Psalm 115: Translation and Notes

Narrator: Chris Genthree
1 Not unto us, O Jehovah, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, for thy truth.
2 Why should the nations say, Where pray [is] their God?
3 And our God [is] in the heavens: all that he pleased he did.
4 Their idols [are] silver and gold, work of hands of man.
5 A mouth have they, and they speak not; eyes have they, and they see not;
6 Ears they have, and they hear not; a nose have they, and they smell not;
7 They have hands, and they feel not; they have feet, and they walk not; they utter not with their throat.
8 Like them are those making them, every one who confideth in them.
9 O Israel, confide in Jehovah: he [is] their help and their shield.
10 House of Aaron, confide in Jehovah: he [is] their help and their shield.
11 Ye that fear Jehovah, confide in Jehovah: he [is] their help and their shield.
12 Jehovah hath remembered us; he will bless, he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron;
13 He will bless them that fear Jehovah, the small with the great.
14 Jehovah will add upon you, upon you and upon your sons.
15 Blessed [are] ye of Jehovah, Maker of the heavens and the earth.
16 The heavens [are] heavens for Jehovah, and the earth he gave to the sons of man.
17 The dead praise not Jah, nor any going down in silence.
18 But we will bless Jah henceforth and for everlasting. Praise ye Jah.
Notes on Psalm 115
Then the wonders of Jehovah will no longer puff Israel up. They will need no humiliation more, being truly humble in that day. Jehovah’s name is all henceforth; and His “mercy” takes precedence, instead of boasting in “truth” because peculiarly theirs. This does but increase their loathing of idols, so long their snare. But if they forgot Jehovah, He remembered them; and that day is a day of blessing for Israel’s house and for Aaron’s, and for fearers of Jehovah, the small and the great. But it is for the living on earth, though heaven and earth shall be in harmonious blessing and for evermore. Children of God are we now called, and such we are; His sons, with the Spirit of God, crying, Abba, Father; and we look up to heaven as our home because it is Christ’s, having the cross meanwhile on earth. Here are we shown a mystery: we shall not all sleep, but we all shall be changed. Even now are we, Christians, “heavenly,” and we shall put on the image of the Heavenly at His coming.