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Psalms 145:1–21, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Psalms 145:1–21
An alphabetic praise of the compassionate king
An alphabet of kingship praises a God whose greatness is unsearchable and whose goodness is public
I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever. Every day will I bless thee. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.
Psalm 145 is an acrostic (the Hebrew letter nun is missing in the Masoretic text and present in other ancient witnesses). My God, O king makes the singer a subject. Unsearchable greatness is not a fog; it is why generation must tell generation. The poem is a catalog meant to be complete enough to live in.
The center is compassion that upholds the falling and feeds all flesh
The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works. The LORD upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down. The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season.
Near to all that call, fulfilling the desire of those that fear him, preserving those that love him, destroying the wicked: the kingship includes both nearness and judgment. My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD: and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever. The last Davidic psalm in the book hands the mouth's work to all flesh. Hallelujah is about to begin, and this alphabet has already said that the king is gracious to the falling, the bowed, and the hungry. Do not preach unsearchable greatness and skip the meat in due season.
How this should shape us
Bless this king every day by telling the next generation his works. Measure his greatness by compassion, slowness to anger, food in season, and the raising of people who have fallen. Let all flesh bless the name, and do not call God king while leaving the bowed down on the ground.
Teach it back
Explain Psalms 145:1–21 in your own words. Name the poetic voice and movement, trace its place in Psalm 145 and Book V, identify one exact source control or uncertainty, and reject one use the passage does not authorize.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do responsible readings differ?
Best judgment: The missing nun line in the Masoretic form and its presence in other traditions are a real textual issue; universal provision remains praise, not denial of hunger.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Psalms 145:1–21, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Ps.xml, OSIS 145:1–21
Supports: Verse-level controls for poetic syntax, imagery, older KJV language, textual issues, headings, and alternatives in Psalms 145:1–21.
Official NET Bible Psalm 145 HTML, translator, textual, and study notes attached to Psalms 145:1–21
Supports: Five-book, genre, poetic, historical, theological, liturgical, communal, and reception synthesis with visible limits.
Enter the Bible Psalms course, Introductory Issues: genres and psalm pairs; Theological Themes: kingship, Zion, and covenant; applied to Psalms 145:1–21
Supports: Ancient Greek wording, numbering, division, and superscription evidence where it materially clarifies translation or reception.
NETS Psalms, Pietersma introduction pp. 542–543 and exact Greek translation headed Ps 145 for Psalms 145:1–21
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Psalms 145:1–21, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Psalms
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Ps.xml, OSIS 145:1–21
Open the fixed Hebrew Psalms file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible Notes: Psalms 1-150
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, current official online edition
Supports: Verse-level controls for poetic syntax, imagery, older KJV language, textual issues, headings, and alternatives in Psalms 145:1–21.
Exact location: Official NET Bible Psalm 145 HTML, translator, textual, and study notes attached to Psalms 145:1–21
Open the official NET Psalms notes ↗modern scholarly book course
Psalms course: summary, outline, background, introductory issues, theological themes, and Bible in the world
Fred Gaiser; revised by Nicholas Schaser
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, revised May 2024
Supports: Five-book, genre, poetic, historical, theological, liturgical, communal, and reception synthesis with visible limits.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Psalms course, Introductory Issues: genres and psalm pairs; Theological Themes: kingship, Zion, and covenant; applied to Psalms 145:1–21
Open the Enter the Bible Psalms course ↗ancient greek text translation and introduction
A New English Translation of the Septuagint: Psalms
Albert Pietersma
International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies; Oxford University Press, 2009
Supports: Ancient Greek wording, numbering, division, and superscription evidence where it materially clarifies translation or reception.
Exact location: NETS Psalms, Pietersma introduction pp. 542–543 and exact Greek translation headed Ps 145 for Psalms 145:1–21
Open NETS Psalms ↗