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Psalms 111:6 Darby English Bible (DARBY)

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6 He hath shewn his people the power of his works, to give them the heritage of the nations.

Cross Reference

Deuteronomy 4:32-38 DARBY

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For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man on the earth, and from one end of the heavens to the other end of the heavens, whether there hath been anything as this great thing is, or if anything hath been heard like it? Did [ever] people hear the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live? Or hath God essayed to come to take him a nation from the midst of a nation, by trials, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a powerful hand, and by a stretched-out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that Jehovah your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? Unto thee it was shewn, that thou mightest know that Jehovah, he is God -- there is none other besides him. From the heavens he made thee hear his voice, that he might instruct thee; and on the earth he shewed thee his great fire; and thou heardest his words from the midst of the fire. And because he loved thy fathers, and chose their seed after them, he brought thee out with his countenance, with his great power, out of Egypt, to dispossess nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou art, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day.

Joshua 3:14-17 DARBY

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And it came to pass when the people removed from their tents, to pass over the Jordan, that the priests bearing the ark of the covenant were before the people; and when they that bore the ark were come to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water (and the Jordan is full over all its banks throughout the days of harvest), the waters which flowed down from above stood [and] rose up in a heap, very far, by Adam, the city that is beside Zaretan; and those that flowed down towards the sea of the plain, the salt sea, were completely cut off. And the people went over opposite to Jericho. And the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of Jehovah stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan. And all Israel went over on dry ground, until all the nation had completely gone over the Jordan.

Joshua 10:13-14 DARBY

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And the sun stood still, and the moon remained where it was, until the nation had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? And the sun remained standing in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a full day. And there was no day like that before it or after it, that Jehovah hearkened to the voice of a man; for Jehovah fought for Israel.

Psalms 78:12-72 DARBY

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In the sight of their fathers had he done wonders, in the land of Egypt, the field of Zoan. He clave the sea, and caused them to pass through; and made the waters to stand as a heap; And he led them with a cloud in the daytime, and all the night with the light of fire. He clave rocks in the wilderness, and gave [them] drink as out of the depths, abundantly; And he brought streams out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers. Yet they still went on sinning against him, provoking the Most High in the desert; And they tempted ùGod in their heart, by asking meat for their lust; And they spoke against God: they said, Is ùGod able to prepare a table in the wilderness? Behold, he smote the rock, and waters gushed out, and streams overflowed; is he able to give bread also, or provide flesh for his people? Therefore Jehovah heard, and was wroth; and fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also went up against Israel: Because they believed not in God, and confided not in his salvation; Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and had opened the doors of the heavens, And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them the corn of the heavens. Man did eat the bread of the mighty; he sent them provision to the full. He caused the east wind to rise in the heavens, and by his strength he brought the south wind; And he rained flesh upon them as dust, and feathered fowl as the sand of the seas, And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about their habitations: And they did eat, and were well filled; for that they lusted after, he brought to them. They were not alienated from their lust, their meat was yet in their mouths, When the anger of God went up against them; and he slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel. For all this, they sinned still, and believed not in his marvellous works; And he consumed their days in vanity, and their years in terror. When he slew them, then they sought him, and returned and sought early after ùGod; And they remembered that God was their rock, and ùGod, the Most High, their redeemer. But they flattered him with their mouth, and lied unto him with their tongue; For their heart was not firm toward him, neither were they stedfast in his covenant. But he was merciful: he forgave the iniquity, and destroyed [them] not; but many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his fury: And he remembered that they were flesh, a breath that passeth away and cometh not again. How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert! And they turned again and tempted ùGod, and grieved the Holy One of Israel. They remembered not his hand, the day when he delivered them from the oppressor, How he set his signs in Egypt, and his miracles in the field of Zoan; And turned their rivers into blood, and their streams, that they could not drink; He sent dog-flies among them, which devoured them, and frogs, which destroyed them; And he gave their increase unto the caterpillar, and their labour unto the locust; He killed their vines with hail, and their sycamore trees with hail-stones; And he delivered up their cattle to the hail, and their flocks to thunderbolts. He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and distress, -- a mission of angels of woes. He made a way for his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence; And he smote all the firstborn in Egypt, the first-fruits of their vigour in the tents of Ham. And he made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock; And he led them safely, so that they were without fear; and the sea covered their enemies. And he brought them to his holy border, this mountain, which his right hand purchased; And he drove out the nations before them, and allotted them for an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents. But they tempted and provoked God, the Most High, and kept not his testimonies, And they drew back and dealt treacherously like their fathers: they turned like a deceitful bow. And they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images. God heard, and was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel: And he forsook the tabernacle at Shiloh, the tent where he had dwelt among men, And gave his strength into captivity, and his glory into the hand of the oppressor; And delivered up his people unto the sword, and was very wroth with his inheritance: The fire consumed their young men, and their maidens were not praised in [nuptial] song; Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows made no lamentation. Then the Lord awoke as one out of sleep, like a mighty man that shouteth aloud by reason of wine; And he smote his adversaries in the hinder part, and put them to everlasting reproach. And he rejected the tent of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim, But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved; And he built his sanctuary like the heights, like the earth which he hath founded for ever. And he chose David his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds: From following the suckling-ewes, he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance. And he fed them according to the integrity of his heart, and led them by the skilfulness of his hands.

