Psalm 146 – Praise the LORD, O My Soul
A call to trust God alone, who helps the oppressed, the hungry, and the fatherless.
Psalm 146 opens the final five psalms of praise, following Psalms 145. The psalmist resolves to praise the LORD for life, warning against trusting in princes whose plans perish with their breath.
Let the Lord be praised. Give praise to the Lord, O my soul.
While I have breath I will give praise to the Lord: I will make melody to my God while I have my being.
Put not your faith in rulers, or in the son of man, in whom there is no salvation.
Man's breath goes out, he is turned back again to dust; in that day all his purposes come to an end.
Happy is the man who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God:
Who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all things in them; who keeps faith for ever:
Who gives their rights to those who are crushed down; and gives food to those who are in need of it: the Lord makes the prisoners free;
The Lord makes open the eyes of the blind; the Lord is the lifter up of those who are bent down; the Lord is a lover of the upright;
The Lord takes care of those who are in a strange land; he gives help to the widow and to the child who has no father; but he sends destruction on the way of sinners.
The Lord will be King for ever; your God, O Zion, will be King through all generations. Praise be to the Lord.