World English Bible
- A praise psalm by David. I will exalt you, my God, the King. I will praise your name forever and ever.
- Every day I will praise you. I will extol your name forever and ever.
- Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised! His greatness is unsearchable.
- One generation will commend your works to another, and will declare your mighty acts.
- I will meditate on the glorious majesty of your honor, on your wondrous works.
- Men will speak of the might of your awesome acts. I will declare your greatness.
- They will utter the memory of your great goodness, and will sing of your righteousness.
- The LORD is gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and of great loving kindness.
- The LORD is good to all. His tender mercies are over all his works.
- All your works will give thanks to you, LORD. Your saints will extol you.
- They will speak of the glory of your kingdom, and talk about your power,
- to make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, the glory of the majesty of his kingdom.
- Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. Your dominion endures throughout all generations. The LORD is faithful in all his words, and loving in all his deeds.
- The LORD upholds all who fall, and raises up all those who are bowed down.
- The eyes of all wait for you. You give them their food in due season.
- You open your hand, and satisfy the desire of every living thing.
- The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and gracious in all his works.
- The LORD is near to all those who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
- He will fulfill the desire of those who fear him. He also will hear their cry, and will save them.
- The LORD preserves all those who love him, but he will destroy all the wicked.
- My mouth will speak the praise of the LORD. Let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.
After Psalm 144’s longing for deliverance and peace, Psalm 145 shows us what victory is for: not David’s fame, but God’s kingdom. This is the last psalm of David in the Psalter, and it is no small thing that a king ends by calling someone else “my God, the King.” David’s final wisdom is surrender. The mature saint does not become more self-important, but more God-centered. He does not cling to his story; he hands the crown back.
Psalm 145 is also the only psalm explicitly called a tehillah—a praise. And it is written as an acrostic, moving letter by letter through the Hebrew alphabet. It is an A-to-Z of worship. Yet almost immediately the psalm says God’s greatness is “unsearchable.” That is the tension: even if you gave God the whole alphabet, you would still not have said enough.
There is an arresting textual detail here that many Western readers never hear. In the traditional Hebrew text, the line for one letter—nun—appears to be missing. But the ancient Greek translation and a Dead Sea Scroll preserve it: the Lord is faithful in all his words and gracious in all his deeds. That little gap preaches. Our praise is handed down through fragile memory, worn manuscripts, and imperfect generations. Yet what survives the gap is God’s faithfulness. His people may stammer; his character does not.
And what kind of King is he? In the ancient Near East, kings advertised themselves on stone inscriptions by listing cities conquered, tribute seized, and enemies crushed. Archaeology has given us plenty of that imperial boasting. Psalm 145 gives us another kind of royal glory: he upholds those who fall, raises those bowed down, gives food in season, opens his hand, and satisfies the desire of every living thing. The greatest throne in the universe is not marked first by a clenched fist, but by an open hand.
At the center of the psalm stands the old revelation from Exodus 34:6–7: the Lord is gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and great in steadfast love. Notice what this means. The deepest truth about God’s kingship comes from the moment after Israel’s great rebellion with the golden calf. In Scripture, the throne is interpreted by mercy. God’s rule is not less than justice—verse 20 makes that clear—but mercy is not an afterthought in his kingdom. It is part of his royal name.
This is why Psalm 145 feels so much like Jesus. David’s greater Son feeds the hungry, lifts the bent-over, welcomes those who call on him in truth, and announces an everlasting kingdom. “Bowed down” in this psalm is not vague religious language. It includes those bent by grief, poverty, shame, age, and long disappointment. The King notices them.
And the psalm will not let praise stay private. One generation must declare his works to another. A silent church is a forgetful church.
Suggested cross-references: Exodus 34:6–7; Matthew 6:26–30; Luke 13:10–17; Revelation 11:15
Hymn suggestion: O Worship the King
Prayer:
King of glory and mercy, teach my mouth to praise you and my life to
make your goodness visible. Uphold what is falling in me, lift what is
bowed down, and make me faithful to tell the next generation who you
are. Amen.