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875 / 1113 · Psalms 117 · Return & Rebuilding · Undated; read here after the return (after 538 BC)

Two Verses for the Whole World

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Older readers remember the telegram. You paid by the word, so a whole family drama was squeezed into a line or two: 'Baby boy born. Mother well. Come soon.' Nothing wasted, nothing missing, and the whole house would gather to hear it read. Psalm 117 is the Bible's telegram. At just two verses it is the shortest chapter in the whole Bible, over in less time than it takes to read this sentence twice. Yet its address line is the largest in the Psalter. It is not sent to one family, or even to Israel. It is sent to every nation and every people on earth.

Where it sits in the story: From Abraham onward, the Bible's promise was that Israel's blessing would reach all peoples. After the return, Judah was small and vulnerable, but this psalm still speaks as if the whole world is its congregation. Sitting at the centre of the Hallel sung at Passover, it keeps Israel's memory of its own rescue from turning inward. In the New Testament, Paul quotes its first verse in Romans 15:11 to argue that Gentiles were always meant to praise Israel's God.

What this chapter is doing: To summon all nations to praise the LORD and to give the reason in the fewest possible words: his steadfast love toward his people is strong, and his faithfulness lasts forever.

Why it is read here: Books 4–5 of the Psalms carry few headings. Most scholars think the Psalter reached its final shape after the exile, so we read these untitled psalms at the close of the Old Testament story. Individual psalms may be much older.
The walk-through
  • 117:1 — Praise the LORD, all nations; extol him, all peoples. The invitation is completely open. No nation is left off the list, and no one is told to become Israelite first.
  • 117:2 — The reason: his steadfast love toward us is great, and his faithfulness endures forever. The two Hebrew words, hesed and emet, are the same pair God used of himself to Moses at Sinai. The psalm then closes with a final 'Hallelujah'.
  • 117:1–2 — Read as a whole, the logic is striking. What God has done for 'us', Israel, becomes a reason for everyone else to praise. His love for one people is meant as good news for all.
What it showsIt is the shortest chapter in the Bible, and it belongs to the Hallel group sung at Passover. Paul's use of 117:1 in Romans 15:11 shows early Christians reading it as a call to the Gentiles.
Where the evidence stopsIts brevity leaves nothing to date it by, and whether it was first sung on its own or as a short doxology attached to a neighbouring psalm cannot now be known.

Key verse: Psalm 117:1  ·  So what: It is easy for any community, religious or not, to celebrate its blessings as if they were proof that it is favoured over others. This tiny psalm turns that instinct around. The love shown to one people is announced as a reason for the whole world to rejoice. Length is not the measure of a message; reach is.

← What Shall I Return?You have just read Psalm 116, one person's thanksgiving in the temple courts (Psalms 116). Next, Psalm 118 closes the Hallel with a festal procession and the stone the builders rejected (Psalms 118).The Stone the Builders Rejected →
Sources & further reading
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