Christianity

Psalms 146Put Not Your Trust in Princes

Summary

Psalm 146 opens the final five Hallelujah psalms, each beginning and ending with Praise ye the LORD. The psalmist vows to praise God as long as he lives and warns against trusting princes or any mortal, whose breath departs and whose plans perish with him. Happy is the one whose help is the God of Jacob, maker of heaven and earth, who keeps truth forever, executes judgment for the oppressed, feeds the hungry, frees prisoners, opens blind eyes, and preserves strangers, orphans and widows.

Key verse

“Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.”

Psalms 146:3

Themes

Lifelong Praise
Limits of Human Power
Justice for the Oppressed
Care for the Vulnerable

Praise ye the LORD. Praise the LORD, O my soul.

While I live will I praise the LORD: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.

Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.

His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.

Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God:

Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth truth for ever:

Which executeth judgment for the oppressed: which giveth food to the hungry. The LORD looseth the prisoners:

The LORD openeth the eyes of the blind: the LORD raiseth them that are bowed down: the LORD loveth the righteous:

The LORD preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and widow: but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down.

The LORD shall reign for ever, even thy God, O Zion, unto all generations. Praise ye the LORD.

Text: King James Version (1611/1769), public domain.

Across traditions

Christianity
Luke 4: Liberty to the Captives
Jesus' reading in Luke 4:18 from Isaiah 61 announces deliverance to captives and sight to the blind, works that Psalm 146:7 to 8 attributes to God.
Christianity
Jeremiah 17: Cursed Is the Man That Trusteth in Man
Jeremiah 17:5 to 8 curses the one who trusts in human strength and blesses the one who trusts in the LORD, the contrast Psalm 146:3 to 5 draws.
Judaism
Psalm 146 in the JPS 1917 Tanakh
Psalms 146 to 150 are recited every morning in Jewish prayer as part of Pesukei Dezimra, the verses of praise, and the closing verse of Psalm 146 appears in the Kedushah.

Questions about Psalms 146

Why does Psalm 146 warn against trusting princes?

Psalm 146:3 to 4 explains that rulers are mortal: their breath goes forth, they return to the earth, and their thoughts perish that very day. Only God, who made heaven and earth and keeps truth forever, is a reliable source of help.

What does God do for the vulnerable in Psalm 146?

Verses 7 to 9 list executing judgment for the oppressed, giving food to the hungry, loosing prisoners, opening the eyes of the blind, raising those bowed down, and preserving strangers, the fatherless and the widow.