Psalm 149
9 verses · Hallelujah psalm of praise
May the high praises of God be in their mouths, and a double-edged sword in their hands,
Introduction
Author unstated, the Victory Song, Book 5: The return and the great Hallelujah, Poetry, Psalms Overview.
The fourth of the closing praise psalms is a victory song, sung with dancing and drums. Its writer is not named. It holds together two things a modern reader may find hard to join, the joy of worship and the carrying out of God's judgment on the nations. Listen for the order the psalm keeps, praise first and the sword after, and for the note that the sentence was already written before anyone took it up. It is best read with the prophets who announced that judgment.
Context
- Who
- Israelites who had spent centuries on the losing end of other nations' armies
- Where
- A victory celebration, with dancing and drums in the assembly and swords in the hands of the singers
- When
- The closing Hallelujah psalms of the Psalter. No author and no event are named; the psalm belongs to the set of five sung to close the book
Historical context
The psalm names no author and no occasion, and a first hearer placed it by its form. After a victory the women came out with hand drums and danced, singing responses, as Miriam did at Exodus 15:20 after the sea. Ordinary houses had no separate bedrooms, so praise sung upon their beds means the celebration had followed people home. Then the song puts a short straight double edged blade in the same hands, and binding kings with chains and nobles with shackles of iron is what conquerors did. The phrase that governs the scene is the judgment written, since the prophets had already recorded God's sentences against the nations, and the psalm speaks of carrying out a verdict already handed down.
Significance
A subject people singing about binding kings in chains was making an enormous claim, and the psalm anchors it in the LORD's pleasure in His people and the salvation He gives the afflicted. The praises of God are in their mouths before the sword is in their hands, and the reversal belongs to God's calendar.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
Psalm 149 is the fourth of the final Hallel, which the book's structure file and the site's page at /featured/the-hallel both give as Psalms 146 to 150, the five psalms that open and close with Hallelujah and stand as the doxology of the whole Psalter. The psalm calls for a new song in the assembly of the faithful, with dance and the timbrel and the harp, and it ends with the two-edged sword in the hand and judgment on the nations. The corpus holds no liturgical locator for this chapter beyond the rabbinic references below, so this site records the collection and the reading.
How it is read
Rashi carries three comments with English text here, and the important one joins the psalm's two halves. He reads the high praises of God in the throat and the two-edged sword in the hand as one thing rather than two, saying that the praises "will be for them a double-edged sword" (Rashi on Psalms 149:6:1, the Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, CC-BY). On the last verse he reads the written judgment against the vengeance spoken of in Ezekiel, and meets the obvious objection himself. If it is asked how David could point to a prophet not yet born, his answer is that David prophesied about the end of the redemption, and that when the end comes the judgment will have been written long before. Ibn Ezra comments on eight verses, Radak on seven, Metzudat David on four and Malbim on two, and the corpus holds no English version of any of them on this chapter under a licence permitting quotation, so they stand as citations: Ibn Ezra on Psalms 149:1:1, Radak on Psalms 149:1:1, Metzudat David on Psalms 149:1:1, Malbim on Psalms 149:3:1.
What the rabbis say
The corpus records forty locators on this chapter, thirty-seven Midrash and three Talmud. The new song is taken up at Midrash Tehillim 149:1 and 149:2, Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Tractate Shirah 1:10 and Sifrei Devarim 343:2. Israel rejoicing in their Maker is taken up at Vayikra Rabbah 20:2, Pesikta DeRav Kahana 26:3 and three passages of Midrash Tanchuma on Acharei Mot. The LORD taking pleasure in His people is taken up at Midrash Tehillim 149:3, Pesikta DeRav Kahana 28:5 and Otzar Midrashim, Baraita of Rabbi Pinchas Ben Yair 1:18. The faithful singing on their beds is taken up at Berakhot 5a:4 and Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Tractate Pischa 14:7, the two-edged sword at Bamidbar Rabbah 11:3, Bereshit Rabbah 21:9 and Midrash Mishlei 2:7, and the binding of kings with chains at Devarim Rabbah 1:22, Shir HaShirim Rabbah 8:13:1 and Avodah Zarah 16b:13. Each is a locator without text in the corpus.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Psalms 149:6:1, 149:8:1 and 149:9:1, the Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, CC-BY; Ibn Ezra, Ibn Ezra on Psalms 149:1:1, cited only, no English version in the corpus; Radak, Radak on Psalms 149:1:1, cited only; Metzudat David, Metzudat David on Psalms 149:1:1, cited only; Malbim, Malbim on Psalms 149:3:1, cited only; Midrash, Midrash Tehillim 149:1, 149:2, 149:3 and 149:4, Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Tractate Shirah 1:10 and Tractate Pischa 14:7, Sifrei Devarim 343:2, Vayikra Rabbah 20:2, Pesikta DeRav Kahana 26:3 and 28:5, Bamidbar Rabbah 11:3, Bereshit Rabbah 21:9, Midrash Mishlei 2:7, Devarim Rabbah 1:22, Shir HaShirim Rabbah 8:13:1; Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 5a:4, Avodah Zarah 16b:13, Avot DeRabbi Natan, Recension B 25:5; MannaFest, the final Hallel, at /featured/the-hallel and in src/components/book/dossier-content/psalms-structure.ts, 2026.
