← All chapters
884 / 1113 · Psalms 150 · Return & Rebuilding · Undated; closes the Psalter in its final form (after 538 BC)

Everything That Breathes, Praise

Debated
Read

At the end of a great festival procession, the musicians who have played all night gather for one last round. The drummers, the pipers, the brass band, the cymbals — everyone plays together, loud and unashamed, and the crowd joins in until you can no longer tell players from listeners. Psalm 150 is that final round. It has no complaint, no enemy, no request. It simply names where God is praised, why, and with what — horn, harp, lyre, drum, dance, strings, pipe and two kinds of cymbals. And then it hands the song to everyone and everything that breathes.

Where it sits in the story: The Psalms began with a blessing on the one who delights in God's law (Psalm 1) and have travelled through lament, anger, confession, exile and return. Each of the first four books closes with a short doxology; Psalm 150 is the doxology for the fifth book and for the whole collection. In this reading order it is also the close of the Old Testament story: after everything, Israel's last word is praise.

What this chapter is doing: To end the Psalter — and in this reading order the Old Testament story — with unconditional praise, drawing every instrument, every place and every living creature into the worship of God.

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
  • 150:1–2 — Where and why: praise God in his sanctuary and in the mighty expanse of the heavens, for his powerful acts and his surpassing greatness. Earth's temple and the sky above are one hall of worship.
  • 150:3–5 — How: with the blast of the ram's horn, harp and lyre, tambourine and dance, strings and pipe, clashing and resounding cymbals. Almost the whole range of Israel's instruments is named, soft and loud, as if to leave nothing out.
  • 150:6 — Who: 'everything that has breath'. The call goes beyond Israel and beyond the temple to every living creature. The book ends as it has ended since Psalm 146 — with 'Hallelujah'.
What it showsThe psalm names instruments known from ancient Israel's worship, such as the shofar (ram's horn), lyre and cymbals, and it plainly functions as the closing doxology of the collection. Its words still anchor daily morning prayer in Judaism and, with Psalms 148–149, gave Christian Lauds its name.
Where the evidence stopsThe exact identification of some instruments is uncertain, and the psalm carries no date. The Psalter's ending also varied: the Greek Septuagint and a Dead Sea Scroll include a further Psalm 151, not part of the Hebrew or Protestant canon.

Key verse: Psalms 150:6  ·  So what: The Psalms give words for every human state, including despair, and they do not pretend grief is easy. But they end here, on purpose. For many readers that ending is a statement of hope: whatever the story has held, the final word belongs to praise, and every breath you take is already an invitation to join it.

← A Song and a SwordYou have just read the Psalter's final Hallelujah (Psalms 150), and with it the close of the Old Testament story. Roughly four centuries follow under Persian, Greek, Maccabean and Roman rule; then the Gospels open with the promise of John's birth to Zechariah in the temple (Luke 1).Two Announcements →
Sources & further reading
← All chapters