1 Praise Yahweh, my soul! All that is within me, praise his holy name! 2 Praise Yahweh, my soul, and don't forget all his benefits; 3 who forgives all your sins; who heals all your diseases; 4 who redeems your life from destruction; who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies; 5 who satisfies your desire with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. 6 Yahweh executes righteous acts, and justice for all who are oppressed. 7 He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the children of Israel. 8 Yahweh is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness. 9 He will not always accuse; neither will he stay angry forever. 10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor repaid us for our iniquities. 11 For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his loving kindness toward those who fear him. 12 As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. 13 Like a father has compassion on his children, so Yahweh has compassion on those who fear him. 14 For he knows how we are made. He remembers that we are dust. 15 As for man, his days are like grass. As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. 16 For the wind passes over it, and it is gone. Its place remembers it no more. 17 But Yahweh's loving kindness is from everlasting to everlasting with those who fear him, his righteousness to children's children; 18 to those who keep his covenant, to those who remember to obey his precepts. 19 Yahweh has established his throne in the heavens. His kingdom rules over all. 20 Praise Yahweh, you angels of his, who are mighty in strength, who fulfill his word, obeying the voice of his word. 21 Praise Yahweh, all you armies of his, you servants of his, who do his pleasure. 22 Praise Yahweh, all you works of his, in all places of his dominion. Praise Yahweh, my soul!
This very beautiful psalm is entitled "A Psalm of David." Nothing in the psalm forbids the supposition that he was its author, although nothing in the psalm or elsewhere enables us to ascertain the precise occasion on which it was written.
It seems to have been composed after some signal manifestation of the mercy of God, or some striking proof of his compassion and loving-kindness; after some danger which threatened life, and was regarded as evidence of the divine displeasure, but had now passed by; after God had interposed, and checked and arrested judgments which threatened ruin, and had manifested himself again as a loving Father. This merciful interposition filled the heart of the psalmist with emotions of gratitude and praise, and led him to call on his own soul Psalm 103:1-2, and all the angels Psalm 103:20, and the hosts of heaven Psalm 103:21, and all the works of God everywhere Psalm 103:22 to unite in celebrating his praise. The psalm is exceedingly regular in its structure and composition; beautiful in its language and conceptions; adapted to all times and ages; suited to express the feelings of gratitude to God for deliverance from trouble, and for the manifestation of his mercy; suited to elevate the soul, and to fill it with cheerful views. These circumstances have made it a favorite psalm as a vehicle of praise in all ages. It is, moreover, eminently suited to express the feelings of the soul in view of the redeeming love and mercy of God; the goodness of God in the forgiveness of sin through a Saviour; and his tender compassion for his people as a Father; and it is, therefore, one to which the Christian oftener turns than to almost any other of the psalms as expressive of the deep and grateful feelings of his heart.
God is praised for his benefits to his people, Psalm 103:1, Psalm 103:2; he forgives their iniquities, and heals their diseases, Psalm 103:3; redeems their lives, crowns them with loving-kindness, Psalm 103:4; satisfies them with good things, renews their youth, Psalm 103:5; he helps the oppressed, makes his ways known, is merciful and gracious, and keeps not his anger for ever, Psalm 103:6-9; his forbearance, and pardoning mercy, Psalm 103:10-12; he is a tender and considerate Father, Psalm 103:13, Psalm 103:14; the frail state of man, Psalm 103:15, Psalm 103:16; God's everlasting mercy, and universal dominion, Psalm 103:17-19; all his angels, his hosts, and his works, are invited to praise him, Psalm 103:20-22.
The inscription in the Hebrew, and in all the Versions, gives this Psalm to David; and yet many of the ancients believed it to refer to the times of the captivity, or rather to its conclusion, in which the redeemed Jews give thanks to God for their restoration. It is a Psalm of inimitable sweetness and excellence; contains the most affectionate sentiments of gratitude to God for his mercies; and the most consoling motives to continue to trust in God, and be obedient to him.
INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 103
A Psalm of David. The Targum adds,
"spoken in prophecy,''
as doubtless it was, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Some think it was written by David, after a fit of illness, and his recovery from it, since he speaks of his diseases being healed, and his youth renewed; for which reason the Syriac interpreter suggests it was written in his old age; for he makes the subject of the psalm to be,
"concerning coldness which prevailed upon him in old age;''
but rather he wrote it when his heart was warm with a sense of the love of God, and spiritual blessings of grace flowing from thence; and in it celebrates and sings the benefits of New Testament times; and it is a psalm suitable to be sung by every believer, under a quick sense of divine favours: wherefore the above interpreter better adds,
"also an instruction and thanksgiving by men of God;''
whom the psalmist may very well be thought to personate, even in Gospel times; and much rather than the Jews in captivity, as Kimchi thinks.
(Psalm 103:1-5) An exhortation to bless God for his mercy.
(Psalm 103:6-14) And to the church and to all men.
(Psalm 103:15-18) For the constancy of his mercy.
(Psalm 103:19-22) For the government of the world.
Hymn in Honour of God the All-Compassionate One
To the "Thou wilt have compassion upon Zion" of Psalm 102:14 is appended Psalm 103, which has this as its substance throughout; but in other respects the two Psalm stand in contrast to one another. The inscription לדוד is also found thus by itself without any further addition even before Psalm of the First Book (Psalm 26:1, Ps 35, Ps 37). It undoubtedly does not rest merely on conjecture, but upon tradition. For no internal grounds which might have given rise to the annotation לדוד can be traced. The form of the language does not favour it. This pensive song, so powerful in its tone, has an Aramaic colouring like Ps 116; Psalm 124:1-8; Psalm 129:1-8. In the heaping up of Aramaizing suffix-forms it has its equal only in the story of Elisha, 2-Kings 4:1-7, where, moreover, the Kerמ throughout substitutes the usual forms, whilst here, where these suffix-forms are intentional ornaments of the expression, the Chethמb rightly remains unaltered. The forms are 2nd sing. fem. ēchi for ēch, and 2nd sing. plur. ājchi for ajich. The i without the tone which is added here is just the one with which originally the pronunciation was אתּי instead of אתּ and לכי for לך. Out of the Psalter (here and Psalm 116:7, Psalm 116:19) these suffix-forms echi and ajchi occur only in Jeremiah 11:15, and in the North-Palestinian history of the prophet in the Book of Kings. The groups or strophes into which the Psalm falls are Psalm 103:1, Psalm 103:6, Psalm 103:11, Psalm 103:15, Psalm 103:19. If we count their lines we obtain the schema 10. 10. 8. 8. 10. The coptic version accordingly reckons 46 CTYXOC, i.e., στίχοι.
*More commentary available by clicking individual verses.