Psalm 117
2 verses · KJVPsalms book hub →
Psalms 117:1-2
O praise the Lord, all ye nations: 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.
Psalms 117:1, 1 voiceWhat preachers and commentators have said about these verses, in their own words.
Psalms 117:1
“The original words are the same that are used for the heathen that rage and the people that imagine against Christ ( Ps. ii. 1 ); those that had been enemies to his kingdom should become his willing subjects. The gospel of the kingdom was to be preached to all the world, for a witness to all nations, Matt. xxiv.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Psalms 117:1
- Quoted inRomans 15:11And again: “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and extol Him, all you peoples.”
'Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles'
Psalms 117:2, 2 voices
Psalms 117:2
“For his merciful kindness is great toward us. By which is meant not only his great love toward the Jewish people, but towards the whole family of man. The Lord is kind to us as his creatures, and merciful to us as sinners, hence his merciful kindness to us as sinful creatures. This mercy has been very great, or powerful. The mighty grace of God has prevailed even as the waters of the flood prevailed over the earth: breaking over all bounds, it has flowed towards all portions of the multiplied race of man.”
Charles Spurgeon· The Treasury of David, Vol. 5 (1878)Particular (Reformed) Baptist / Five-point Calvinist / 1689 LBCF / 19th-c. evangelical
Psalms 117:2
“There is a great deal of gospel in this psalm. The apostle has furnished us with a key to it ( Rom. xv. 11 ), where he quotes it as a proof that the gospel was to be preached to, and would be entertained by, the Gentile nations, which yet was so great a stumbling-block to the Jews.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Where the chapter sits
Psalms 117 falls in Book V: Hallel and Hallelujah (chapters 107–150). Songs of Ascents (120–134); Hallel (113–118); Great Hallel (136); Torah-praise acrostic Ps 119; fivefold Hallelujah doxology (146–150) as the Psalter's close.
Before it: Book IV: YHWH reigns, chapters 90–106.
The whole shape of Psalms→Key words
The Hebrew words this chapter turns on, by how often it uses them. Each one opens its word study.
| Word | What it means | Verses |
|---|---|---|
| הָלַלhâlal2 times, as הַֽלְל֣וּ, הַֽלְלוּ־ | praise | 1, 2 |
| יְהֹוָהYᵉhôvâh2 times, as יְ֭הוָה, יְהוָ֥ה | yahweh | 1, 2 |
Cross references
The 6 chapters this one speaks with, most first. Open a row for the verses it shares.
Revelation 151 verse
Psalms 117:1
Revelation 15:4Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.- Read Revelation 15 →
Romans 151 verse
Psalms 117:1
Romans 15:11And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all ye people.- Read Romans 15 →
Psalms 671 verse
Psalms 117:1
Psalms 67:3Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee.- Read Psalms 67 →
Isaiah 251 verse
Psalms 117:2
Isaiah 25:1O Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.- Read Isaiah 25 →
The rest of the chapters this one speaks with, 2 of them, for a reader following a thread past the four above
- Psalms 1031 verse
- Psalms 1001 verse
Cross-references from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and OpenBible.info.
The world behind itThe place, the time and the people around this chapter, for a reader who wants the setting.
The world behind this chapter
Psalms 117The history
Two verses. It is the shortest chapter in the Bible, and its brevity is the design: a summons, a reason, and a shout. Short liturgical pieces like this worked as responses that a whole crowd could sing back without rehearsal.
The two words holding it up are the pair Israel used for God's covenant character, his loyal, promise-keeping love, and his truth or reliability. Those are the same two words God spoke about himself to Moses after the golden calf, so a hearer knew the whole story standing behind them.
What makes it startling is the address. It does not call Israel to praise; it calls the nations and all the peoples. In a world where each nation had its own gods and stayed with them, telling foreigners to praise Israel's God was a claim about who owned them.
It sits in the middle of the Hallel, between a thanksgiving for personal rescue and the great processional psalm that follows, so it was sung by families at the Passover table every year.
What it meant to them
Israel was a small nation between empires. This song has it summoning the world, on the grounds that God's faithfulness to Israel is the world's good news too.
Sung at Passover, it meant the rescue from Egypt was never intended to stay a family story.
Sources cited
- Charles H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David on Psalm 117
- Keil and Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament , Psalms
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Psalms 117. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on Charles Spurgeon and Matthew Henry.