Psalms 105:27-45 DARBY

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They set his signs among them, and miracles in the land of Ham. He sent darkness, and made it dark; and they rebelled not against his word. He turned their waters into blood, and caused their fish to die. Their land swarmed with frogs, -- in the chambers of their kings. He spoke, and there came dog-flies, [and] gnats in all their borders. He gave them hail for rain, [and] flaming fire in their land; And he smote their vines and their fig-trees, and broke the trees of their borders. He spoke, and the locust came, and the cankerworm, even without number; And they devoured every herb in their land, and ate up the fruit of their ground. And he smote every firstborn in their land, the firstfruits of all their vigour. And he brought them forth with silver and gold; and there was not one feeble among their tribes. Egypt rejoiced at their departure; for the fear of them had fallen upon them. He spread a cloud for a covering, and fire to give light in the night. They asked, and he brought quails, and satisfied them with the bread of heaven. He opened the rock, and waters gushed forth; they ran in the dry places [like] a river. For he remembered his holy word, [and] Abraham his servant; And he brought forth his people with gladness, his chosen with rejoicing; And he gave them the lands of the nations, and they took possession of the labour of the peoples: That they might keep his statutes, and observe his laws. Hallelujah!

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Commentary on Psalms 111 Matthew Henry Commentary

John Gill   Keil & Delitzsch   Robert Jamieson: Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible  

Psalm 111

This and divers of the psalms that follow it seem to have been penned by David for the service of the church in their solemn feasts, and not upon any particular occasion. This is a psalm of praise. The title of it is "Hallelujah-Praise you the Lord,' intimating that we must address ourselves to the use of this psalm with hearts disposed to praise God. It is composed alphabetically, each sentence beginning with a several letter of the Hebrew alphabet, in order exactly, two sentences to each verse, and three a piece to the last two. The psalmist, exhorting to praise God,

  • I. Sets himself for an example (v. 1).
  • II. Furnishes us with matter for praise from the works of God.
    • 1. The greatness of his works and the glory of them.
    • 2. The righteousness of them.
    • 3. The goodness of them.
    • 4. The power of them.
    • 5. The conformity of them to his word of promise.
    • 6. The perpetuity of them. These observations are intermixed (v. 2-9).
  • III. He recommends the holy fear of God, and conscientious obedience to his commands, as the most acceptable way of praising God (v. 10).

Psa 111:1-5

The title of the psalm being Hallelujah, the psalmist (as every author ought to have) has an eye to his title, and keeps to his text.

