Why read Psalm 146?
Psalm 146 offers comfort to the brokenhearted and a reason for thanksgiving. Its description of God gathering the scattered and tending wounded hearts invites hope.
You can read this psalm when its themes speak to your circumstances, or as part of your regular reading of the Psalter. This explanation draws on the text itself; the psalm is not reserved for one particular need.
“Praise the Lord, for it is good...” — this is how Psalm 146 begins, a work of 11 verses from the 20th Kathisma. The Psalter is read in the Orthodox Church at every service, and this psalm has its place in the order of prayer.
The text of Psalm 146
1. Praise the Lord, for it is good to sing; singing is pleasing to our God.
2. When He builds Jerusalem, the Lord will also gather the scattered of Israel;
3. He who heals the brokenhearted and binds their wounds,
4. He who counts the multitude of the stars and gives them all their names.
5. Great is our Lord and great is His strength, and His understanding has no limit.
6. The Lord lifts up the meek and humbles sinners to the earth.
7. Sing to the Lord a song of praise; sing to our God on the lute;
8. To Him who clothes the sky with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass and greenery grow on the mountains for the service of people;
9. To Him who gives the animals their food and the young ravens who call upon Him.
10. His will is not in the strength of the horse, nor His favour in the one who is swift of foot.
11. The Lord’s favour is in those who fear Him and in those who hope in His mercy.
When Psalm 146 is read
- It belongs to the 20th Kathisma — the psalms are read in full within the cycle of kathismata, at Matins and Vespers.
- At the end of each psalm, tradition adds: «Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.».
Adjacent psalms
The numbering follows the Orthodox Psalter (Septuagint). The same psalm may have a different number in other Bible editions.
