Psalm 117

Psalms 117:1-2

At two verses this is the Psalter's shortest psalm and, by the standard count, the shortest chapter in the whole Bible, yet its reach is the widest in the book: O praise the Lord, all ye nations, praise him, all ye people, addressed to the Gentile world rather than to Israel alone. Paul quotes it at Rom 15:11 as his last proof text in a chain of Old Testament witnesses that the Gentiles were always meant to glorify God for his mercy, the little psalm's whole content pressed into one line of an apostolic argument. The ground given for the praise is stated at once, his merciful kindness is great toward us, and the truth of the Lord endureth for ever, kindness and truth paired as the Old Testament regularly pairs them, and the psalm closes where the Hallel psalms around it close, Praise ye the Lord, Hallelujah in the Hebrew.