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Psalm 115The Impotence of Idols and the Greatness of God1 Not to us, O L ord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness. 2 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”
3 Our God is in the heavens; he does whatever he pleases. 4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. 5 They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. 6 They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. 7 They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; they make no sound in their throats. 8 Those who make them are like them; so are all who trust in them.
9 O Israel, trust in the L ord! He is their help and their shield. 10 O house of Aaron, trust in the L ord! He is their help and their shield. 11 You who fear the L ord, trust in the L ord! He is their help and their shield.
12 The L ord has been mindful of us; he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron; 13 he will bless those who fear the L ord, both small and great.
14 May the L ord give you increase, both you and your children. 15 May you be blessed by the L ord, who made heaven and earth.
16 The heavens are the L ord’s heavens, but the earth he has given to human beings. 17 The dead do not praise the L ord, nor do any that go down into silence. 18 But we will bless the L ord from this time on and forevermore. Praise the L ord! New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by
permission. All rights reserved.
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12 Jehovah hath remembered us Many render the term bless in the past tense, he has blessed, it being the design of the prophet, according to them, to propose the past experience of God’s kindness as an encouragement to cherish good hope for the future: “We have already, from long experience, been taught how valuable the favor of our God is, because from this source alone have flowed our prosperity, our abundance, and our stability.” He assumes the principle, the truth of which ought to be admitted by all, that we neither enjoy prosperity nor happiness further than it pleases God to bless us. As often as the Israelites were rescued from manifold dangers, or succored in time of need, or treated in a friendly manner, so many palpable proofs had they of the loving-kindness of God towards them. As, however, there is no just cause to urge us to change the verb from the future into the past tense, it is quite in unison with the scope of the passage, if we say that the same blessing is here promised to the faithful which they have formerly realized. Thus the meaning will be, that God, mindful of his covenant, has hitherto been attentive to us; therefore, as he has begun to favor us, he will continue to do so for ever. In pronouncing these blessings, he observes the same order as above, assigning to the children of Aaron a superior place in God’s benediction, excluding from it those among the Israelites who were hypocrites. |