Psalms 144:15
in Psalms 144Blessed are the people of whom this is so; blessed are the people whose God is the LORD.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Happy is the people that is in such a case; Yea, happy is the people whose God is Jehovah.
KJV
Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the Lord.
⋯
This verse in Psalms 144
Commentary
15 notes on this verseThey called blessed the people who have these things. Many, not knowing, think such people blessed. But for us there is Christian simplicity: we do not want Platonic eloquence, but we want the apostolic simplicity of fishermen. This one holds the net, has feet and hands muddied from the work; this one has a calloused hand from the work. Blessed the people whose God is their Lord. Blessed is the people, who instead of all riches have Christ. Those people have sons and daughters, and storehouses, fruitful sheep, oxen fat and sleek and comely.
This site's exposition
Our oxen will bear great loads
on Psalms 144:14-15
Strong oxen, walls with no breach and streets with no cry of lament fill out the land at rest. Verse 15 says blessed twice, and the second names the people whose God is the LORD. Spurgeon read that line as the reason for the rest.
This site's exposition
whose God is the LORD
Matthew Henry heard the second blessing correct the first: the psalmist began to praise prosperity and turned to people who have the LORD. Augustine gave the first line to the strangers of verse 11. In a letter he called the second line the brief, true answer to what happiness is.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
Since we know that you are devoted to the public welfare, you must see how plainly the sacred writings show that the happiness of the state has no other source than the happiness of humankind. One of the sacred writers, filled with the Holy Spirit, speaks thus as he prays: "Rescue me out of the hand of strange children, whose mouth has spoken vanity, and their right hand is the right hand of iniquity; whose sons are as new plants in their youth; their daughters decked out, adorned round about after the similitude of a temple; their storehouse full, flowing out of this into that; their sheep fruitful in young, abounding in their goings forth; their oxen fat. There is no breach of wall nor passage nor crying out in their streets. They have called the people happy that have these things, but happy is the people whose God is the Lord."You see that a people is not called happy because of an accumulation of earthly good fortune, except by the "strange children," that is, by those who do not belong to the regeneration by which we become children of God. The psalmist prays to be rescued out of their hand, lest he be drawn by them into that false opinion and into their impious sins. Truly they speak vanity when they "have called the people happy that have these things"—the things that he had listed above, in which that good fortune consisted, the only good fortune that the lovers of this world seek. Therefore, "their right hand is the right hand of iniquity" because they have preferred those things that should have been set aside, as the right hand is preferred to the left. Happiness in life is not to be attributed to the possession of those things; they should be subordinate, not preeminent; they are intended to follow, not to lead. […]
Now, you know, I think, not only the nature of your prayer but its object, and you have learned this not from me but from him who has deigned to teach us all. Happiness is what we must seek and what we must ask of the Lord God. Many arguments have been fashioned by many people about the nature of happiness, but why should we turn to the many people or the many arguments? Brief and true is the word in the Scripture of God: "Happy is the people whose God is the Lord." That we may belong to that people and that we may be able to attain to contemplation of him and to eternal life with him, "the end of the commandment is charity from a pure heart and a good conscience, and an unfeigned faith." Among those same three, hope is put for a good conscience. "Faith therefore, and hope and charity," lead the praying soul to God, that is, the believing and hoping and desiring soul who attends to what he asks of the Lord in the Lord's Prayer. Fasting and abstinence from other pleasures of carnal desire—with due regard for our health—and especially almsgiving are great helps to prayer, so that we may be able to say: "In the day of my trouble I sought God with my hands lifted up to him in the night, and I was not deceived." How is it possible to seek an incorporeal God who cannot be felt with the hands, unless he is sought by good works?
"They have called the people blessed who have these things" (ver. 15). O men that speak vanity! They have lost the true right hand, wicked and perverse, they have put on the benefits of God inversely. O wicked ones, O speakers of vanity, O strange children! What was on the left hand, they have set on the right. What dost thou, David? What dost thou, Body of Christ? What do ye, members of Christ? What do ye, not strange children, but children of God? ...What say ye? Say ye with us, "Blessed is the people whose Lord is their God."
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
The psalmist began to say, as most do, Happy are the people that are in such a case; those are blessed that prosper in the world. But he immediately corrects himself: Yea, rather, happy are the people whose God is the Lord, who have his favour, and love, and grace, according to the tenour of the covenant, though they have not abundance of this world's goods.
In singing this psalm we may give God the glory of our spiritual privileges and advancements, and fetch in help from him against our spiritual enemies; we may pray for the prosperity of our souls, of our families, and of our land; and, in the opinion of some of the Jewish writers, we may refer the psalm to the Messiah and his kingdom.
7 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Happy is that people that is in such a case,....
The Nineteenth Century6 voices
Happy is that people that is in such a case. Such things are not to be overlooked. Temporal blessings are not trifles, for the miss of them would be a dire calamity. It is a great happiness to belong to a people so highly favoured. Yea, happy is that people, whose God is the Lord. This comes in as an explanation of their prosperity. Under the Old Testament Israel had present earthly rewards for obedience: when Jehovah was their God they were a nation enriched and flourishing.
Happy is that people that is in such a case. Such things are not to be overlooked. Temporal blessings are not trifles, for the miss of them would be a dire calamity. It is a great happiness to belong to a people so highly favoured. Yea, happy is that people, whose God is the Lord. This comes in as an explanation of their prosperity. Under the Old Testament Israel had present earthly rewards for obedience: when Jehovah was their God they were a nation enriched and flourishing. This sentence is also a sort of correction of all that had gone before; as if the poet would say—all these temporal gifts are a part of happiness, but still the heart and soul of happiness lies in the people being right with God, and having a full possession of him. Those who worship the happy God become a happy people. Then if we have not temporal mercies literally we have something better: if we have not the silver of earth we have the gold of heaven, which is better still. In this psalm David ascribes his own power over the people, and the prosperity which attended his reign, to the Lord himself. Happy was the nation which he ruled; happy in its king, in its families, in its prosperity, and in the possession of peace; but yet more in enjoying true religion and worshipping Jehovah, the only living and true God.
