Psalms 147
Old Testament · Brenton Septuagint with Greek parallel
Psalms chapter 147 is given here in full, verse by verse, in Sir Lancelot Brenton's classic English translation of the Septuagint (LXX), with the Greek text of the Septuagint set beneath each verse. The text follows the Septuagint tradition received throughout the Orthodox Church.
9 patristic excerpts are attached to this chapter, from Saint Augustine of Hippo. The translator's notes for this chapter (2) follow the text.
Psalms 147
1Alleluia, a Psalm of Aggaeus and Zacharias. * Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Sion.Ἀλληλούϊα· Ἀγγαίου καὶ Ζαχαρίου. Ἐπαίνει, Ἱερουσαλήμ, τὸν Κύριον, αἴνει τὸν Θεόν σου Σιών.
2For he has strengthened the bars of your gates; he has blessed your children within you.Ὅτι ἐνίσχυσεν τοὺς μοχλοὺς τῶν πυλῶν σου, εὐλόγησεν τοὺς υἱούς σου ἐν σοί.
3He makes your borders peaceful, and fills you with the † flour of wheat.Ὁ τιθεὶς τὰ ὅριά σου εἰρήνην, καὶ στέαρ πυροῦ ἐμπιπλῶν σε·
4He sends his oracle to the earth: his word will run swiftly.Ὁ ἀποστέλλων τὸ λόγιον αὐτοῦ τῇ γῇ, ἕως τάχους δραμεῖται ὁ λόγος αὐτοῦ·
5He gives snow like wool: he scatters the mist like ashes.Τοῦ διδόντος χιόνα ὡσεὶ ἔριον, ὁμίχλην ὡσεὶ σποδὸν πάσσοντος·
6Casting forth his ice like morsels: who shall stand before his cold?Βάλλοντος κρύσταλλον αὐτοῦ ὠσεὶ ψωμούς· κατὰ πρόσωπον ψύχους αὐτοῦ τίς ὑποστήσεται;
7He shall send out his word, and melt them: he shall blow with his wind, and the waters shall flow.Ἀποστελεῖ τὸν λόγον αὐτοῦ, καὶ τήξει αὐτά, πνεύσει τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ, καὶ ῥυήσεται ὕδατα.
8He sends his word to Jacob, his ordinances and judgments to Israel.Ἀπαγγέλλων τὸν λόγον αὐτοῦ τῷ Ἰακώβ, δικαιώματα καὶ κρίματα αὐτοῦ τῷ Ἰσραήλ.
9He has not done so to ‡ any other nation; and he has not shown them his judgments.Οὐκ ἐποίησεν οὕτως παντὶ ἔθνει, καὶ τὰ κρίματα αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἐδήλωσεν αὐτοῖς.
Translator's Notes
These notes come from the printed edition of Sir Lancelot Brenton's classic English translation of the Septuagint (LXX), and record where the Greek differs from the English rendering or admits more than one reading.
- v. 3†Lit. fat of wheat.
- v. 9‡Gr. every.
The Fathers on Psalms 147
Saint Augustine of Hippo comments on this chapter. Each excerpt below is drawn from the full text held in the Fathers Library; follow the link on any entry to read the whole work.
On Psalms 147:1Saint Augustine of Hippo17. “Praise in unison, O Jerusalem, thy God” (ver. 12). Abiding yet in captivity, they behold those flocks, or rather, the one flock of all its citizens, gathered from all sides into that city; they see the joy of the mass, now after threshings and winnowings placed in the garner, fearing nothing, suffering no toil nor trouble; and, as yet abiding here, in the midst of the threshing they send forward their joy of…
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On Psalms 147:2Saint Augustine of Hippo20. He saith, “He hath made strong the bars of thy gates” (ver. 13). The making bars strong is not for open gates, but shut ones, wherefore most manuscripts read, “He hath made strong the bolts of thy gates.” Observe, beloved. He biddeth Jerusalem when closed in to praise the Lord. We praise in unison now, we praise now; but it is amid offences. Many where we wish not, enter in: many though we wish it not, go…
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On Psalms 147:3Saint Augustine of Hippo22. What ye cried out a while ago at the very mention of peace, ye cried from longing: your cry was from thirst, not from fulness; for there will be perfect righteousness where will be perfect peace. Now we hunger and thirst after righteousness. “They shall be filled.” How shall they be filled? When we have arrived at peace. Therefore when he had said, “Who hath set peace for thy borders,” because there is…
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On Psalms 147:4Saint Augustine of Hippo23. “Who sendeth forth His Word to the earth” (ver. 15). Behold, on earth we toil, weary, fainting, sluggish, cold: when should we be raised up to the fat of wheat that satisfieth, did not He send His Word to the earth, whereby we were weighed down, to the earth, whereby we were hindered from returning? He sent His Word, He deserted us not even in the wilderness, He rained manna from heaven. “Who sendeth forth…
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On Psalms 147:5Saint Augustine of Hippo24. We then are burdened by the sluggishness of this cold body, and the bonds of this earthly and corruptible life; have we no hope of receiving “the Word,” which “runneth even unto swiftness”? or hath abandoned us, though by the body we are depressed to the lowest depths? Did not He predestinate us, before we were born in this mortal and sluggish body? He then, who predestinated us, gave snow to the earth, even…
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On Psalms 147:6Saint Augustine of Hippo26. “Who sendeth His crystal like morsels of bread” (ver. 17). We need not spend our toil again in saying what crystal is. We have already said it, and I do not think that ye, beloved, have forgotten it. What is then, “He sendeth His crystal like morsels of bread”? What is “crystal”? It is very hard, it is very tightly congealed; it can not, like snow, be easily melted. Snow, hardened by many years’ duration, and…
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On Psalms 147:7Saint Augustine of Hippo27. Thus then we see “the snow, the mist, the crystal:” it is good that He blow and thaw them. For if He blow not, if He Himself thaw not the hardness of this ice, “in the face of His cold who shall stand?” He abandoneth a sinner, behold, He calleth him not; behold, He openeth not his perception; behold, He poureth not in grace; let the man thaw himself, if he can, from the ice of folly. He cannot. Wherefore can…
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On Psalms 147:8Saint Augustine of Hippo28. “Announcing His Word unto Jacob, His Righteousnesses and Judgments unto Israel” (ver. 19). What “Righteousnesses,” what “Judgments”? Because whatever mankind had suffered here before, when it was “snow” and “mist” and “crystal,” it suffered for the deserts of its pride and uplifting against God. Let us go back to the origin of our fall, and see that most truly is it sung in the Psalm, “Before I was troubled I…
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On Psalms 147:9Open Psalms 147 in the interactive reader Switch translations, hear the chapter read aloud, tap any verse for its patristic commentary, and study the Greek word by word.Saint Augustine of Hippo29. “He hath not done so to the whole race” (ver. 20). Let none deceive you: it is not announced to any nation, this judgment of God; namely, how the righteous and the unrighteous suffer, how all suffer for their deserts, how the righteous themselves are freed by the grace of God, not in their own merits. This is not announced to the whole race, but only to Jacob, only to Israel. What then do we, if He hath not…
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