1Not to us, O LORD, not to us
but to Your name give glory
for Your kindness and Your steadfast truth.
2Why should the nations say,
“Where is their god?”
3when our God is in the heavens—
all that He desired He has done.
4Their idols are silver and gold,
the handiwork of man.
5A mouth they have but they do not speak,
eyes they have but they do not see.
6Ears they have but they do not hear,
a nose they have but they do not smell.
7Their hands—but they do not feel;
their feet—but they do not walk;
they make no sound with their throat.
8Like them may be those who make them,
all who trust in them.
9O Israel, trust in the LORD,
their help and their shield is He.
10House of Aaron, O trust in the LORD,
their help and their shield is He.
11You who fear the LORD,
trust in the LORD, their help and their shield is He.
12 The LORD recalls us, may He bless,
may He bless the house of Israel,
may He bless the house of Aaron.
13May He bless those who fear the LORD,
the lesser with the great.
14May the LORD grant you increase,
both you and your children.
15Blessed are you by the LORD,
maker of heaven and earth.
16The heavens are heavens for the LORD,
and the earth He has given to humankind.
17The dead do not praise the LORD
nor all who go down into silence.
18But we will bless Jah
now and forevermore,
hallelujah.
PSALM 115 NOTES
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2–3. Why should the nations say, / “Where is their god?” / when our God is in the heavens. These lines lay the grounds for the polemic against idolatry in verses 4–8. The nations, accustomed to the idea that every deity is represented by carved images, mockingly question the existence of the imageless God of Israel, to which the psalmist rejoins that the true God is not visible because He resides in the heavens, a vantage point from which He exerts absolute power (“all that He desired He has done”). The idea that this psalm goes on to develop of idols as mere impotent chunks of matter has a marked kinship with the polemic against idolatry of Deutero-Isaiah, the prophet of the Babylonian exile. Most scholars in fact place the composition of this text in the Second Temple period.
5. A mouth they have. The syntactic positioning of all these body parts at the beginning of a sequence of versets sharpens the polemic edge of these lines. The shape of the idols is anthropomorphic, but the idols, sheer inert stuff, have none of the capacities of sentient life, making those who worship them ridiculous.
8. Like them may be those who make them. This statement takes the form of a curse: may the idol worshippers turn to lifeless wood and stone like the objects they have fashioned.
9. O Israel. Beginning at this point, the psalm provides a series of indications of its liturgical nature. Different groups of celebrants in the Temple rite are enjoined to trust in the LORD: the general community (“Israel”), the priests and Levites (“the house of Aaron”), and what may be a distinct third group (“those who fear the LORD”)—the early rabbis identified these as proselytes, a possibility not to be excluded in the Second Temple period.
12. may He bless. As is appropriate for this sort of liturgical text, the concluding section of the psalm is devoted to the invocation of blessings on the community of worshippers.
16. The heavens are heavens for the LORD, / and the earth He has given to humankind. This line picks up the idea put forth in verse 3: God is enthroned above in the heavens but has bestowed the realm of earth to humankind for its enjoyment and fulfillment.
17. The dead do not praise the LORD. The view of this late poem remains faithful to the outlook of earlier biblical literature: there is only one life, here and now, and it should be used to celebrate God’s greatness. This ending completes a vertical cosmological picture: God above in the heavens; humankind on earth; and still farther below, the realm of death, which is a place of eternal silence, where none can sing or praise.