  • I. He resolves to praise God himself, v. 1. What duty we call others to we must oblige and excite ourselves to; nay, whatever others do, whether they will praise God or no, we and our houses must determine to do it, we and our hearts; for such is the psalmist's resolution here: I will praise the Lord with my whole heart. My heart, my whole heart, being devoted to his honour, shall be employed in this work; and this in the assembly, or secret, of the upright, in the cabinet-council, and in the congregation of Israelites. Note, We must praise God both in private and in public, in less and greater assemblies, in our own families and in the courts of the Lord's house; but in both it is most comfortable to do it in concert with the upright, who will heartily join in it. Private meetings for devotion should be kept up as well as more public and promiscuous assemblies.
  • II. He recommends to us the works of the Lord as the proper subject of our meditations when we are praising him-the dispensations of his providence towards the world, towards the church, and towards particular persons.
    • 1. God's works are very magnificent, great like himself; there is nothing in them that is mean or trifling: they are the products of infinite wisdom and power, and we must say this upon the first view of them, before we come to enquire more particularly into them, that the works of the Lord are great, v. 2. There is something in them surprising, and that strikes an awe upon us. All the works of the Lord are spoken of as one (v. 3); it is his work, such is the beauty and harmony of Providence and so admirably do all its dispensations centre in one design; it was cried to the wheels, O wheel! Eze. 10:13. Take all together, and it is honourable and glorious, and such as becomes him.
    • 2. They are entertaining and exercising to the inquisitive-sought out of all those that have pleasure therein. Note,
      • (1.) All that truly love God have pleasure in his works, and reckon all well that he does; nor do their thoughts dwell upon any subject with more delight than on the works of God, which the more they are looked into the more they give us of a pleasing surprise.
      • (2.) Those that have pleasure in the works of God will not take up with a superficial transient view of them, but will diligently search into them and observe them. In studying both natural and political history we should have this in our eye, to discover the greatness and glory of God's works.
      • (3.) These works of God, that are humbly and diligently sought into, shall be sought out; those that seek shall find (so some read); they are found of all those that have pleasure in them, or found in all their parts, designs, purposes, and several concernments (so Dr. Hammond), for the secret of the Lord is with those that fear him, Ps. 25:14.
    • 3. They are all justly and holy; His righteousness endures for ever. Whatever he does, he never did, nor ever will do, any wrong to any of his creatures; and therefore his works endure for ever (Eccl. 3:14) because the righteousness of them endures.
    • 4. They are admirable and memorable, fit to be registered and kept on record. Much that we do is so trifling that it is not fit to be spoken of or told again; the greatest kindness is to forget it. But notice is to be taken of God's works, and an account to be kept of them (v. 4). He has made his wonderful works to be remembered; he has done that which is worthy to be remembered, which cannot but be remembered, and he has instituted ways and means for the keeping of some of them in remembrance, as the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt by the passover. He has made himself a memorial by his wonderful works (so some read it); see Isa. 63:10. By that which God did with his glorious arm he made himself an everlasting name.
    • 5. They are very kind. In them the Lord shows that he is gracious and full of compassion. As of the works of creation, so of the works of providence, we must say, They are not only all very great, but all very good. Dr. Hammond takes this to be the name which God has made to himself by his wonderful works, the same with that which he proclaimed to Moses, The Lord God is gracious and merciful, Ex. 24:6. God's pardoning sin is the most wonderful of all his works and which ought to be remembered to his glory. It is a further instance of his grace and compassion that he has given meat to those that fear him, v. 5. He gives them their daily bread, food convenient for them; so he does to others by common providence, but to those that fear him he gives it by covenant and in pursuance of the promise, for it follows, He will be ever mindful of his covenant; so that they can taste covenant-love even in common mercies. Some refer this to the manna with which God fed his people Israel in the wilderness, others to the spoil they got from the Egyptians when they came out with great substance, according to the promise, Gen. 15:14. When God broke the heads of leviathan he gave him to be meat to his people, Ps. 74:14. He has given prey to those that fear him (so the margin has it), not only fed them, but enriched them, and given their enemies to be a prey to them.
    • 6. They are earnests of what he will do, according to his promise: He will ever be mindful of his covenant, for he has ever been so; and, as he never did, so he never will, let one jot or tittle of it fall to the ground. Though God's people have their infirmities, and are often unmindful of his commands, yet he will ever be mindful of his covenant.

