USB ~ Psalms 111

Praise of God for Goodness to Israel

1 Hallelujah! I will praise the LORD with all my hearta in the assembled congregation of the upright.†

2 Great are the works of the LORD, studied by all who delight in them.

3 Majestic and glorious is his work, his righteousness endures forever.

4 He won renown for his wondrous deeds; gracious and merciful is the LORD. b

5 He gives food to those who fear him,† he remembers his covenant forever.

6 He showed his powerful deeds to his people, giving them the inheritance of the nations.

7 The works of his hands are true and just, reliable all his decrees,

8 Established forever and ever, to be observed with truth and equity.

9 He sent release to his people, decreed his covenant forever; holy and fearsome is his name.

10 † The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; c prudent are all who practice it. His praise endures forever.

Footnotes

†. 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.

†. 111:1 In the assembled congregation of the upright: in the Temple, cf. Ps 149:1 .

†. 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 .

†. 111:10 The fear of the LORD: reverence for God.

111:1 Ps 138:1.
111:4 Ps 103:8; 112:4.
111:10 Prv 1:7; 9:10; Sir 1:16.