Happy the nation that has the Lord for God! The Lord watches over those who fear him.
① 1Rejoice in the Lord, you who are just,
praise is fitting for the upright.
2Give thanks to him on the harp and lyre,
making melody and chanting praises.
3Amid loud shouts of joy,
sing to him a new song
and play the ten-stringed harp.
4For upright is the Lord’s word
and worthy of trust is his work.
5The Lord loves justice and righteousness;
the earth is full of his kindness.
6The heavens were created by his word,
the breath of his mouth formed their starry host.
7He gathered the waters of the sea into a heap,
and stored the deep in cellars.
8Let the whole earth fear the Lord,
let the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.
9For he spoke and so it was,
he commanded, and everything stood firm.
10The Lord frustrates the plans of the nations
and brings to nothing the peoples’ designs.
11But his plan stands forever,
and his heart’s design through all generations.
12Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord –
the people he has chosen for his inheritance.
13The Lord looks down from heaven
and sees the whole race of mortals.
14From where he sits he watches
all those who dwell on the earth – 15he who fashions every heart
observes all their deeds.
16A king is not saved by a powerful army,
nor a warrior rescued by his great strength.
17Don’t think that a horse will save you;
its great strength does not assure victory.
18But the Lord’s eyes are upon those who fear him,
upon those who trust in his loving-kindness
19to deliver them from death
and preserve them from famine.
20In hope we wait for the Lord,
for he is our help and our shield.
21Our hearts rejoice in him,
for we trust in his holy name.
22O Lord, let your love rest upon us,
even as our hope rests in you.
- This psalm opposes the projects of nations, what they thought, and the projects of God, what he thinks (vv. 10-11).
The language of this psalm may seem simplistic to many: is the world really so docile to God’s wishes? It is a problem of faith. Faith does not enable us to see through rose-colored spectacles what is not rosy; but the vision of a forest is not the same for the one who goes through the bushes and for the one who looks at it from a helicopter.
The psalm speaks of foreign nations who threaten the people of God. It is a great privilege to belong to his people!
