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115. Psalm 115

¹ Not to us, LORD, not to us
but to your name be the glory,
because of your love and faithfulness.

    ² Why do the nations say,
   “Where is their God?”
³ Our God is in heaven;
   he does whatever pleases him.
⁴ But their idols are silver and gold,
   made by human hands.
⁵ They have mouths, but cannot speak,
   eyes, but cannot see.
⁶ They have ears, but cannot hear,
   noses, but cannot smell.
⁷ They have hands, but cannot feel,
   feet, but cannot walk,
   nor can they utter a sound with their throats.
⁸ Those who make them will be like them,
   and so will all who trust in them.

    ⁹ All you Israelites, trust in the LORD—
   he is their help and shield.
¹⁰ House of Aaron, trust in the LORD—
   he is their help and shield.
¹¹ You who fear him, trust in the LORD—
   he is their help and shield.

    ¹² The LORD remembers us and will bless us:
   He will bless his people Israel,
   he will bless the house of Aaron,
¹³ he will bless those who fear the LORD—
   small and great alike.

    ¹⁴ May the LORD cause you to flourish,
   both you and your children.
¹⁵ May you be blessed by the LORD,
   the Maker of heaven and earth.

    ¹⁶ The highest heavens belong to the LORD,
   but the earth he has given to mankind.
¹⁷ It is not the dead who praise the LORD,
   those who go down to the place of silence;
¹⁸ it is we who extol the LORD,
   both now and forevermore.

Praise the LORD. Hebrew Hallelu Yah

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.