Psalms 149:1-3
Sing to the LORD a new song—: The song is new. It is sung in the assembly of the godly, where Israel rejoices in the One who made them and Zion's children rejoice in their King. Spurgeon hears the dancing, the tambourine and the harp as the Red Sea triumph sung again, where Miriam led the women.
Psalms 149:1
“Praise ye the Lord. Specially you, ye chosen people, whom he has made to be his saints. You have praised him aforetime, praise him yet again; yea, for ever praise him. With renewed zeal and fresh delight lift up your song unto Jehovah. Sing unto the Lord a new song. Sing, for it is the fittest method for expressing reverent praise. Sing a hymn newly composed, for you have now a new knowledge of God.”
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 7 (1885)Particular Baptist
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Psalms 149:1
“Psalm 149 has been read, which has at its beginning: Sing to the Lord a new song. The holy presbyter has said that both the ninety-fifth psalm and the ninety-seventh have the same beginnings. The ninety-fifth psalm is headed with this title: A Psalm of David, when the house was being built after the captivity. The house of Christ is built after the captivity, that is, after repentance.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Homily 59, on Psalm 149patristic
let the children of Zion rejoice: Spurgeon reads the halves as nation and capital, Israel rejoicing in the One who formed it and Zion in the One who rules it. John Gill gives the Hebrew as Makers and names the Father, the Son and the Spirit. Albert Barnes adds God made the nation what it is.
Psalms 149:2
“Let Israel rejoice in him who made him. Let that man rejoice who sees God with the mind: for Israel is interpreted as "one seeing God with the mind." And let the sons of Zion exult in their king. Let the sons of the Church, the sons of the new people, exult in their king: in Christ, who reigns over them. You see how lightly we touch upon each of the highest points.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Homily 59, on Psalm 149patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Psalms 149:2
“All true Christians may call themselves the children of Zion, for in faith and hope we have come unto Mount Zion, Heb. xii. The saints must praise God, saints in profession, saints in power, for this is the intention of their sanctification; they are devoted to the glory of God, and renewed by the grace of God, that they may be unto him for a name and a praise.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
praise His name with dancing: The Hebrew word behind dancing is machol. Adam Clarke read it everywhere as a pipe, some kind of wind instrument. Albert Barnes kept the dance and took it as the measured, solemn movement of worship at 2 Samuel 6:14.
Psalms 149:3
“Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp. Thus let them repeat the triumph of the Red Sea, which was ever the typical glory of Israel. Miriam led the daughters of Israel in the dance when the Lord had triumphed gloriously; was it not most fit that she should? The sacred dance of devout joy is no example, nor even excuse, for frivolous dances, much less for lewd ones. Who could help dancing when Egypt was vanquished, and the tribes were free?”
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 7 (1885)Particular Baptist
1 more voice on this verse
Psalms 149:3
“Let them praise his name in the choir. Wherever there is a choir, there diverse voices are gathered together into one song. For just as diverse strings produce the one sound of a song, so also diverse voices — that is, when they have been gathered together at once — make the choir of the Lord. Let them praise his name in the choir: where there is dissension, where there is envy, there is no choir. Let them praise his name in the choir: let them sing praise to him on the timbrel and the psaltery.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Homily 59, on Psalm 149patristic
Psalms 149:4-5
the LORD takes pleasure in His people: His people are the LORD's pleasure, and the afflicted are the ones He adorns with salvation. The Hebrew word there is anav, the needy and the lowly. John Gill reads the glory of verse 5 as the glory put on them now, the saints shouting for joy upon their beds.
Psalms 149:4
“For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people; and therefore they should take pleasure in him. If our joy be pleasing to him let us make it full. What condescension is this on Jehovah's part, to notice, to love, and to delight in his chosen! Surely there is nothing in our persons, or our actions, which could cause pleasure to the Ever blessed One, were it not that he condescends to men of low estate. The thought of the Lord's taking pleasure in us is a mine of joy never to be exhausted. He will beautify the meek with salvation.”
