Psalms / Chapter 147

Psalms 147

20 verses • Westminster Leningrad Codex

Translator's Introduction

What This Chapter Is About

The second of the Final Hallel psalms. This psalm celebrates the LORD as the one who rebuilds Jerusalem, gathers the exiles, heals the brokenhearted, and counts the stars by name. It moves between cosmic power and intimate care: the God who determines the number of the stars also binds up wounds. He provides rain for the earth, grass for the mountains, and food for the animals and the young ravens when they cry. He takes no pleasure in the strength of horses or in human legs — his delight is in those who fear him and who wait for his faithful love. The psalm calls Jerusalem and Zion to praise the LORD who has strengthened their gates, blessed their children, and established peace on their borders. He sends his word to the earth like snow and ice, then melts them with his wind. He has given his word (statutes and ordinances) to Jacob alone — no other nation knows his laws.

What Makes This Chapter Remarkable

The psalm's most stunning feature is its refusal to separate cosmic power from personal tenderness. Verse 4 says God counts the stars and calls each one by name — an act of naming that echoes Genesis 1, where naming signifies authority and intimate knowledge. The very next verse says he heals the brokenhearted and binds their wounds. The God who numbers the galaxies also treats bruises. This oscillation between the immense and the intimate is the psalm's theological engine. The section on weather (vv. 15-18) treats God's word as a physical force: he sends it out and it runs across the earth; he speaks and the ice melts. The psalm makes no distinction between natural processes and divine speech — weather is God talking.

Translation Friction

The LXX (Septuagint) divides this psalm into two separate psalms: 146 (= MT vv. 1-11) and 147 (= MT vv. 12-20). The Masoretic Text treats it as one psalm. The statement in verse 20 that God has not done this for any other nation — lo asah khen le-khol goy — raises questions about universalism and particularism. The psalm's cosmic theology (God feeds the ravens, covers the sky with clouds) seems to apply to all creation, but the final verses restrict God's revealed law to Israel alone. The tension between universal providence and particular revelation is left unresolved.

Connections

The image of God counting and naming the stars appears also in Isaiah 40:26. The healing of the brokenhearted echoes Isaiah 61:1. The feeding of the ravens connects to Job 38:41 and to Jesus's teaching in Luke 12:24. The statement that God takes no pleasure in horses or human strength echoes Psalm 33:16-17 and challenges the military theology of the ancient Near East. The weather imagery in verses 15-18 parallels Job 37-38, where God's control of snow, ice, and wind is presented as evidence of his sovereignty.

Psalms 147:1

הַ֥לְלוּ יָ֨הּ ׀ כִּי־ט֭וֹב זַמְּרָ֣ה אֱלֹהֵ֑ינוּ כִּ֝י נָעִ֗ים נָאוָ֥ה תְהִלָּֽה׃

Halleluyah! How good it is to sing to our God, how pleasant — praise is fitting.

KJV Praise ye the LORD: for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The opening halleluyah is followed by a reason: ki tov ('for it is good'). The verb zammerah ('to make music, to sing psalms') is directed to Elohenu ('our God') — the first-person plural claims communal ownership. The word na'im ('pleasant, lovely, delightful') and navah ('fitting, beautiful, appropriate') describe praise not as duty but as something that is both enjoyable and aesthetically right.
Psalms 147:2

בּוֹנֵ֣ה יְרוּשָׁלִַ֣ם יְהוָ֑ה נִדְחֵ֖י יִשְׂרָאֵ֣ל יְכַנֵּֽס׃

The LORD is building up Jerusalem. He gathers the scattered of Israel.

