A manual of the book of Psalms · Martin Luther
PSALM CXLVI.
_The Psalmist voweth perpetual praises to God.—He exhorteth not to trust in man.—God, for his power, justice, mercy, and kingdom, is only worthy to be trusted._ 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.
This is a Psalm of thanksgiving; and it contains a blessed doctrine; namely, that we ought to trust in God, who alone can defend; and who does defend faithfully all those that trust in him, and all those whom the world hates and casts out. And the Psalm shows, that we ought not to trust in any man, not even in kings or princes, nor in the mighty, nor in the rich, as the world do. For (as the Psalmist saith) “it is God alone that can mightily and gloriously deliver out of affliction,” and all trust in man is deceitful and vain; for (to say nothing about the vanity of such trust in all other particulars) no man knoweth any thing certain respecting his own life!
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.