Worthy.Bible » Parallel » Psalms » Chapter 111 » Verse 4

Psalms 111:4 King James Version (KJV)

4 He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered: the LORD is gracious and full of compassion.


Psalms 111:4 King James Version with Strong's Concordance (STRONG)

4 He hath made H6213 his wonderful works H6381 to be remembered: H2143 the LORD H3068 is gracious H2587 and full of compassion. H7349


Psalms 111:4 American Standard (ASV)

4 He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered: Jehovah is gracious and merciful.


Psalms 111:4 Young's Literal Translation (YLT)

4 A memorial He hath made of His wonders, Gracious and merciful `is' Jehovah.


Psalms 111:4 Darby English Bible (DARBY)

4 He hath made his wonders to be remembered: Jehovah is gracious and merciful.


Psalms 111:4 World English Bible (WEB)

4 He has caused his wonderful works to be remembered. Yahweh is gracious and merciful.


Psalms 111:4 Bible in Basic English (BBE)

4 Certain for ever is the memory of his wonders: the Lord is full of pity and mercy.

Cross Reference

Ephesians 1:6-8 KJV

To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;

1 Corinthians 11:24-26 KJV

And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.

Romans 5:20-21 KJV

Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

Psalms 78:4-8 KJV

We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done. For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments: And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.

Joshua 4:21-24 KJV

And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones? Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land. For the LORD your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were gone over: That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the LORD your God for ever.

Joshua 4:6-7 KJV

That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones? Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever.

Deuteronomy 31:19-30 KJV

Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel. For when I shall have brought them into the land which I sware unto their fathers, that floweth with milk and honey; and they shall have eaten and filled themselves, and waxen fat; then will they turn unto other gods, and serve them, and provoke me, and break my covenant. And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are befallen them, that this song shall testify against them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know their imagination which they go about, even now, before I have brought them into the land which I sware. Moses therefore wrote this song the same day, and taught it the children of Israel. And he gave Joshua the son of Nun a charge, and said, Be strong and of a good courage: for thou shalt bring the children of Israel into the land which I sware unto them: and I will be with thee. And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished, That Moses commanded the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying, Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee. For I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been rebellious against the LORD; and how much more after my death? Gather unto me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to record against them. For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days; because ye will do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands. And Moses spake in the ears of all the congregation of Israel the words of this song, until they were ended.

Exodus 34:6-7 KJV

And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.

Exodus 13:14-15 KJV

And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this? that thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand the LORD brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage: And it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that the LORD slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of beast: therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all that openeth the matrix, being males; but all the firstborn of my children I redeem.

Exodus 12:26-27 KJV

And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the LORD's passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped.

Micah 7:18-19 KJV

Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 111

Commentary on Psalms 111 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary


Introduction

Alphabetical Song in Praise of God

With Psalms 111:1-10 begins a trilogy of Hallelujah-Psalms. It may be appended to Psalms 110:1-7, because it places the “for ever” of Psalms 110:4 in broader light in relation to the history of redemption, by stringing praise upon praise of the deeds of Jahve and of His appointments. It stands in the closest relationship to Psalms 112:1-10. Whilst Psalms 111:1-10, as Hitzig correctly says, celebrates the glory, might, and loving-kindness of Jahve in the circle of the “upright,” Psalms 112:1-10 celebrates the glory flowing therefrom and the happiness of the “upright” themselves, of those who fear Jahve. The two Psalms are twin in form as in contents. They are a mixture of materials taken from older Psalms and gnomical utterances; both are sententious, and both alphabetical. Each consists of twenty-two lines with the twenty-two letters of the alphabet at the beginning,

(Note: Böttcher transposes the verses in Psalms 111:1-10, and in Psalms 112:5 corrects יכלכל into וכלכל ; in the warmth of his critical zeal he runs against the boundary-posts of the letters marking the order, without observing it.)

and every line for the most part consists of three words. Both songs are only chains of acrostic lines without any strophic grouping, and therefore cannot be divided out. The analogous accentuation shows how strong is the impression of the close relationship of this twin pair; and both Psalms also close, in Psalms 111:9 and Psalms 111:10, with two verses of three members, being up to this point divided into verses of two members.


