Psalms 146:3 - Exposition

Put not your trust in princes (comp. Psalms 118:10 ). Israel was always apt to trust in bureau rather than Divine help. Now it was Egypt ( Isaiah 30:2 ; Isaiah 36:6 ), now Assyria ( 2 Kings 16:7 ), now their own kings or nobles. At the time of the return from the Captivity, too much was expected from Zerubbabel and the other "princes." Nor in the son of man. The Prayer-book paraphrase, "nor in any child of man," brings out the sense. Confidence in human aid of whatever kind is forbidden. In whom there is no help; or, "that hath no saving power" ( שׁוּעה ).