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Psa 117 -Study

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For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Psalm 117   


1 Praise the Lord, all you nations;
    extol him, all you peoples.
2 For great is his love towards us,
    and the faithfulness of the Lord endures for ever.

Praise the Lord.

A. Find Out:    
  1. Who are exhorted to do what? v.1a
  2. Who else are exhorted to do what? v.1b
  3. What is the first reason given? v.2a
  4. What is the second reason given? v.2b
  5. What is the final call? v.2c
B. Think:
  1. How are those who are to praise described?
  2. How is praise explained?
C. Comment:

  This is a remarkably short psalm with examples of parallelism. In the first line there is a call and an identification of those the call comes to. In the second line, the call comes again but in a different word, and to the same group but again differently. Is there any significance in the different words? Yes!

  First of all, the call. It is very simple and we see it so often that we probably take it for granted and therefore don’t take it in. It is to praise or ‘extol’ someone. Now extol means to lift up or glorify someone for who they are. This is what we do when we praise the Lord, we lift Him up in our prayers or singing, simply for who He is and His nature. Praise is slightly different from giving thanks, because when we give thanks we are expressing gratefulness for something that has been done for us. This call is to the whole world. It is first to nations, national groups of all people, but it is also to ‘peoples’ which has a slight tribal or cultural element to it. Yet, simply, it is to everyone who lives in this world.

  Second, the reason. Different versions express this verse differently. The NIV speaks of love and faithfulness. Some versions speak of His enduring love which parallels the faithfulness… forever. God is to be praised because His love is unique. It goes on for ever and ever. You can utterly trust in this love; it will always be there for you. This element of God’s character is utterly dependable.

D. Application:
  1. This psalm declares the absolute basic: God is love.
  2. That love never changes, never varies, is always there for us.
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