Him, all we need is faith.
The importance of perpetuity also stands out here. David emphasizes this with three different expressions: every day, eternally and forever. God’s love goes beyond our ephemeral human lives, and what less can we do than dedicate every minute of it to him.
- Psalm 145:3
“Great is Jehovah, and worthy of supreme praise;
And his greatness is inscrutable.”
The third verse of the psalm is one of the most beautiful verses of the psalm because of its profound meaning. The Lord is infinite and fully deserves our praise, which cannot be half-hearted or indecisive.
There is no way to understand the greatness of the Lord, since our limited human minds are only capable of seeing finite things of our day-to-day life. Let us praise God without doubting, his nature will always be an incomprehensible unknown, although his love is something we undoubtedly receive.
- Psalm 145:4-7
“Generation to generation will celebrate your works,
And will announce your mighty deeds.
In the beauty of the glory of your magnificence,
And on your marvelous deeds I will meditate.
Of the power of your stupendous deeds men will speak,
And I will publish your greatness.
They will proclaim the memory of your immense goodness,
And they will sing of your righteousness.”
With these four verses, David puts an end to these statements about the future that will govern the ideology of his people for generations to come, reaching us with the same value as in their origin.
He emphasizes the importance of transmitting the Word of God from generation to generation, explaining what it is like to live close to the Lord and follow in his footsteps day after day. Only in this way will we achieve a world full of happiness and love, with a collaborative society that is dedicated to advancing together and never seeking evil.
Christianity and the promotion of the Holy Scriptures is not something that belongs only to a few. The entire religious community must collaborate within its limits and conditions of life.
- Psalm 145:8-9
“Gracious and merciful is Jehovah,
Slow to anger, and great in mercy.
Jehovah is good to all,
And his mercies upon all his works.”
The two verses in this block give a surprisingly faithful description of God, close to our conception of God in Christianity.
As you may know, the Old Testament scriptures often speak of a God who, although deep down is good and wants the best for his faithful, is easy to anger and provoke his wrath in the form of misfortunes and natural disasters.
This vision of God as a benevolent and merciful being shows the great evolution of David throughout his life. Only with faith and prayer was David able to achieve this marvelous transformation; and we must follow in his footsteps.
- Psalm 145:10-13
“Praise be to thee, O Jehovah, for all thy works,
And may your saints bless you.
The glory of your kingdom say,
And talk about your power,
To make known to the sons of men his mighty deeds,
And the glory of the magnificence of his kingdom.
Your kingdom is the kingdom of all ages,
And thy lordship in all generations.”
The Lord created the world, and we are part of his creation. He is praised for His work, which glorifies Him from the humble earthly position.
The kingdom of God does not belong to this world and transcends epochs, territories and rulers. Moreover, all rulers and powerful people should submit to the power of God, since God rises above them.
Thus, all the people of the world are invited to live close to God, to love and praise him with all their souls. Let’s let the rest know the wonders of his work, and may they manage to live happily and peacefully.
- Psalm 145:14-17
“Jehovah upholds all who fall,
And he lifts up all the oppressed.
Everyone’s eyes are waiting for you,
And you give them their food in their own time.
You open your hand,
And you shower blessing on every living thing.
Righteous is the LORD in all his ways,
And merciful in all his works.”
David again stresses here the good and merciful character of the Lord, now from other points of view and with more practical examples.
God will help all those who humbly approach him for help in times of need, sadness, oppression or poverty. Those who seek God through prayer and good conduct will find Him, thus solving their problems.
Verse 17 summarizes very well what David means: the Lord is just and merciful. This represents a paradigm shift in religion not seen since the time when Moses led the Jewish people out of Egypt and gave them the first Holy Scriptures.
- Psalm 145:18
“Jehovah is near to all who call upon him,
To all who call upon him in truth.”
Receiving God’s help and love is something you can achieve if you really want it. Using the Lord as a being to be asked when needed is not Christian behaviour and will not be rewarded.
Prayer must be accompanied by thanksgiving and actions that support this faith. Without this, prayer is a selfish act that only seeks personal satisfaction, something far removed from the relationship with God described in the Bible and defended by Christians.
- Psalm 145:19-21
“He will fulfill the desire of those who fear him;
He will also hear their cry and save them.
Jehovah keeps all those who love him,
But he will destroy all the wicked.
The praise of the LORD shall my mouth proclaim;
And let all bless his holy name eternally and forever.”
Psalm 145 ends with three verses that could perfectly be memorized and recited from time to time, thus culminating a very powerful prayer of praise that leaves no one indifferent.
The Lord will act in love with those who act in love. This phrase best sums up the last lines of this precious psalm.
Reflection on Psalm 145
We hope you have seen and admired the power of Psalm 145 with our prayer guide. Now, we leave you an ideal sentence for after our commentary in video format with which you will finish understanding the topics we have discussed.
Who wrote Psalm 145
Psalm 145 was the last Psalm written by King David, and it is placed at the end of the Book of Psalms, after all the other psalms of this prophet. Although it is the last psalm of David, it is not the last psalm of the book, since after this one there are five more psalms with no known author and with a similar structure.
Given its late elaboration, it is easy to recognize David’s maturation regarding his knowledge of God and how to worship Him. In Your Bible Online, you can find many other psalms written by David, which you can compare with this one and confirm what we are telling you.
At the time David wrote the Psalm, he was already reigning over all the united people of Israel, having defeated the enemies of the Lord who promoted the worship of pagan deities.
It is not strange then that this is a psalm of praise, very different from other psalms of suffering or repentance that David himself wrote in his times of exile and struggle.
This has been all about Psalm 145 of the Bible! Now you know a new prayer of praise to the Lord that you can use when you need it most, in addition to many other things you have learned.
If you liked this article, don’t forget to share it with your loved ones, so that everyone can enjoy the Word of God. We say goodbye here, recommending Psalm 116 and thanking the Lord for the life we have.
See you next time!