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115. Psalm 115

¹ Not to us, LORD, not to us
but to your name be the glory,
because of your love and faithfulness.

    ² Why do the nations say,
   “Where is their God?”
³ Our God is in heaven;
   he does whatever pleases him.
⁴ But their idols are silver and gold,
   made by human hands.
⁵ They have mouths, but cannot speak,
   eyes, but cannot see.
⁶ They have ears, but cannot hear,
   noses, but cannot smell.
⁷ They have hands, but cannot feel,
   feet, but cannot walk,
   nor can they utter a sound with their throats.
⁸ Those who make them will be like them,
   and so will all who trust in them.

    ⁹ All you Israelites, trust in the LORD—
   he is their help and shield.
¹⁰ House of Aaron, trust in the LORD—
   he is their help and shield.
¹¹ You who fear him, trust in the LORD—
   he is their help and shield.

    ¹² The LORD remembers us and will bless us:
   He will bless his people Israel,
   he will bless the house of Aaron,
¹³ he will bless those who fear the LORD—
   small and great alike.

    ¹⁴ May the LORD cause you to flourish,
   both you and your children.
¹⁵ May you be blessed by the LORD,
   the Maker of heaven and earth.

    ¹⁶ The highest heavens belong to the LORD,
   but the earth he has given to mankind.
¹⁷ It is not the dead who praise the LORD,
   those who go down to the place of silence;
¹⁸ it is we who extol the LORD,
   both now and forevermore.

Praise the LORD. Hebrew Hallelu Yah

11. Ye who fear Jehovah! He does not speak of strangers, as some erroneously suppose, as if this were a prediction respecting the calling of the Gentiles. Connecting them with the children of Israel and with the sons of Aaron, they are of opinion that he refers to the heathens and to the uncircumcised who were not yet gathered into the sheepfold. By parity of reason one might infer, that the priests are not of the seed of Abraham, because they are separately mentioned. It is more probable that there is in these words a tacit correction of what he had said before, by which he makes a distinction between the genuine worshippers of God and those hypocrites who were the degenerate sons of Abraham. Not a few of the seed of Abraham according to the flesh having departed from the faith of their father, the prophet here restricts the promise to those who, having received it by faith, were worshipping God in purity. We now perceive the reason for his first addressing the Israelites, next the house of Aaron, and then the fearers of Jehovah It is as if a person in our times were to point his exhortation first to the whole body of the Church, and then come more particularly to the ministers and teachers, who ought to be ensamples to others. And as many falsely pique themselves upon the mere name of being connected with the Church, and hence deserve not to be classed with God’s true followers, he expressly mentions the genuine and not the counterfeit worshippers of God.