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 7 (1885)Particular Baptist
2 more voices on this verse
Psalms 149:4
“For the Lord is well pleased with his people, and he will exalt the meek in salvation. "Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the earth." If, therefore, it is said there, Blessed are the meek — that is, the gentle — for they shall possess the earth; and here it is said, And he will exalt the meek in salvation; and these meek shall possess the earth by inheritance: therefore this earth is not below, but is above. For what does he say? He will exalt the meek in salvation.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Homily 59, on Psalm 149patristic
Psalms 149:4
“He will beautify them with salvation, with temporal salvations (when God works remarkable deliverances for his people those that had been among the pots become as the wings of a dove covered with silver, Ps. lxviii. 13 ), but especially with eternal salvation. The righteous shall be beautified in that day when they shine forth as the sun.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
shout for joy upon their beds: The beds have been read two ways. Albert Barnes hears songs in the meditations of the night, alone with God, and compares Job 35:10 and Acts 16:25. Adam Clarke takes the beds as the couches where guests reclined at a feast, so the praise rises at the banquet.
Psalms 149:5
“The saints shall exult in glory. In what glory? "Arise, my glory; arise, psaltery and lyre: I will arise at dawn." In glory. "For the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified" — that is, he had not yet been crucified. Scripture says this, The Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus had not been glorified, that is, he had not been crucified. The saints shall exult in glory. Why do I say all this? Because it is said, The saints shall exult in glory.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Homily 59, on Psalm 149patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Psalms 149:5
“But, whereas many scriptures in the New Testament keep up singing as a gospel-ordinance, none provide for the keeping up of music and dancing; the gospel-canon for psalmody is to sing with the spirit and with the understanding.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Psalms 149:6-7
a double-edged sword in their hands: Two things are asked at once. The high praises are in the mouth and a double-edged sword in the hand, and the word behind double-edged is pipiyyot, plural of peh, mouth. Henry names Jehoshaphat's army, which went to war singing while its sword did execution, at 2 Chronicles 20.
Psalms 149:6
“Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two edged sword in their hand. It seems they are not always on their beds, but are ready for deeds of prowess. When called to fight, the meek are very hard to overcome; they are just as steady in conflict as they are steadfast in patience. Besides, their way of fighting is of an extraordinary sort, for they sing to God but keep their swords in their hands.”
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 7 (1885)Particular Baptist
2 more voices on this verse
Psalms 149:6
“Let the high praises of God be in their mouth,.... Or "throats" (m); loudly declared by them.”
Psalms 149:6
“The exaltations of God are in their throat. Surely he who cries out does not cry out in the throat, but on the lips: that is, he does not cry out in the throat, but cries out on the lips. And how does he say here, The exaltations of God are in their throat? "Crying out in our hearts, Abba, Father." The voice that cries out to God is not of the lips, but is of the heart. Finally, the Lord says to Moses: "Why do you cry out to me?" And certainly Moses had said nothing.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Homily 59, on Psalm 149patristic
punishment on the peoples: Albert Barnes reads the nations as those who had wronged Israel, suggests the destroyers of the city, and compares Psalm 137:7 to 9. He calls it a just recompense from the hand of God. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown saw Israel's victories after the captivity as types of the gospel's triumphs.
Psalms 149:7
“To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people. This was once literally the duty of Israel: when they came into Canaan they fulfilled the righteous sentence of the Lord upon guilty nations. At this hour, under the gentler dispensation of grace, we wrestle not with flesh and blood; yet is our warfare none the less stern, and our victory none the less sure. All evil shall eventually be overthrown: the Lord shall display his justice against evildoers, and in that warfare his servants shall play their parts. The saints shall judge the world.”
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 7 (1885)Particular Baptist
1 more voice on this verse
Psalms 149:7
“The destruction of the incorrigibly wicked attends the propagation of God's truth, so that the military successes of the Jews, after the captivity, typified the triumphs of the Gospel.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Psalms 149:8-9
to bind their kings with chains: Kings are bound with chains and nobles with shackles of iron, and the judgment carried out on them is already written down. Matthew Henry names where that happened: Joshua on the kings of Canaan, Gideon on the princes of Midian, Samuel on Agag. The psalm calls this honor the saints'.
Psalms 149:8
“To bind their kings in fetters. Do you wish the peoples to be set free? bind the teachers. To bind the kings. He did not call them teachers, but kings: for they reign by the miseries of those people. To bind their kings in fetters. He put it well, in fetters: lest the teachers should run about too much, lest they deceive many, but let them be bound and stand still. And their nobles in iron chains. Their nobles. You may see them saying among the heretics: This man is learned, that one works signs, this one casts out demons.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Homily 59, on Psalm 149patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Psalms 149:8
“To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron. Thus are the greatest enemies of Jehovah and his people reduced to shame, rendered helpless, and themselves punished. This was Israel's boast in actual fact, it is ours spiritually. The chief powers of evil shall be restrained and ultimately destroyed. Those who made captives of the godly shall themselves be made captive.”
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 7 (1885)Particular Baptist
the judgment written against them: Albert Barnes looks for the written judgment in the law, at Deuteronomy 7:1 to 2 and 32:41 to 43. Charles Spurgeon holds every execution to the limit of its sentence and warrant. The Christian's commission, he writes, is mercy alone.
