Psalm 147

Psalm 147

Praise

In this psalm

God is highlighting

many of the things he does for us.

God wants our response to be

to

Thank Him and Praise Him.

And in this psalm,

God gives some pearls of wisdom

for those who really want

to dig deep and

run after God with their whole heart.

A Musical Psalm 147

to Begin

Verse 1

Praise ye the Lord:

for it is good to sing praises unto our God;

for it is pleasant; and praise is comely.

Comely

The Hebrew word translated comely

means

Becoming, fitting, lovely

We begin this psalm with a command from God

to

Praise HIM!

Have you

praised him yet - today?

Praise the Lord!

For it is good to sing praises to

our [gracious and majestic] God;

Praise is becoming and appropriate.

Psalm 147:1 AMP

I encourage you

to stop here and praise God for something

he has given you...

God, I praise you and thank you for ________________.

Verses 2-3

2 The Lord doth build up Jerusalem:

he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel.

3 He healeth the broken in heart,

and bindeth up their wounds.

God's love reaches out -

to build, to gather, to heal, to bind up wounds.

Verse 4

He telleth the number of the stars;

he calleth them all by their names.

God knows the number of the stars.

God knows everything about them.

He has even named them.

Verse 5

5 Great is our Lord,

and of great power:

his understanding is infinite.

 Great is the Lord,

and greatly to be praised;

and

his greatness is unsearchable.

Psalm 145:3 KJV

-

As we realize

how

Great

God is,

he wants us to respond with 

Praise to Him!

Verse 6

 The Lord lifteth up the meek:

he casteth the wicked down to the ground.

God lifts up and God casts down.

Take note:

Our choices influence our position.

Meekness = lifted up

Wicked choices = downward spiral

Looking at the word 

"Meek"

Biblically Speaking 

A meek person

is one who

is a strong follower of God...

One who is strong in obedience.

He is 

controlled by God's Word not his own will.

. 

A Meek  Person

is strong

but his strength is under control

because

he is under the authority of God.

The Bible also specifically tells us that sheltering

PRIDE

inside us

puts us in a position to spiritually fall.

We often see

that

Pride comes before a fall.

A man's pride shall bring him low.

Proverbs 29:23 KJV

Pride goeth before destruction,

and an haughty spirit

before a fall.

Proverbs 16:18 KJV

PRIDE

Below is a link about "meekness" you might like to visit

 http://jesusalive.cc/ques100.htm

Verse 7

 Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving;

sing praise upon the harp unto our God:

Verse 7 gives us

our proper response to

who God is and what God does.

Verses 8-9

8 Who covereth the heaven with clouds,
who prepareth rain for the earth,
who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains.

9 He giveth to the beast his food,
and to the young ravens which cry.

 Almighty God is one who

PREPARES

ahead.

-

God prepares ahead

in order to bless

all his creation.

God is never caught unprepared.

Has it ever occurred to you

that nothing

has ever occurred to God?

Part of his preparation

for us

is to create and cover the sky

with clouds

so that

the

rain is ready for dropping

and so that

the grass will grow

upon the mountains and upon

all the living places on earth.

Verse 10

 He delighteth not in the strength of the horse:

he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man.

Physical Strength 

is not what delights God.

-

God delights

in a heart

that is right toward him.

- 

“But the Lord said to Samuel,

'Don’t judge by his appearance or height,

for I have rejected him.

The Lord doesn’t see things the way

you see them.

People judge by outward appearance,

but the Lord looks at the heart.'”

1 Samuel 16:7 NLT

Verse 11

The Lord taketh pleasure in them that

fear him,

in those that hope in his mercy.

Let's look at the phrase:

Taketh Pleasure

Some translations

write the word

"favor"

instead of

"taketh pleasure"

for verse eleven.

For example:

The Lord favors those who fear and worship

Him

[with awe-inspired reverence and obedience],

Those who wait for His

mercy and lovingkindness.

Psalm 147:11 AMP

In the KJV,

the words "taketh pleasure"

are translated from the Hebrew word

 ratsah.

Its definition is - 

to be pleased with, accept favorably

So we see that the Hebrew word

is not just talking about

being pleased with,

but also has to do with

favoring them as well.

Fear of the Lord

Fear of the Lord

Fear of the Lord is a phrase

that

stands for

a way of looking at God

and it includes

a way of living our life

with the awareness of the seriousness

of the Words 

that God puts in the Bible - 

both enjoyable words

and

judgment words that are linked to sin.

Many Bible verses

give us warnings

and

if

we have

a healthy fear of the Lord,

we will

heed the warnings. 

-

Also take note:

-

Take note that 

Proverbs 8:13 NKJV tells us

"The fear of the Lord is to hate evil."

As you grow in your fear of the Lord -

it means that you will grow

to hate evil (not people but evil deeds)

and

you will grow to want holiness in your life.

Below are two videos

that give a

greater understanding of the phrase:

The Fear of the Lord

More understanding

If

you do not have

enough

fear of the Lord

to actively

avoid sin and a sinful life,

what

does that

imply about

your spiritual life?

I have a page called

The

Fear of the Lord

which has a lot more

understanding and insights into this topic.

Click here to visit.

Verse 12

Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem;

praise thy God, O Zion.

Verse 12

Praise is our appropriate response

to the God who is

all Powerful and all Knowing and all Loving!