Psa 111:6-10

We are here taught to give glory to God,

  • I. For the great things he has done for his people, for his people Israel, of old and of late: He has shown his people the power of his works (v. 6), in what he has wrought for them; many a time he has given proofs of his omnipotence, and shown them what he can do, and that there is nothing too hard for him to do. Two things are specified to show the power of his works:-
    • 1. The possession God gave to Israel in the land of Canaan, that he might give them, or in giving them, the heritage of the heathen. This he did in Joshua's time, when the seven nations were subdued, and in David's time, when the neighbouring nations were many of them brought into subjection to Israel and became tributaries to David. Herein God showed his sovereignty, in disposing of kingdoms as he pleases, and his might, in making good his disposals. If God will make the heritage of the heathen to be the heritage of Israel, who can either arraign his counsel or stay his hand?
    • 2. The many deliverances which he wrought for his people when by their iniquities they had sold themselves into the hand of their enemies (v. 9): He sent redemption unto his people, not only out of Egypt at first, but often afterwards; and these redemptions were typical of the great redemption which in the fulness of time was to be wrought out by the Lord Jesus, that redemption in Jerusalem which so many waited for.
  • II. For the stability both of his word and of his works, which assure us of the great things he will do for them.
    • 1. What God has done shall never be undone. He will not undo it himself, and men and devils cannot (v. 7): The works of his hand are verity and judgment (v. 8), that is, they are done in truth and uprightness; all he does is consonant to the eternal rules and reasons of equity, all according to the counsel of his wisdom and the purpose of his will, all well done and therefore there is nothing to be altered or amended, but his works are firm and unchangeable. Upon the beginning of his works we may depend for the perfecting of them; work that is done properly will last, will neither go to decay nor sink under the stress that is laid upon it.
    • 2. What God has said shall never be unsaid: All his commandments are sure, all straight and therefore all steady. His purposes, the rule of his actions, shall all have their accomplishment: Has he spoken, and will he not make it good? No doubt he will; whether he commands light or darkness, it is done as he commands. His precepts, the rule of our actions, are unquestionably just and good, and therefore unchangeable and not to be repealed; his promises and threatenings are all sure, and will be made good; nor shall the unbelief of man make either the one or the other of no effect. They are established, and therefore they stand fast for ever and ever, and the scripture cannot be broken. The wise God is never put upon new counsels, nor obliged to take new measures, either in his laws or in his providences. All is said, as all is done, in truth and uprightness, and therefore it is immutable. Men's folly and falsehood make them unstable in all their ways, but infinite wisdom and truth for ever exclude retraction and revocation: He has commanded his covenant for ever. God's covenant is commanded, for he has made it as one that has an incontestable authority to prescribe both what we must do and what we must expect, and an unquestionable ability to perform both what he has promised in the blessings of the covenant and what he has threatened in the curses of it, Ps. 105:8.
  • III. For the setting up and establishing of religion among men. Because holy and reverend is his name, and the fear of him is the beginning of wisdom, therefore his praise endureth for ever, that is, he is to be everlastingly praised.
    • 1. Because the discoveries of religion tend so much to his honour. Review what he has made known of himself in his word and in his works, and you will see, and say, that God is great and greatly to be feared; for his name is holy, his infinite purity and rectitude appear in all that whereby he has made himself known, and because it is holy therefore it is reverend, and to be thought of and mentioned with a holy awe. Note, What is holy is reverend; the angels have an eye to God's holiness when they cover their faces before him, and nothing is more man's honour than his sanctification. It is in his holy places that God appears most terrible, Ps. 68:35; Lev. 10:3.
    • 2. Because the dictates of religion tend so much to man's happiness. We have reason to praise God that the matter is so well contrived that our reverence of him and obedience to him are as much our interest as they are our duty.
      • (1.) Our reverence of him is so: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It is not only reasonable that we should fear God, because his name is reverend and his nature is holy, but it is advantageous to us. It is wisdom; it will direct us to speak and act as becomes us, in a consistency with ourselves, and for our own benefit. It is the head of wisdom, that is (as we read it), it is the beginning of wisdom. Men can never begin to be wise till they begin to fear God; all true wisdom takes its rise from true religion, and has its foundation in it. Or, as some understand it, it is the chief wisdom, and the most excellent, the first in dignity. It is the principal wisdom, and the principal of wisdom, to worship God and give honour to him as our Father and Master. Those manage well who always act under the government of his holy fear.
      • (2.) Our obedience to him is so: A good understanding have all those that do his commandments. Where the fear of the Lord rules in the heart there will be a constant conscientious care to keep his commandments, not to talk of them, but to do them; and such have a good understanding, that is,
        • [1.] They are well understood; their obedience is graciously accepted as a plain indication of their mind that they do indeed fear God. Compare Prov. 3:4, So shalt thou find favour and good understanding. God and man will look upon those as meaning well, and approve of them, who make conscience of their duty, though they have their mistakes. What is honestly intended shall be well taken.
        • [2.] They understand well.
          • First, It is a sign that they do understand well. The most obedient are accepted as the most intelligent; those understand themselves and their interest best that make God's law their rule and are in every thing ruled by it. A great understanding those have that know God's commandments and can discourse learnedly of them, but a good understanding have those that do them and walk according to them.
          • Secondly, It is the way to understand better: A good understanding are they to all that do them; the fear of the Lord and the laws of that give men a good understanding, and are able to make them wise unto salvation. If any man will do his will, he shall know more and more clearly of the doctrine of Christ, Jn. 7:17. Good success have all those that do them (so the margin), according to what was promised to Joshua if he would observe to do according to the law. Jos. 1:8, Then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and shalt have good success. We have reason to praise God, to praise him for ever, for putting man into such a fair way to happiness. Some apply the last words rather to the good man who fears the Lord than to the good God: His praise endures for ever. It is not of men perhaps, but it is of God (Rom. 2:29), and that praise which is of God endures for ever when the praise of men is withered and gone.