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Psalm 111[a]

Praise of God for Goodness to Israel

Hallelujah!

I will praise the Lord with all my heart(A)
    in the assembled congregation of the upright.[b]
Great are the works of the Lord,
    studied by all who delight in them.
Majestic and glorious is his work,
    his righteousness endures forever.
He won renown for his wondrous deeds;
    gracious and merciful is the Lord.(B)
He gives food to those who fear him,[c]
    he remembers his covenant forever.
He showed his powerful deeds to his people,
    giving them the inheritance of the nations.
The works of his hands are true and just,
    reliable all his decrees,
Established forever and ever,
    to be observed with truth and equity.
He sent release to his people,
    decreed his covenant forever;
    holy and fearsome is his name.
10 [d]The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;(C)
    prudent are all who practice it.
    His praise endures forever.

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 111 A Temple singer (Ps 111:1) tells how God is revealed in Israel’s history (Ps 111:2–10). The deeds reveal God’s very self, powerful, merciful, faithful. The poem is an acrostic, each verse beginning with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
  2. 111:1 In the assembled congregation of the upright: in the Temple, cf. Ps 149:1.
  3. 111:5 Food to those who fear him: probably a reference to the manna in the desert, which elsewhere is seen as a type of the Eucharist, cf. Jn 6:31–33, 49–51.
  4. 111:10 The fear of the Lord: reverence for God.