Psalms 111

The psalmist praises the Lord, and extols his works as great, honorable, glorious, and magnificent, Psalm 111:1-4 ; his providence and kindness to his followers, Psalm 111:5-8 ; the redemption he has granted to his people, Psalm 111:9 . The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, Psalm 111:10 .

This is one of the alphabetical or acrostic Psalms: but it is rather different from those we have already seen, as the first eight verses contain each two members; and each member commences with a consecutive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. But the two last verses are composed of three members each, characterized the same way, making twenty-two members or hemistichs in the whole, to each of which a consecutive letter of the alphabet is prefixed. But this division is not proper: it should follow the arrangement in the Hebrew poetry, where every hemistich stands by itself, and each contains a complete sense. The Psalm has no title in the Hebrew, unless the word Hallelujah be considered as such; and the thanksgivings which it contains were probably composed for the benefit of the Jews after their return from captivity.