Psalms 149:9
“To execute upon them the judgment written. Israel as a nation had this to do, and did it, and then they rejoiced in the God who gave success to their arms. We praise our God after another fashion; we are not executioners of justice, but heralds of mercy. It would be a sad thing for any one to misuse this text: lest any warlike believer should be led to do so, we would remind him that the execution must not go beyond the sentence and warrant; and we have received no warrant of execution against our fellow men.”
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 7 (1885)Particular Baptist
2 more voices on this verse
Psalms 149:9
“That they may execute upon them the judgment that is written. What is the judgment that is written? That those who at first had denied God may afterward return through repentance. The judgment that is written: that they may loose their captives, that those whom they had bound, those whom they had led bound out of the Church, they may afterward set free in the Church. That they may execute upon them the judgment that is written. I speak in simpler words.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Homily 59, on Psalm 149patristic
Psalms 149:9
“To execute upon them the judgment written,.... In the law, according to the Targum; either upon the seven nations of the land of Canaan, Deu 7:12; or upon all the enemies of God and his people, Deu 32:41; or rather in the Gospel; which declares, that whoever believes in Christ shall be saved, but whoever believes not shall be damned, Mar 16:16. And according to this twoedged sword or word of God, and the sentence pronounced by it, and judgment written in it, things will everlastingly take place.”
How this psalm is built
The form: A praise psalm of the closing Hallel, sung as the new song of a people newly made a people, as Spurgeon classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| The new song | The phrase carries two readings and the commentators take both. Clarke reads new as excellent, the best song that can be pronounced. Barnes reads it as answering a new and special occasion. Spurgeon reads it as the new creation calling for it, since it was the LORD who made Israel to be Israel. The same phrase stands at Psalm 33:3, Isaiah 42:10 and Revelation 5:9.Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1832, on Psalm 149:1. | Psalm 149:1 |
| Dancing, drums and harp | Verse 3 names the instruments of a victory celebration rather than of the temple service. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown connect the dance with the terms around it as expressions of the great joy of the occasion. Exodus 15:20 shows the form itself, Miriam taking a tambourine and all the women following with tambourines and dancing after the sea.Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871, on Psalm 149:3. | Psalm 149:3 |
| Praise in the mouth, sword in the hand | Verse 6 puts the two in one sentence and in that order. The high praises of God are in their mouths and a double edged sword is in their hands, and the mouth is named first. Verses 7 and 8 then say what the sword is for and verse 9 says under what authority.Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 7, 1885, on Psalm 149:3. | Psalm 149:6, Psalm 149:7, Psalm 149:8 |
| The judgment written | Verse 9 names the warrant. The judgment is one already written, which puts the psalm's violence under a sentence handed down rather than a decision taken. The whole scene of verses 6 to 9 is governed by that clause and by the closing line, that this honour is for all His saints.Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871, on Psalm 149:4. | Psalm 149:9 |
The structure
8 more paragraphs on the patterns
Nine verses in two halves joined by a hinge. Verses 1 to 5 are the assembly, the new song, the Maker, the King, the dance, the pleasure God takes in His people, the shout upon the beds. Verses 6 to 9 are the sword, the vengeance, the kings in chains and the written judgment. Verse 6 is the hinge, and it holds both in one line with the praise first.
The prophecy and the New Testament's use
No New Testament writer quotes Psalm 149. Two of its images are taken up. The double edged sword of verse 6 is the figure Hebrews 4:12 uses for the word of God, sharper than any double edged sword and piercing to the dividing of soul and spirit. Revelation 19:15 puts a sharp sword in the mouth of the rider rather than in his hand. The new song of verse 1 is sung to the Lamb at Revelation 5:9.
The debate
Verses 6 to 9 are the contested part, and the question is who carries out the judgment and when. The reading that keeps closest to the text is that the psalm describes the execution of a sentence already recorded by the prophets, which is what the phrase the judgment written says. The honour of it belongs to God's people at a time He sets rather than to any army at a time it chooses. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown apply the same principle to the imprecatory psalms generally, that what is in view is God's righteous judgment rather than the passions of the one praying.
The history of the psalm's misuse is a warning attached to it, since a text about a verdict handed down has been read as a licence to hand one down. The psalm's own order, the praise in the mouth before the sword in the hand, and its own warrant, a judgment already written, are what hold it.
Where to go next
The site's page on the imprecatory psalms treats the whole group of psalms that ask God to judge, and how the church has read them.
Keep studying
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1832, on Psalm 149:1; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments, 1832 to 1869, on Psalm 149:1 and Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 7, 1885, on Psalm 149:2.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
The painting
The Hunters in the Snow. Pieter Brueghel the Elder, 1565. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.