Praise you the LORD: for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is fitting.
Read Chapter 147
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
1. It is said to us, "Praise the Lord" (ver. 1). This is said to all nations, not to us alone. And these words, sounded forth through separate places by the Readers, each Church heareth separately; but the one same Voice of God proclaimeth unto all, that we praise Him. And as though we asked wherefore we ought to praise the Lord, behold what reason he hath brought forward: "Praise the Lord," he saith,"for a Psalm is good." Is this all the rewardof them that praise? ...The "Psalm" is praise of God. This then he saith, "Praise the Lord, for it is good to praise the Lord." Let us not thus pass over the praise of the Lord. It is spoken, and hath passed: it is done, and we are silent: we have praised, and then rested; we have sung, and then rested. We go forth tosome business which awaits us, and when other employments have found us, shall the praise of God cease in us? Not so: thy tongue praiseth but for a while, let thy life ever praise. Thus then "a Psalm is good."
2. For a "Psalm" is...
Jerusalem. After the captivity, (Worthington) or at the beginning of David's reign, when he had taken Sion, and Israel acknowledged his dominion, 2 Kings v. It may also allude to the Church, (John xi. 51.) and to heaven, Hebrews xii. 22., and Apocalypse xxi. (Berthier)
Alleluia. In some editions of the Septuagint (Haydock) and in Syriac, Arabic, the same inscription occurs, as in the former psalms. Many ascribe this to the same authors, and to the same occasion. Hebrew and Chaldean have no title. Yet the psalm seems to be a thanksgiving (Calmet) for the permission to build the temple and walls of Jerusalem, (Origen) which had been neglected, till God visited the people with a famine, ver. 8., 2 Esdras v. 1., and Aggeus i. 6. (Bossuet)
Zorobabel, urge the people to build. (Syriac) (Calmet)
Still David might compose this psalm, as he was a prophet, (Berthier) and he may allude to the beginning of his reign, when the people were all united. (Jansenius)
Good. Agreeable and advantageous for us.
Praise. This consists in purity of life, rather than in the sweetest accents. (Calmet)