KJV The LORD doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The participle boneh ('building, one who builds') indicates ongoing action — the LORD is in the process of rebuilding. The nidche Yisrael ('the scattered/expelled ones of Israel') are the exiles, the dispersed community. The verse likely reflects a post-exilic setting where Jerusalem is being physically rebuilt and the diaspora is being regathered.
Psalms 147:3

הָ֭רֹפֵא לִשְׁב֣וּרֵי לֵ֑ב וּ֝מְחַבֵּ֗שׁ לְעַצְּבוֹתָֽם׃

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

KJV He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The ha-rofe ('the healer') is a participle describing God's ongoing activity. The shevure lev ('broken of heart') are those whose inner life has been shattered — by exile, grief, loss, or betrayal. The verb mechabesh ('binding up, bandaging') is a medical term applied to emotional and spiritual injury. God is physician to wounds that no human doctor can reach.
Psalms 147:4

מוֹנֶ֣ה מִ֭סְפָּר לַכּוֹכָבִ֑ים לְ֝כֻלָּ֗ם שֵׁמ֥וֹת יִקְרָֽא׃

He determines the number of the stars. He calls each of them by name.

KJV He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The image of God naming the stars appears also in Isaiah 40:26, where the prophet says God 'brings out their host by number, calling them all by name.' The connection between numbering and naming suggests a census: God takes roll call of the stars, and none is absent.
Psalms 147:5

גָּד֣וֹל אֲדוֹנֵ֣ינוּ וְרַב־כֹּ֑חַ לִ֝תְבוּנָת֗וֹ אֵ֣ין מִסְפָּֽר׃

Great is our Lord and vast in power. His understanding has no limit.

KJV Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The phrase rav koach ('great in power, vast in strength') and litevunato ein mispar ('to his understanding there is no number') create an ironic echo of verse 4: God can number the stars, but his own understanding cannot be numbered. The one who counts everything is himself uncountable.
Psalms 147:6

מְעוֹדֵ֣ד עֲנָוִ֣ים יְהוָ֑ה מַשְׁפִּ֖יל רְשָׁעִ֣ים עֲדֵי־אָֽרֶץ׃

The LORD sustains the humble. He brings the wicked down to the ground.

KJV The LORD lifteth up the meek: he casteth the wicked down to the ground.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The me'odded ('sustaining, encouraging, supporting') describes ongoing divine care for the anavim ('humble, afflicted, meek'). The contrast with the wicked uses the verb mashpil ('brings low, humbles, casts down') — the same vertical reversal seen throughout the Psalter: God lifts the low and lowers the high.
Psalms 147:7

עֱנ֣וּ לַיהוָ֣ה בְּתוֹדָ֑ה זַמְּר֖וּ לֵאלֹהֵ֣ינוּ בְכִנּֽוֹר׃

Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving. Make music to our God on the lyre.

KJV Sing unto the LORD with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God:

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The verb enu ('sing, respond, answer') introduces a new section of the psalm. The todah ('thanksgiving, acknowledgment, confession of praise') is both a genre of worship and a sacrifice (the todah offering). The kinnor ('lyre') is David's instrument, the foundational instrument of Israelite worship.
Psalms 147:8

הַֽמְכַסֶּ֣ה שָׁמַ֣יִם בְּעָבִ֑ים הַמֵּכִ֥ין לָ֝אָ֗רֶץ מָטָ֥ר הַמַּצְמִ֖יחַ הָרִ֣ים חָצִֽיר׃

He covers the sky with clouds. He prepares rain for the earth. He makes grass grow on the mountains.

KJV Who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. Three participles describe God's atmospheric work: mekhasseh ('covering'), mekhin ('preparing, establishing'), matsmyach ('making grow, causing to sprout'). The sequence traces the rain cycle: clouds cover the sky, rain falls on the earth, grass grows on the mountains. What meteorology describes as a water cycle, the psalm describes as divine action.
Psalms 147:9

נוֹתֵ֣ן לִבְהֵמָ֣ה לַחְמָ֑הּ לִבְנֵ֥י עֹ֝רֵ֗ב אֲשֶׁ֣ר יִקְרָֽאוּ׃

He gives the animals their food and the young ravens when they cry out.

