Bible Commentaries
Psalms 145

Verses 1-21

Psalms 145:0

Characteristics - Psalms 145:0, made up of twenty-one verses, is an acrostic, with each verse beginning with a Hebrew letter of the alphabet. The Hebrew letter ( נ ) is the only letter that is missing of twenty-two Hebrew letters.

Theme - The key words in this Psalm are “works, acts, power, ways.”

Psalms 145:8 The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy.

Psalms 145:8 Scripture References - Note similar passages:

Exodus 34:6-7, “And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.”

Psalms 103:8, “The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.”

Jonah 4:2, “And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.”

Nehemiah 9:17, “And refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage: but thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not.”

Psalms 145:9 The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.

Psalms 145:10 All thy works shall praise thee, O LORD; and thy saints shall bless thee.

Psalms 145:10 Comments - Everything that God does brings praise unto His name. Not only do His blessings reveal His goodness and cause those recipients to praise Him, but His divine chastisement and judgments are also intended for a good purpose. God only brings judgment, no matter how severe, to produce something good in the end. He disciplines His children and they draw near to Him for deliverance. Even the judgment of sending the wicked to Hell will cause those who fear Him to give Him praise.

He judges and blesses because He is both holy and He is loving; therefore, all of His acts of judgment contain a divine purpose mixed with His love.

Psalms 145:14-20 Comments - Psalms 145:14-20 teach us that God will take care of every one of our needs. We read a similar verse in Philippians 4:19 which also promises us that God shall supply all of our needs according to His riches in glory; however, we know from a study of the epistle to the Philippians that they had partnered with God and met Paul’s needs. Therefore, God was committed to meet their needs. In other words, the Philippians took care of God’s needs first and He in turn took care of their needs. As God’s creation, we must all meet the same conditions of faith and obedience in order to receive from the hand of God. His hand is always open, but we must receive by His divine principles, or else we go lacking as many people do so in this life. In this corrupt world we see much poverty and lack because of the sins of mankind and not because of God wills that anyone go lacking in anything. Thus, in the next verses (Psalms 145:17-20), the Psalmist explains the conditions that must be met for His creatures to receive His blessings. His blessings are reserved for those who fear Him and who call upon Him in a true heart. He will protect those who love Him, but to the wicked, God will not pour out His blessings, but rather His judgment.

Philippians 4:16, “For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity.”

Psalms 145:21 My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD: and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever.