1 Hallelujah!
Praise Jehovah from the heavens,
Praise Him in the heights.
2 Praise Him, all His angels,
Praise Him, all His host.
3 Praise Him, sun and moon,
Praise Him, all stars of light.
4 Praise Him, heavens of heavens,
And waters that are above the heavens--
5 Let them praise the name of Jehovah,
For He, He commanded and they were created.
6 And He established them for ever and aye,
A law gave He [them] and none transgresses.
7 Praise Jehovah from the earth,
Sea-monsters, and all ocean-depths;
8 Fire and hail, snow and smoke,
Storm-wind doing His behest;
9 Mountains and all hills,
Fruit trees and all cedars;
10 Wild beast and all cattle,
Creeping thing and winged fowl;
11 Kings of the earth and all peoples,
Princes and all judges of the earth;
12 Young men and also maidens,
Old men with children--
13 Let them praise the name of Jehovah,
For His name alone is exalted,
His majesty above earth and heaven.
14 And He has lifted up a horn for His people,
A praise for all His beloved,
[Even] for the children of Israel, the people near to Him.
Hallelujah!
The mercy granted to Israel (ver. 14) is, in the psalmist's
estimation, worthy to call forth strains of praise from all
creatures. It is the same conception as is found in several of
the psalms of the King (xciii.-c.), but is here expressed with
unparalleled magnificence and fervour. The same idea attains the
climax of its representation in the mighty anthem from "every
creature which is in heaven and on the earth, and under the earth,
and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them," whom John
heard saying, "Blessing and honour and glory and power unto Him
that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever."
It may be maintained that this psalm is only a highly emotional
and imaginative rendering of the truth that all God's works praise
Him, whether consciously or not, but its correspondence with a
line of thought which runs through Scripture from its first page
to its last--namely, that, as man's sin subjected the creatures to
"vanity," so his redemption shall be their glorifying--leads us to
see prophetic anticipation, and not mere poetic rapture, in this
summons pealed out to heights and depths, and all that lies between,
to rejoice in what Jehovah has done for Israel.
The psalm falls into two broad divisions, in the former of which
heaven, and in the latter earth, are invoked to praise Jehovah.
Ver. 1 addresses generally the subsequently particularised heavenly
beings. "From the heavens" and "in the heights" praise is to
sound: the former phrase marks the place of origin, and may imply
the floating down to a listening earth of that ethereal music;
the latter thinks of all the dim distances as filled with it. The
angels, as conscious beings, are the chorus-leaders, and even to
"principalities and powers in heavenly places" Israel's restoration
reveals new phases of the "manifold wisdom of God." The "host" (or
_hosts_, according to the amended reading of the Hebrew margin) are
here obviously angels, as required by the parallelism with _a_. The
sun, moon, and stars, of which the psalmist knows nothing but that
they burn with light and roll in silence through the dark expanse,
are bid to break the solemn stillness that fills the daily and
nightly sky. Finally, the singer passes in thought through the lower
heavens, and would fain send his voice whither his eye cannot pierce,
up into that mysterious watery abyss, which, according to ancient
cosmographry, had the firmament for its floor. It is absurd to look
for astronomical accuracy in such poetry as this; but a singer who
knew no more about sun, moon, and stars, and depths of space, than
that they were all God's creatures and in their silence praised Him,
knew and felt more of their true nature and charm than does he who
knows everything about them except these facts.
Vv. 5, 6, assign the reason for the praise of the heavens--Jehovah's
creative act, His sustaining power and His "law," the utterance of
His will to which they conform. Ver. 6_a_ emphatically asserts, by
expressing the "He," which is in Hebrew usually included in the
verb, that it is Jehovah and none other who "preserves the stars
from wrong." "Preservation is continuous creation." The meaning of
the close of ver. 6_b_ is doubtful, if the existing text is adhered
to. It reads literally "and [it?] shall not pass." The unexpressed
nominative is by some taken to be the before-mentioned "law," and
"pass" to mean _cease to be in force_ or _be transgressed_. Others
take the singular verb as being used distributively, and so render
"None of them transgresses." But a very slight alteration gives the
plural verb, which makes all plain.
