Expositions on the Psalms — Psalm 147

St. Augustine of Hippo

1. Chapter 1
2. Chapter 2
3. Chapter 3
4. Chapter 4
5. Chapter 5
6. Chapter 6
7. Chapter 7
8. Chapter 8
9. Chapter 9
10. Chapter 10
11. Chapter 11
12. Chapter 12
13. Chapter 13
14. Chapter 14
15. Chapter 15
16. Chapter 16
17. Chapter 17
18. Chapter 18
19. Chapter 19
20. Chapter 20
21. Chapter 21
22. Chapter 22
23. Chapter 23
24. Chapter 24
25. Chapter 25
26. Chapter 26
27. Chapter 27
28. Chapter 28
29. Chapter 29

It is said to us, Praise the Lord Psalm 146:1. This is said to all nations, not to us alone. And these words, sounded forth through separate places by the Readers, each Church hears separately; but the one same Voice of God proclaims unto all, that we praise Him. And as though we asked wherefore we ought to praise the Lord, behold what reason he has brought forward: Praise the Lord, he says, for a Psalm is good. Is this all the reward of them that praise?...The Psalm is praise of God. This then he says, 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 has passed: it is done, and we are silent: we have praised, and then rested; we have sung, and then rested. We go forth to some business which awaits us, and when other employments have found us, shall the praise of God cease in us? Not so: your tongue praises but for a while, let your life ever praise. Thus then a Psalm is good.