KJV He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The behemah ('livestock, animals, beasts') and the bene orev ('young ravens, raven chicks') represent the breadth of God's provision — from domesticated animals to wild scavengers. The ravens' cry (yiqra'u, 'they call out') is treated as a prayer that God answers. This image appears in Job 38:41 and in Jesus's teaching in Luke 12:24.
Psalms 147:10

לֹ֤א בִגְבוּרַ֣ת הַסּ֣וּס יֶחְפָּ֑ץ לֹ֥א בְשׁוֹקֵ֖י הָאִ֣ישׁ יִרְצֶֽה׃

He does not delight in the strength of a horse. He takes no pleasure in the legs of a warrior.

KJV He delighteth not in the strength of the horse: he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The horse (sus) was the primary instrument of military superiority in the ancient Near East. Egypt was the major supplier of warhorses, and Israel's kings were repeatedly warned against multiplying horses (Deuteronomy 17:16). The pairing of horse-strength with human-leg-strength dismisses both cavalry and infantry as objects of divine approval.
Psalms 147:11

רוֹצֶ֣ה יְ֭הוָה אֶת־יְרֵאָ֑יו אֶת־הַמְיַחֲלִ֥ים לְחַסְדּֽוֹ׃

The LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who wait for his faithful love.

KJV The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.

Notes & Key Terms 1 term

Key Terms

חֶסֶד chesed
"faithful love" — faithful love, loyal kindness, covenant devotion, steadfast love, mercy

Those who wait for God's chesed are contrasted with those who trust in horses and human strength. The psalm's logic: military power passes (like the prince in 146:4), but chesed endures. The wise person stakes everything on what lasts.

Translator Notes

  1. The contrast with verse 10 is complete: God delights not in military power but in yere'av ('those who fear him') and ha-meyachalim le-chasdo ('those who wait/hope for his faithful love'). The verb yachal ('to wait, to hope') describes patient expectation — not passive resignation but active trust directed toward chesed. God's pleasure is in the posture of dependent trust, not in the posture of self-sufficient power.
Psalms 147:12

שַׁבְּחִ֣י יְ֭רוּשָׁלִַם אֶת־יְהוָ֑ה הַ֝לְלִ֗י אֱלֹהַ֥יִךְ צִיּֽוֹן׃

Praise the LORD, Jerusalem! Praise your God, Zion!

KJV Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem; praise thy God, O Zion.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The psalm's second major section begins with a direct address to Jerusalem and Zion — the city and its sacred hill. The imperatives shabbechi ('praise!') and halleli ('praise!') call the city itself to worship. In the LXX, this is where a new psalm (147) begins.
Psalms 147:13

כִּֽי־חִ֭זַּק בְּרִיחֵ֣י שְׁעָרָ֑יִךְ בֵּרַ֖ךְ בָּנַ֣יִךְ בְּקִרְבֵּֽךְ׃

For he has strengthened the bars of your gates. He has blessed your children within you.

KJV For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates; he hath blessed thy children within thee.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The berichei she'arayikh ('bars of your gates') are the heavy crossbeams that secured the city gates — the primary defense against invasion. God has made them strong. The parallel berakh banayikh ('he has blessed your children') moves from external security to internal flourishing. The city is both fortified and fertile.
Psalms 147:14

הַשָּׂם־גְּבוּלֵ֥ךְ שָׁל֑וֹם חֵ֥לֶב חִ֝טִּ֗ים יַשְׂבִּיעֵֽךְ׃

He establishes peace on your borders. He satisfies you with the finest wheat.

KJV He maketh peace in thy borders, and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat.

Notes & Key Terms 1 term

Key Terms

שָׁלוֹם shalom
"peace" — peace, wholeness, completeness, welfare, well-being, harmony, safety

Shalom here is not merely the absence of war but the active condition of wholeness at the borders. The city's edges — the places most vulnerable to attack — are defined by peace. This is peace as divine gift, not as human achievement.

Translator Notes

  1. The ha-sam gevulekh shalom ('the one who sets your border as peace') declares that God himself is the agent of peace at the borders — no enemy penetrates. The chelev chittim ('fat of wheat, finest wheat') represents the best of the grain harvest. The word chelev ('fat') is the choicest portion, the part offered to God in sacrifice. Now God gives the best back to the city.
Psalms 147:15

הַשֹּׁלֵ֣חַ אִמְרָת֣וֹ אָ֑רֶץ עַד־מְ֝הֵרָ֗ה יָר֥וּץ דְּבָרֽוֹ׃

He sends out his command to the earth. His word runs swiftly.

