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Salmos 111

VBL · Chapter 111/150

1¡Alaben al Señor! Le agradeceré a Él con todo mi corazón ante la congregación de los fieles.

2Todas las maravillas que el Señor ha hecho son estudiadas por quienes lo aman.

3Su honor y majestad son revelados por sus actos; su bondad perdura para siempre.

4Él quiere que todas las cosas que ha hecho sean recordadas; el Señor es amable y lleno de gracia.

5Alimenta a los que lo respetan; siempre tiene presente el acuerdo que hizo.

6Le demostró a su pueblos las maravillosas cosas que podía hacer al darles las tierras de otras naciones.

7Todo lo que hace es justo; y sus mandamientos son confiables.

8Permanecen sólidos para siempre. Estaba en lo correcto al decir lo que debía hacerse.

9Liberó a su pueblo. Y ordenó que su pacto perdurará para siempre. ¡Su nombre es santo e imponente!

10El principio de la sabiduría es honrar al Señor. Los que siguen sus mandamientos les va bien. ¡Su alabanza permanece para siempre!

📖 Chapter study

Summary

An alphabetic hymn of praise (each line begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet) that celebrates God's great works and concludes that 'the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.'

Explanation

This psalm is an acrostic, a Hebrew literary device in which each verse or phrase begins with the next letter of the alphabet (from aleph to tav), a technique used both to beautify the text and to aid memorization. It specifically celebrates God's covenant and his faithfulness in keeping it, closing with a line also repeated in Proverbs 9:10 about the fear of the Lord as the foundation of wisdom. The application today is that genuine reverence for God (not paralyzing fear, but respect and awe) is the healthy starting point for living wisely.

Fun facts

  • This is one of eight acrostic psalms in the Psalter (others include Psalms 25, 34, 37, 111, 112, 119, and 145), structured to follow the order of the Hebrew alphabet.
  • The closing line 'the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom' appears almost identically in Proverbs 9:10 and Job 28:28, forming a unifying theme of Hebrew wisdom literature.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Salmos 111:1Like Psalms 119 and 145, this one is also an alphabet poem in the original Hebrew: each half-line begins with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet, a stylistic exercise that gets lost in translation.
  2. Salmos 111:2“Sought out of all them that have pleasure therein” describes God’s works as something actively pursued, almost an object of study and admiration, not just something glanced at in passing.
  3. Salmos 111:3Joining “honour and majesty” with righteousness links two things that do not always go together: the visible beauty of God’s works and the morally right character behind them.
  4. Salmos 111:4Saying that God “hath made his wonderful works to be remembered” suggests a deliberate effort to keep the memory of these acts alive, perhaps through feasts and rituals that recalled them.
  5. Salmos 111:5Giving food to those who fear Him and always remembering the covenant appear side by side: a very practical kind of care, daily bread, tied to a long-term faithfulness.
  6. Salmos 111:6Showing His people “the power of his works” had a concrete purpose: to prepare the way for Israel to receive the lands of other nations as an inheritance.
  7. Salmos 111:7God’s works and His commandments are placed side by side as the same thing seen from two angles: trustworthy, sure, with no contradiction between what He does and what He commands.
  8. Salmos 111:8It reinforces the idea from the previous verse: the commandments stand firm forever, made in truth and uprightness, setting up the practical conclusion about wisdom that comes at the end of the psalm.
  9. Salmos 111:9“Reverend” here means “inspiring reverent awe,” not the informal compliment the word carries today, but the idea of a name before which one ought to bow.
  10. Salmos 111:10“The fear of the Lord” in this kind of wisdom literature is not dread, but a deep respect that recognizes to whom one is accountable. It is this attitude that, according to the text, marks the beginning of any serious understanding of life.

Chapters

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