Psalm 138

Psalms 138:1-3

The Hebrew title reads simply By David, no occasion attached, and the psalm opens in an unhedged vow: I will praise thee with my whole heart, sung before the gods, a phrase the older writers read as the false gods of the nations, as the angelic council, or as earth's rulers, without settling which. He turns toward the holy temple and praises the name for lovingkindness and truth, then adds one striking clause, thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name, God's spoken promise weighed even above the name by which he reveals himself. The vow closes with the record it rests on, in the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul.

Psalms 138:4-6

The prayer widens to the nations, all the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O Lord, when they hear the words of thy mouth, a hope the older writers connect to the wider promise that God's word will reach every throne. They shall sing in the ways of the Lord because the glory of the Lord is great, praise following exposure to his word rather than preceding it. The psalm's turn is verse 6, though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly, but the proud he knoweth afar off, height and humility held together in the same God rather than balanced against each other.

Psalms 138:7-8

The psalm ends where confidence in trouble belongs, though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me, the same hand that answered the opening cry stretched forth now against the wrath of enemies. The last verse gathers the whole psalm into one plea, the Lord will perfect that which concerneth me, David's own unfinished work left in God's hands rather than his own, with the recurring refrain thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever set beside it. Forsake not the works of thine own hands closes the psalm as an appeal to God's own investment in the man he made and is still making, not a claim on David's merit.