The last verse sums up all the preceding picture of growth, prosperity, and tranquillity, and traces it to the guardian care and blessing of Jehovah. The psalmist may seem to have been setting too much store by outward prosperity. His last word not only points to the one Source of it, but sets high above the material consequences of God's favour, joyous as these are, that favour itself, as the climax of human blessedness.
1 א I will exalt Thee, my God, O King, And I will bless Thy name for ever and aye. 2 ב Every day will I bless Thee, And I will praise Thy name for ever and aye. 3 ג Great is Jehovah and much to be praised, And of His greatness there is no searching. 4 ד Generation to generation shall loudly praise Thy works And Thy mighty acts shall they declare. 5 ה The splendour of the glory of Thy majesty, And the records of Thy wonders will I meditate. 6 ו And the might of Thy dread acts shall they speak, And Thy greatness will I tell over.
7 ז The memory of Thy abundant goodness shall they well forth, And Thy righteousness shall they shout aloud. 8 ח Gracious and full of compassion is Jehovah, Slow to anger and great in loving-kindness. 9 ט Good is Jehovah to all, And His compassions are upon all His works. 10 י All Thy works thank Thee, Jehovah, And Thy favoured ones shall bless Thee.
11 כ The glory of Thy kingdom shall they speak, And talk of Thy might; 12 ל To make known to the sons of men His mighty deeds And the glory of the splendour of His kingdom. 13 מ Thy kingdom is a kingdom for all ages, And Thy dominion [endures] through every generation after generation.
14 ס Jehovah upholds all the falling, And raises all the bowed down. 15 ע The eyes of all look expectantly to Thee, And Thou givest them their food in its season. 16 פ Thou openest Thy hand, And satisfiest every living thing [with] its desire. 17 צ Jehovah is righteous in all His ways, And loving in all His works. 18 ק Jehovah is near to all who call on Him, To all who call on Him in truth. 19 ר The desire of them that fear Him He will fulfil, And their cry He will hear and will save them. 20 ש Jehovah keeps all who love Him, And all the wicked will He destroy.
21 ת The praise of Jehovah my mouth shall speak, And let all flesh bless His holy name for ever and aye.
This is an acrostic psalm. Like several others of that kind, it is slightly irregular, one letter (Nun) being omitted. The omission is supplied in the LXX. by an obviously spurious verse inserted in the right place between vv. 13 and 14. Though the psalm has no strophical divisions, it has distinct sequence of thought, and celebrates the glories of Jehovah's character and deeds from a fourfold point of view. It sings of His greatness (vv. 1-6), goodness (vv. 7-10), His kingdom (vv. 11-13), and the universality of His beneficence (vv. 14-21). It is largely coloured by other psalms, and is unmistakably of late origin.
The first group of verses has two salient characteristics--the accumulation of epithets expressive of the more majestic aspects of Jehovah's self-revelation, and the remarkable alternation of the psalmist's solo of song and the mighty chorus, which takes up the theme and sends a shout of praise echoing down the generations.
The psalmist begins with his own tribute of praise, which he vows shall be perpetual. Ver. 1 recalls Psalms xxx. 1 and xxxiv. 1. We "exalt" God, when we recognise that He is King, and worthily adore Him as such. A heart suffused with joy in the thought of God would fain have no other occupation than the loved one of ringing out His name. The singer sets "for ever and aye" at the end of both ver. 1 and ver. 2, and while it is possible to give the expression a worthy meaning as simply equivalent to _continually_, it is more in harmony with the exalted strain of the psalm and the emphatic position of the words to hear in them an expression of the assurance which such delight in God and in the contemplation of Him naturally brings with it, that over communion so deep and blessed, Death has no power. "Every day will I bless Thee"--that is the happy vow of the devout heart. "And I will praise Thy name for ever and ever"--that is the triumphant confidence that springs from the vow. The experiences of fellowship with God are prophets of their own immortality.