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3365: “Pictures of Happiness” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
proposed
SOMETIMES God's people are unhappy when they ought to be happy. God observes this. Therefore He tells them when they possess the materials of happiness and gives them a description of the peace and prosperity of those who are truly happy men. Thus recollecting the choice mercies which surround them and not attaching so much importance to the little trials of the day, they may become of God's mind and feel themselves to be as happy as He declares they are. The pure in spirit are said by our Savior to be blessed.
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3365: “Pictures of Happiness” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
proposed
SOMETIMES God's people are unhappy when they ought to be happy. God observes this. Therefore He tells them when they possess the materials of happiness and gives them a description of the peace and prosperity of those who are truly happy men. Thus recollecting the choice mercies which surround them and not attaching so much importance to the little trials of the day, they may become of God's mind and feel themselves to be as happy as He declares they are. The pure in spirit are said by our Savior to be blessed. They often think themselves to be cursed and feel as if there were no blessing for them. But blessed they are, for Jesus knows whom He has blessed! And though God's people are sometimes, in their own consciences, unhappy, they are a happy people and to be congratulated on their condition notwithstanding. They have reasons for happiness. They have satisfactory grounds for happiness. They have springs of happiness. They have future prospects of happiness. If you are God's people, you cannot err in exorcising faith about this thing. You are numbered with those who are the happiest people under Heaven! The text speaks not only of the persons, but also of the condition of God's people—a condition which I believe is, to a great extent, parallel to our own as a Christian Church. It seems to me that we have, according to the Gospel standard of interpretation, all the privileges, all the blessednesses, which, in the verse preceding the text, David ascribes to this happy people. I shall ask you, therefore, to look at these things, that each particular may be an incentive to gratitude. He declares here— I. THE ELEMENTS OF HAPPINESS. First, David accounts those to be a happy people who are in a healthy and vigorous condition. The sons have "as plants grown up in their youth.
Happy is that people - “O how happy are the people!” Such were his people; and they had not only all this secular happiness, but they had Jehovah for their God; and in him had a ceaseless fountain of strength, protection, earthly blessings, and eternal mercies! A people in such a case to rebel, must have the curse of God and man.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Happy is that people that is in such a case - In such a condition; or, where these things prevail. Yea, happy is that people, whose God is the Lord - Whose God is Yahweh; who worship and serve Him as their God. The worship of Yahweh - the religion of Yahweh - is “adapted” to make a people happy; peaceful; quiet; blessed. Prosperity and peace, such as are referred to in the previous verses, are, and must be, the result of pure religion. Peace, order, abundance, attend it everywhere, and the best security for a nation’s prosperity is the worship of God; that which is most certain to make a nation happy and blessed, is to acknowledge God and to keep his laws.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
Our princes are borne The great princes among us are borne by those smaller than they, for the small ones obey the greater ones, the result being that there is no breach among us.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אַשְׁרֵ֣י | ʾashrei | how blessed! | H835 → | 45 times |
| הָ֭עָם | haom | [is] the people | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| שֶׁכָּ֣כָה | shekakhah | that thus | H3602 → | |
| לּ֑וֹ | lo | for it | ||
| אַֽשְׁרֵ֥י | ʾashrei | how blessed! | H835 → | 45 times |
| הָ֝עָ֗ם | haam | [is] the people | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| שֶׁיֲהוָ֥ה | sheyahweh | that Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֱלֹהָֽיו׃ | ʾelohav | [is] God its | H430 → | 2601 times |
אַשְׁרֵ֣יhow blessed!
ʾashreiH835 →45 times
הָ֭עָם[is] the people
haomH5971 →1873 times
שֶׁכָּ֣כָהthat thus
shekakhahH3602 →
לּ֑וֹfor it
lo
אַֽשְׁרֵ֥יhow blessed!
ʾashreiH835 →45 times
הָ֝עָ֗ם[is] the people
haamH5971 →1873 times
שֶׁיֲהוָ֥הthat Yahweh
sheyahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֱלֹהָֽיו׃[is] God its
ʾelohavH430 →2601 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Ephesians 1:3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms.
it leads to
- 1 Peter 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
- 2 Corinthians 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,
- Ephesians 2:6
And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
- Genesis 22:18
And through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
- Revelation 5:9–14
And they sang a new song: “Worthy are You to take the scroll and open its seals, because You were slain, and by Your blood You purchased for God those from every tribe and…
- 1 Peter 1:3
Through
Psalms 65:4Blessed is the one You choose and bring near to dwell in Your courts! We are filled with the goodness of Your house, the holiness of Your temple.
it leads to
- Psalms 33:12
Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people He has chosen as His inheritance!
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Ephesians 1:4
For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence. In love
- Psalms 33:12
Through
Psalms 146:5Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God,
it leads to
- Jeremiah 17:7–8
But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him.
- Jeremiah 17:7–8
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Psalms
This page draws on 14 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, On the Psalms, Psalm 144; Augustine of Hippo, Letter 130; Augustine of Hippo, LETTER 155; Augustine of Hippo, LETTER 130; Augustine of Hippo, ON THE PSALMS, Psalm 144; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 7; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3365: “Pictures of Happiness” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; Jerome, Homily 54, on Psalm 143; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.