Psalm 148

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 148:13

Let them - All already specified, praise the name of Jehovah, because he excels all beings: and his glory, as seen in creating, preserving, and governing all things, is על al , upon or over, the earth and heaven. All space and place, as well as the beings found in them, show forth the manifold wisdom and goodness of God. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 148:14

Be also exalteth the horn - Raises to power and authority his people. The praise - Jehovah is the subject of the praise of all his saints. A people near unto him - The only people who know him, and make their approaches unto him with the sacrifices and offerings which he has himself prescribed. Praise ye the Lord! O what a hymn of praise is here! It is a universal chorus! All created nature have a share, and all perform their respective parts. All intelligent beings are... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 148:1

Verse 1 1.Praise Jehovah from the heavens He seems here to include the stars as well as the angels, and, therefore, heaven itself, the air, and all that is gendered in it; for afterwards a division is made when he first calls upon angels, then upon the stars, and the waters of the firmament. With regard to the angels, created as they were for this very end — that they might be instant in this religious service, we need not wonder that they should be placed first in order when the praises of God... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 148:3

Verse 3 3.Praise him, ye sun and moon This passage gives no countenance to the dream of Plato, that the stars excel in sense and intelligence. Nor does the Psalmist give them the same place as he had just assigned to angels, but merely intimates that the glory of God is everywhere to be seen, as if they sang his praises with an audible voice. And here he tacitly reproves the ingratitude of man; for all would hear this symphony, were they at all attent upon considering the works of God. For doth... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 148:5

Verse 5 5.Let them praise the name, etc. As he speaks of things wanting intelligence, he passes to the third person, from which we infer that his reason for having spoken in the second person hitherto, was to make a deeper impression upon men. And he asks no other praise than that which may teach us that the stars did not make themselves, nor the rains spring from chance; for notwithstanding the signal proofs we constantly have before our eyes of the divine power, we with shameful carelessness... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 148:7

Verse 7 7.Praise Jehovah, etc. He now comes to the lower parts of the world; although deviating at the same time from the exact order, he mixes up such things as are produced in the air — lightning’s, snow, ice, and storms. These should rather have been placed among the former class, but he has respect to the common apprehension of men. The scope of the whole is, that wherever we turn our eyes we meet with evidences of the power of God. He speaks first of the whales; for, as he mentions the... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 148:11

Verse 11 11.Kings of the earth, etc. He now turns his address to men, with a respect to whom it was that he called for a declaration of God’s praises from creatures, both above and from beneath. As kings and princes are blinded by the dazzling influence of their station, so as to think the world was made for them, and to despise God in the pride of their hearts, he particularly calls them to this duty; and, by mentioning them first, he reproves their ingratitude in withholding their tribute of... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 148:14

Verse 14 14.And hath exalted the horn, etc. As we saw in the former Psalm, that the perfections of God are to be seen more conspicuously in the Church than in the constitution of the world at large, the Psalmist has added this sentence, as to the Church being protected by the divine hand, and armed with a power against all enemies which secures its safety in every danger. By the horn, as is well known, is meant strength or dignity. Accordingly the Psalmist means that God’s blessing is apparent... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 148:1

Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord from the heavens ; i . e . beginning at the heavens, making them the primary source from which the praises are to be drawn (comp. Psalms 148:7 ). Praise him in the heights ; in excelsis (Vulgate). In the upper tenons, or the most exalted regions of his creation. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 148:1-5

Nature's praise-voices. In this psalm, as in all the poetry of the Old Testament, there is nothing of the idea of something Divine in nature, or even of a Divine voice speaking through nature; all beings are simply creatures, knowing and praising him who made them. All nature has reason to praise the Creator who called it into being, and gave it its order so fair and so established, and poetically the universe may be imagined full of adoring creatures. With the psalmist's point of view... read more

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