Verses 1-10

That which the poet purposes doing in Psalms 111:1, he puts into execution from Psalms 111:2 onwards. ועדה , according to Psalms 64:7; Psalms 118:14, is equivalent to ועדתם . According to Psalms 111:10 , הפציהם in Psalms 111:2 apparently signifies those who find pleasure in them (the works of God); but חפצי = חפצי (like שׂמחי , Isaiah 24:7 = שׂמחי ) is less natural than that it should be the construct form of the plural of חפץ , that occurs in three instances, and there was no need for saying that those who make the works of God the object of their research are such as interest themselves in them. We are led to the right meaning by לכל־חפצו in 1 Kings 9:11 in comparison with Isaiah 44:28; Isaiah 46:10, cf. Isaiah 53:10, where חפץ signifies God's purpose in accordance with His counsel: constantly searched into, and therefore a worthy object of research ( דרשׁ , root דר , to seek to know by rubbing, and in general experimentally, cf. Arab. drâ of knowledge empirically acquired) according to all their aims, i.e., in all phases of that which they have in view. In Psalms 111:4 זכר points to the festival which propagates the remembrance of the deeds of God in the Mosaic age; טרף , Psalms 111:5, therefore points to the food provided for the Exodus, and to the Passover meal, together with the feast of unleavened bread, this memorial ( זכּרון , Exodus 12:14) of the exemption in faithfulness to the covenant which was experienced in Egypt. This Psalm, says Luther, looks to me as though it had been composed for the festival of Easter. Even from the time of Theodoret and Augustine the thought of the Eucharist has been connected with Psalms 111:5 in the New Testament mind; and it is not without good reason that Psalms 111:1-10 has become the Psalm of the church at the celebration of the Lord's Supper. In connection with הגּיד one is reminded of the Pesach-Haggada. The deed of redemption which it relates has a power that continues in operation; for to the church of Jahve is assigned the victory not only over the peoples of Canaan, but over the whole world. The power of Jahve's deeds, which He has made known to His people, and which they tell over again among themselves, aims at giving them the inheritance of the peoples. The works of His hands are truth and right, for they are the realization of that which is true and which lasts and verifies itself, and of that which is right, that triumphantly maintains its ground. His ordinances are נאמנים (occasionally pointed נאמנים ), established, attested, in themselves and in their results authorizing a firm confidence in their salutariness (cf. Psalms 19:8). סמוּכים , supported, stayed, viz., not outwardly, but in themselves, therefore imperturbable (cf. סמוּך used of the state of mind, Psalms 112:8; Isaiah 26:3). עשׂוּים , moulded, arranged, viz., on the part of God, “in truth, and upright;” ישׂר is accusative of the predicate (cf. Psalms 119:37), but without its being clear why it is not pointed וישׁר . If we have understood Psalms 111:4-6 correctly, then פּדוּת glances back at the deliverance out of Egypt. Upon this followed the ratification of the covenant on Sinai, which still remains inviolable down to the present time of the poet, and has the holiness and terribleness of the divine Name for a guarantee of its inviolability. The fear of Jahve, this holy and terrible God, is the beginning of wisdom - the motto of the Chokma in Job (Job 28:28) and Proverbs (Proverbs 1:7; Proverbs 9:10), the Books of the Chokma . Psalms 111:10 goes on in this Proverbs-like strain: the fear of God, which manifests itself in obedience, is to those who practise them (the divine precepts, פקודים ) שׂכל טּוב (Proverbs 13:15; Proverbs 3:4, cf. 2 Chronicles 30:22), a fine sagacity, praiseworthy discernment - such a (dutiful) one partakes of everlasting praise. It is true, in glancing back to Psalms 111:3 , תּהלּתו seems to refer to God, but a glance forward to Psalms 112:3 shows that the praise of him who fears God is meant. The old observation therefore holds good: ubi haec ode desinit, sequens incipit (Bakius).