Verse 13

For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates;

he hath blessed thy children within thee.

The gates of a city represent...

Protection

Nehemiah 3:3

talks about

how the city gates were designed

and made strong...

"Now the sons of Hassenaah
built the Fish Gate;
they laid its beams and set up its doors
with its bolts and its bars."

Nehemiah 3:3 AMP

In this verse, God says that

for

those who fear him,

he strengthens our protection

and the protection (and blessings) of our children.

This Psalm 147:13 scripture

is a reference to how God blesses

a person

or a

people-group or a nation

who respects and follows him.

Verse 14

He maketh peace in thy borders,

and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat.

As we get closer to God,

we experience peace with God

and peace with his Word.

And the second part of the verse

- filleth thee with the finest of the wheat -

reminds us of that God gives many other

wonderful blessings.

to those who follow him closely.

 He [God] fills my life with good things! 

Psalm 103:5 TLB

Verses 15-18

15 He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth: his word runneth very swiftly.

16 He giveth snow like wool: he scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes.

17 He casteth forth his ice like morsels: who can stand before his cold?

18 He sendeth out his word, and melteth them: he causeth his wind to blow,
and the waters flow.

 What does God do?

God supernaturally -

giveth, 

scattereth,

casteth forth,

sendeth,

melteth

and he causeth.

Note: Hoarfrost is a type of frost.

Verse 19

19 He sheweth his word unto Jacob,

his statutes and his judgments unto Israel.

God sheweth (shows) or reveals his WORD to us.

He guides us into understanding as we read his Word.

Jacob wrestled with God

and then God re-named him Israel.

Israel means "God prevails"

Jacob and Israel are the same man.

So...

Why is God using

both Jacob and Israel

in this verse?

I have a theory about

why God uses Jacob and Israel

in the same verse (or close proximity)

in various parts of the Bible.

The theory doesn't apply to every single one

of the instances

but it does apply in a large amount of instances.

If you are interested,

see part 5 on this page - click: Here

Below is more information

on some of the words

in this verse.

A Section about Hebrew Words

then

we continue Psalm 147 verse 20.

Showeth - in verse 19

05046   //  dgn  //  nagad   //  naw-gad'  // 

a primitive root; TWOT - 1289; v

AV - tell 222, declare 63, shew 59, utter 5, shew forth 3, expound 2,
messenger 2, report 2, misc 13; 370

1) to be conspicuous, tell, make known
1a) (Hiphil) to tell, declare
1a1) to tell, announce, report
1a2) to declare, make known, expound
1a3) to inform of
1a4) to publish, declare, proclaim
1a5) to avow, acknowledge, confess
1a5a) messenger (participle)
1b) (Hophal) to be told, be announced, be reported

Word - verse 19  - He sheweth his word

01697   //  rbd  //  dabar   //  daw-baw'  // 

from   01696  ; TWOT - 399a; n m

AV - word 807, thing 231, matter 63, acts 51, chronicles 38,
saying 25, commandment 20, misc 204; 1439

1) speech, word, speaking, thing
1a) speech
1b) saying, utterance
1c) word, words
1d) business, occupation, acts, matter, case, something, manner
(by extension)

Statutes - in verse 19

02706   //  qx  //  choq   //  khoke  // 

from   02710  ; TWOT - 728a; n m

AV - statute 87, ordinance 9, decree 7, due 4, law 4, portion 3,
bounds 2, custom 2, appointed 1, commandments 1, misc 7; 127

1) statute, ordinance, limit, something prescribed, due
1a) prescribed task
1b) prescribed portion
1c) action prescribed (for oneself), resolve
1d) prescribed due
1e) prescribed limit, boundary
1f) enactment, decree, ordinance
1f1) specific decree
1f2) law in general
1g) enactments, statutes
1g1) conditions
1g2) enactments
1g3) decrees
1g4) civil enactments prescribed by God

Judgments  - in verse 19

04941   //  jpvm  //  mishpat   //  mish-pawt'  // 

from   08199  ; TWOT - 2443c; n m

AV - judgment 296, manner 38, right 18, cause 12, ordinance 11,
lawful 7, order 5, worthy 3, fashion 3, custom 2, discretion 2,
law 2, measure 2, sentence 2, misc 18; 421

1) judgment, justice, ordinance
1a) judgment
1a1) act of deciding a case
1a2) place, court, seat of judgment
1a3) process, procedure, litigation (before judges)
1a4) case, cause (presented for judgment)
1a5) sentence, decision (of judgment)
1a6) execution (of judgment)
1a7) time (of judgment)
1b) justice, right, rectitude (attributes of God or man)
1c) ordinance
1d) decision (in law)
1e) right, privilege, due (legal)
1f) proper, fitting, measure, fitness, custom, manner, plan

Verse 20

20 He hath not dealt so with any nation:

and as for his judgments,

they have not known them.

Praise ye the Lord.

~

In the Old Testament,

God honored the Jewish people

with blessings

that he did not give other nations.

Yet,

Gentiles were able to join the Jewish people.

Here are examples:

There were Egyptians who joined Moses.

There was Rahab.

There was Ruth ...great- grandmother of David.

~

Psalm 117

proclaims that God is a God for all peoples.

Consider visiting our page:

Psalm 117  

I am so glad

that I have been graphed into God's family!

(Romans 11:17)

For a look at all our Psalm pages:

Our list of Psalms

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