1 Praise the Lord
Praise God in His sanctuary;
Praise Him in His mighty firmament!
2 Praise Him for His mighty acts;
Praise Him according to His excellent greatness!
3 Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet;
Praise Him with the lute and harp!
4 Praise Him with the timbrel and dance;
Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes!
5 Praise Him with loud cymbals;
Praise Him with clashing cymbals!
6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord
Praise the Lord!
The Psalter draws to a close with a final, emphatic exhortation to praise, the venue for which, continuing from (and confirming) the focus on God’s coming kingdom in the previous psalm, is here elevated to his heavenly sanctuary (lit., “holiness,” which may also refer to the holy of holies) — or perhaps, His “holy height” (Psalm 102:19; i.e., the “third heaven”)—as indicated by the parallelism with “his mighty expanse” (i.e., the sky). The enumeration of instruments in vs.3-5 with which to accompany this praise alludes to the span of praise offered to God throughout the Hebrew Bible, from the lyre and the pipe first mentioned in Genesis 4:21 (a few verses after which we are told that “men began to call upon the LORD”), and the timbrel and dancing employed by Miriam and the Israelite women in Exodus 15:20, to the harp and the cymbals that accompanies the praise of the restored exiles (Ezra 3:10; Nehemiah 12:27). Consistent with his focus on the citizens of God’s future kingdom, the psalmist concludes with a final exhortation, not to the “godly ones” of Israel alone, but to all that has a soul (referring to that “image” of Himself that God imparted exclusively to man)—i.e., humanity at large, comprised of redeemed Jews and redeemed Gentiles, who as “one new man” will one day lift up their voice in unison before the throne of God and cry out “Praise the Lord!” — Wechsler, pages 354-355.
Williams’ take:
This is the fifth Hallelujah Psalm; and as the last Psalm of the fifth Book may be entitled the Deuteronomy Psalm. …The Divine titles used are El and Jah. El is essentially the Almighty, Jah signifies the Ever-existing One, i.e., Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and forever. …
In the day when He appears everything that hath breath will praise Him. … Thus Messiah the Blessed Man of Psalm 1 will be worshiped as the Blessed God of the last Psalm; whilst the intervening Psalms sing of the countless perfections of His nature and of His actions as both Son of Man and Son of God. — Williams, page 415.
Although Wechsler digs deeper, on this Psalm, he and Williams essentially agree on this one.
