"Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory,
for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!
2 Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
3 Our God is in the heavens;
he does all that he pleases.
4 Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
5 They have mouths, but do not speak;
eyes, but do not see.
6 They have ears, but do not hear;
noses, but do not smell.
7 They have hands, but do not feel;
feet, but do not walk;
and they do not make a sound in their throat.
8 Those who make them become like them;
so do all who trust in them.
9 O Israel, trust in the Lord!
He is their help and their shield.
10 O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord!
He is their help and their shield.
11 You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord!
He is their help and their shield.
12 The Lord has remembered us; he will bless us;
he will bless the house of Israel;
he will bless the house of Aaron;
13 he will bless those who fear the Lord,
both the small and the great.
14 May the Lord give you increase,
you and your children!
15 May you be blessed by the Lord,
who made heaven and earth!
16 The heavens are the Lord's heavens,
but the earth he has given to the children of man.
17 The dead do not praise the Lord,
nor do any who go down into silence.
18 But we will bless the Lord
from this time forth and for evermore.
Praise the Lord!"
Psalm 115
Over against all the emptiness referred to in 4-8 the firm and substantial trust in the living God expressed in 9ff is all the more impressive. The threefold exhortation in 9-11 makes it likely that the Psalm was arranged to be sung in parts, with sub-choirs coming in one after the other, each in turn stressing the activity of God in helping His people, over against the dumb idols that can do nothing. At 12, there is a change of tone in the Psalm: 'The Lord hath been mindful of us'. Some commentators think that between 11 and 12 some divine intervention has taken place; others that the sacrifice has been of- fered, giving rise to confidence. But perhaps it is simply the secret work of the Holy Spirit - as so often in the Psalms - bringing an inner peace of faith in answer to prayer, i.e. the consciousness that prayer has got through, and the assurance that God had not forgotten them - before there was any sign of the answer coming! The phrase from the hymn, 'Lost in wonder, love and praise' aptly sums up the theme of 16-18: the praise of heaven is perfect and complete, the praise of those on earth may be worthy and full, the dead cannot praise - this threefold declaration sounds the note of triumph even over death, for the praise of God's people is to continue for evermore (18). This is the force of the 'But' in the last verse: not only will death not silence the praise of God's people; that praise will continue and indeed be transformed and immeasurably enhanced in the world to come.