← All chapters
422 / 1113 · Psalms 145 · The United Kingdom · David's lifetime, c. 1000 BC (by its heading; debated)

An Alphabet of Praise

Debated
Read

Children learning to read often learn an alphabet song — every letter in order, nothing left out, so the whole set is held in one tune. Psalm 145 is an alphabet song for grown-ups. Each line begins with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet, as if to say: here is praise from A to Z, complete. It is the only psalm whose heading calls it simply 'a song of praise', and it is the last in the Psalter to carry David's name. After it, the book breaks into the five great 'Hallelujah' psalms that bring it to a close.

Where it sits in the story: David's story ends in 2 Samuel with a tired king and a plague; his psalms end here, with pure praise. The contrast is deliberate enough to notice. Psalm 145 takes the confession God made of himself to Moses at Sinai — gracious, merciful, slow to anger — and widens it to 'all he has made'. The kingdom it celebrates is not David's but God's, an everlasting kingdom, which is exactly the theme Jesus would announce when he began to preach.

What this chapter is doing: To gather David's psalms into a closing act of praise — naming God's greatness, goodness and kingship in complete, orderly form, and insisting that his care reaches the fallen, the bowed down, and every living creature.

Why it is read here: This psalm carries David's name (or sits in the David collection), but no heading ties it to an event. We gather these near the end of David's life — 'the sweet psalmist of Israel' (2 Samuel 23:1) — rather than guess an occasion for each. 'Of David' can mean by, for, or in the tradition of David.
The walk-through
  • 145:1–7 — A vow to bless God's name every day and for ever. His greatness cannot be searched out, and one generation will tell the next about his mighty acts and abundant goodness.
  • 145:8–9 — The heart of the psalm, borrowed from Exodus 34: the LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, rich in steadfast love — and good to all, with compassion over everything he has made.
  • 145:10–13 — All God's works and faithful people speak of the glory of his kingdom. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his rule lasts through all generations.
  • 145:14–21 — The King's character in action: he lifts the fallen, raises the bowed down, opens his hand to satisfy every living thing, is near to all who call on him in truth. The psalm ends where it began — 'all flesh' blessing his holy name for ever.
What it showsThe psalm is an acrostic, but the standard Hebrew text lacks the line for the letter nun; a Dead Sea Scrolls psalms manuscript and the Greek Septuagint preserve a line for it, which many modern translations now include in verse 13. It remains central in Jewish prayer as the core of the 'Ashrei'.
Where the evidence stopsThe heading ties the psalm to David, but acrostic poems of this kind are often thought by scholars to be later compositions, and its date is uncertain. Whether the nun line was lost or never there is also debated.

Key verse: Psalm 145:18  ·  So what: Praise here is not vague cheerfulness; it is specific and teachable, passed from one generation to the next. And the God praised is not only majestic but near — to the one who has fallen, to the one bent double, to anyone who calls honestly. Jewish worshippers have prayed this psalm daily for many centuries; it wears well.

← Who Is Man, That You Notice Him?You have just read Psalm 144, a king's prayer for victory and a peaceful land. Next, the story returns to David's final years with the census and the plague (2 Samuel 24 ‖ 1 Chronicles 21).The Census and the Threshing Floor →
Sources & further reading
← All chapters