150 Praise the Lord!
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens!1
2 Praise him for his mighty deeds;
praise him according to his excellent greatness!
3 Praise him with trumpet sound;
praise him with lute and harp!
4 Praise him with tambourine and dance;
praise him with strings and pipe!
5 Praise him with sounding cymbals;
praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord!
Section Overview
This hymn closes the Psalter with its call for “everything that has breath” to praise the Lord with every kind of jubilant accompaniment. This psalm may have been intended for some particular liturgical use (say, the opening of a joyful service of celebration), but it now also serves as the final doxology of the whole book (cf. comment on 41:13). The list of musical instruments in 150:3–5, with its mixture of wind, strings, percussion, and rhythmic dance, gives the impression of loud song and ceaseless motion, with each worshiper’s whole body offering praise to God.
The song flows easily from beginning to end. There is a slight shift, however: the first section pictures the heavenly and earthly sanctuaries as the place of praise (vv. 1–2), while the second goes on to list all the physical vehicles of exuberant praise (vv. 3–6).
Section Outline
I. Praise God in the Sanctuary (150:1–2)
II. Praise Him with Music and Dance (150:3–6)
Response
The chief end of man is to glorify and enjoy God, and this psalm will not countenance any halfhearted effort at that, especially as it pertains to public worship. The Psalter has covered a wide range of human experience and motion—sorrow, fear, penitence, perplexity, thankfulness, joy, sadness—and has brought it all into the sanctuary, into the very presence of God and all his host. It all belongs there, and it all finds welcome before the Almighty. The last word is one of exuberant celebration, because the God whom the faithful worship is worthy of it and will, in the end, pour out his joy and holiness into their hearts; thus, they will find the fulfillment of their humanity in worship and praise.
Christians profess that Jesus has secured this eternal joy with his blood and that our present worship is but a foretaste and a training ground for what we will see forever.
I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying,
“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”
And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped. (Rev. 5:13–14)
Hallelujah!Psalm 150