In these starry depths obedience reigns; it is only on earth that a
being lives who can and will break the merciful barriers of Jehovah's
law. Therefore, from that untroubled region of perfect service
comes a purer song of praise, though it can never have the pathetic
harmonies of that which issues from rebels brought back to allegiance.
The summons to the earth begins with the lowest places, as that to
the heavens did with the highest. The psalmist knows little of the
uncouth forms that may wallow in ocean depths, but he is sure that
they too, in their sunless abodes, can praise Jehovah. From the ocean
the psalm rises to the air, before it, as it were, settles down on
earth. Ver. 8 may refer to contemporaneous phenomena, and, if so,
describes a wild storm hurtling through the lower atmosphere. The
verbal arrangement in ver. 8_a_ is that of inverted parallelism, in
which "fire" corresponds to "smoke" and "hail" to "snow." Lightning
and hail, which often occur together, are similarly connected in
Psalm xviii. 12. But it is difficult to explain "snow and smoke,"
if regarded as accompaniments of the former pair--fire and hail.
Rather they seem to describe another set of meteorological phenomena,
a winter storm, in which the air is thick with flakes as if
charged with smoke, while the preceding words refer to a summer's
thunderstorm. The resemblance to the two pictures in the preceding
psalm, one of the time of the latter rains and one of bitter winter
weather, is noticeable. The storm-wind, which drives all these
formidable agents through the air, in its utmost fury is a servant.
As in Psalm cvii. 25, it obeys God's command.
The solid earth itself, as represented by its loftiest summits which
pierce the air; vegetable life, as represented by the two classes
of fruit-bearing and forest trees; animals in their orders, wild
and domestic; the lowest worm that crawls and the light-winged bird
that soars,--these all have voices to praise God. The song has been
steadily rising in the scale of being from inanimate to animated
creatures, and last it summons man, in whom creation's praise becomes
vocal and conscious.
All men, without distinction of rank, age, or sex, have the same
obligation and privilege of praise. Kings are most kingly when they
cast their crowns before Him. Judges are wise when they sit as His
vicegerents. The buoyant vigour of youth is purest when used with
remembrance of the Creator; the maiden's voice is never so sweet as
in hymns to Jehovah. The memories and feebleness of age are hallowed
and strengthened by recognition of the God who can renew failing
energy and soothe sad remembrances; and the child's opening powers
are preserved from stain and distortion, by drawing near to Him in
whose praise the extremes of life find common ground. The young man's
strong bass, the maiden's clear alto, the old man's quavering notes,
the child's fresh treble, should blend in the song.
Ver. 13 gives the reason for the praise of earth, but especially
of man, with very significant difference from that assigned in vv.
5, 6. "His name is exalted." He has manifested Himself to eyes that
can see, and has shown forth His transcendent majesty. Man's praise
is to be based not only on the Revelation of God in Nature, but on
that higher one in His dealings with men, and especially with Israel.
This chief reason for praise is assigned in ver. 14, and indeed
underlies the whole psalm. "He has lifted up a horn for His people,"
delivering them from their humiliation and captivity, and setting
them again in their land. Thereby He has provided all His favoured
ones with occasion for praise. The condensed language of ver. 14_b_
is susceptible of different constructions and meanings. Some would
understand the verb from _a_ as repeated before "praise," and take
the meaning to be "He exalts the praise [_i.e._, the glory] of His
beloved," but it is improbable that praise here should mean anything
but that rendered to God. The simplest explanation of the words is
that they are in apposition to the preceding clause, and declare
that Jehovah, by "exalting a horn to His people," has given them
especially occasion to praise Him. Israel is further designated as "a
people near to Him." It is a nation of priests, having the privilege
of access to His presence; and, in the consciousness of this dignity,
"comes forward in this psalm as the leader of all the creatures in
their praise of God, and strikes up a hallelujah that is to be joined
in by heaven and earth" (Delitzsch).