Psalm 147: He Heals the Brokenhearted

"Praise ye the LORD: for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely. The LORD doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel. He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names… Who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth… He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry. He delighteth not in the strength of the horse."

"Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem; praise thy God, O Zion. For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates… He maketh peace in thy borders, and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat. He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth: his word runneth very swiftly. He giveth snow like wool: he scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes… He sendeth out his word, and melteth them… He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation."

Stars and wounds

The God who counts and names the stars (Isaiah 40:26) also binds up the wounds of the brokenhearted. The psalm sets cosmic power and personal tenderness side by side. Snow and frost are real in the Judean highlands, where Jerusalem sees snow in some winters; God's word sends the weather and his word melts it.

Two psalms in the Greek

The Greek and Latin divide Psalm 147 into two: 147:1–11 is Greek 146, and 147:12–20 is Greek 147 (Vulgate "Lauda, Jerusalem, Dominum"). After this point the Hebrew and Greek numbering agree again. "Build up Jerusalem" and "gathereth the outcasts" (compare Isaiah 56:8) suggest the period after the exile, perhaps Nehemiah's rebuilding of the walls; this is a proposal from the content. Psalms 146–150 have no heading other than "Praise ye the LORD" (hallelu-yah), with which each begins and ends; the Greek and Latin put "Alleluia" at their head. They are the closing doxology of the whole Psalter and are recited every morning in Jewish worship (Pesukei de-Zimra).