KJV He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth: his word runneth very swiftly.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The ha-sholeach imrato arets ('the one who sends his word/saying to the earth') personifies God's word as a messenger dispatched on a mission. The verb yaruts ('it runs') gives the word legs — it races across the landscape. The speed (ad meherah, 'up to swiftness, very fast') emphasizes that God's word encounters no resistance between intention and execution.
Psalms 147:16

הַנֹּתֵ֣ן שֶׁ֣לֶג כַּצָּ֑מֶר כְּ֝פ֗וֹר כָּאֵ֥פֶר יְפַזֵּֽר׃

He gives snow like wool. He scatters frost like ashes.

KJV He giveth snow like wool: he scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The similes are striking: snow like wool (ka-tsamer) — white, thick, blanketing the ground; frost like ashes (ka-efer) — pale, fine, dusting every surface. Both comparisons emphasize the covering quality of winter precipitation. The weather is not random but given (noten) and scattered (yefazzer) by God.
Psalms 147:17

מַשְׁלִ֣יךְ קַרְח֣וֹ כְפִתִּ֑ים לִפְנֵ֥י קָ֝רָת֗וֹ מִ֣י יַעֲמֹֽד׃

He hurls his ice like crumbs. Who can withstand his cold?

KJV He casteth forth his ice like morsels: who can stand before his cold?

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The verb mashlik ('he hurls, he throws') is violent — God does not gently lower the ice but flings it. The qarchoh ke-fittim ('his ice like crumbs/morsels') pictures hailstones or chunks of ice scattered like broken bread. The rhetorical question lifne qarato mi ya'amod ('before his cold, who can stand?') acknowledges that cold — a simple weather phenomenon — is an irresistible force of divine origin.
Psalms 147:18

יִשְׁלַ֣ח דְּבָר֣וֹ וְיַמְסֵ֑ם יַשֵּׁ֥ב ר֝וּח֗וֹ יִזְּל֥וּ מָֽיִם׃

He sends out his word and melts them. He blows his wind and the waters flow.

KJV He sendeth out his word, and melteth them: he causeth his wind to blow, and the waters flow.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The same devaro ('his word') that ran swiftly in verse 15 now melts the ice and snow of verses 16-17. The verb yamsem ('he melts them') shows the word as a warming force. The rucho ('his wind/spirit') — the same word for spirit and wind — blows and the frozen waters flow again. The cycle is complete: God sends cold and then sends warmth; he freezes and then thaws. All of it is his word at work.
Psalms 147:19

מַגִּ֣יד דְּבָרָ֣יו לְיַעֲקֹ֑ב חֻקָּ֥יו וּ֝מִשְׁפָּטָ֗יו לְיִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃

He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and judgments to Israel.

KJV He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The psalm shifts from God's word in nature (weather) to God's word in revelation (Torah). The maggid devarav le-Ya'aqov ('he declares his words to Jacob') uses the same verb for proclaiming that appeared in verse 15 for dispatching. The chuqqav u-mishpatav ('his statutes and his judgments') are the specific legal and moral instructions given to Israel — the Torah.
Psalms 147:20

לֹ֘א עָ֤שָׂה כֵ֨ן ׀ לְכׇל־גּ֗וֹי וּמִשְׁפָּטִ֥ים בַּל־יְדָע֗וּם הַֽלְלוּ־יָֽהּ׃

He has not done this for any other nation. They do not know his judgments. Halleluyah!

KJV He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise ye the LORD.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The final verse makes an exclusivity claim: lo asah khen le-khol goy ('he has not done so for any nation'). The revelation of Torah is unique to Israel. While God's providential care extends to all creation (vv. 8-9), his revealed will — his statutes and judgments — has been given to one people. The closing halleluyah seals the psalm's movement from cosmic praise to particular gratitude for Torah.
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