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1 Praise YAH !
Praise el in his holy temple; *
praise him in the firmament of his power.
2 Praise him for his mighty acts; *
praise him for his excellent greatness.
3 Praise him with the blast of the ram's-horn; *
praise him with lyre and harp.
4 Praise him with timbrel and dance; *
praise him with strings and pipe.
5 Praise him with resounding cymbals; *
praise him with loud-clanging cymbals.
6 Let everything that has breath *
praise YAH ! praise YAH !
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This is the Psalm selection that can be chosen for reading aloud in unison or being sung by a cantor on the second Sunday of Easter, Year C. If this song of praise is read, it will follow a mandatory reading from Acts 5, where Peter spoke as Jesus reborn, telling Caiaphas, “We are witnesses to these things [the resurrection of Jesus], and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.” Afterwards, a reading from Revelation will state, ‘“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” All will accompany a reading from John’s Gospel, which tells: “Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe."’
Three times in this short song, David wrote, “hal·lū yah.” Those two words say, “praise YAH,” which means “praise Yahweh.” David also wrote, “hal·lū-’êl,” which contains the same word “hal·lū.” Rather than translate that as “Halliluel!,” the NRSV shows “praise God.” While “’êl” does translate as a singular “god,” it does not compete with “YAH,” and they do a good job of translating “hal·lū” as “praise.” They do that in the second appearance in the lyric, unlike how they do not when that word is written separately, before connected to “YAH.” I have restored the truth of that written, so “YAH” and “el” can be explained and thereby understood properly.
In the first verse, David followed his “praise YAH” with a vertical bar – “׀”. This denote a place to rest, much like a period would indicate. The vertical bar can be read as a stop point, so the whole song will be seen singing about "Praise to Yahweh." Following that vertical bar, David then wrote “praise el,” where the word meaning “praise” is connected to the word “el,” with a hyphen … as a combined word. This hyphen was not present after the first “hal·lū,” so this new connection says “praise” is not done by a human, who would be commanded by someone like David, singing out an order to “praise.” Instead, the connective mark says the act of “praising” is led by an inner “el,” where “el” means “god.” This is not Yahweh, or David would have loved to write that name again. Instead, an “el” is the singular number of the collective “elohim,” which are the divine spirits who only serve Yahweh. For David to write “praise-el” that says an “el” had been placed within his soul by Yahweh; and, that “el” led David to give “praise.”
When this is then continued by David singing, “in his holy temple” – from “bə·qā·ḏə·šōw” (a construct of “qodesh”) – the deeper truth says “praise-el” is a masculine presence of “apartness” or “sacredness” (the meaning of “qodesh”). This makes the “temple” be one’s body of flesh, where one’s soul is the attending priest to that “temple.” The High Priest is then the “sacredness” present in the “el” that gives “praise.” That “praise” is to “YAH” (meaning “Yahweh”).
There is no word written that says “temple,” but that can be assumed from the verse continuing to say, “praise him in firmament his mighty.” Here, the Hebrew word “raqia” is used, which means, “an extended surface, expanse.” Rather than see David singing about Yahweh in outer space, the “firmament” is the “extended surface” in which the “el” gives “praise;” and, that “expanse” is both one’s soul and its body of flesh. The "firmament" is the 'kingdom' in which the "el" rules. This is then “his mighty” or “his strength,” which is David explaining all his abilities of “power” were not from him being a really special guy (a hero). David gave “praise” to “Yahweh,” because everything he did physically was as “his strength” being expressed through David.
This understanding is then sung by David in verse two, when he sang: “Praise him for his mighty acts.” Here, it must be grasped that Yahweh is not like a mythological god that swoops down and does miraculous things (either good or bad). Everything done by Yahweh that is worthy of “praise” is done by those in whom Yahweh has placed an “el.” For David, some of those “mighty acts” were killing Goliath, escaping Saul’s wrath, and moving the Ark into the City of David (formerly Jebus, ancient Salem). David sang to give “praise” to Yahweh for his “mighty acts,” because they could not have been done without His assistance.
When the NRSV shows the second half of verse two to sing, “praise him for his excellent greatness,” this is really two statements (poorly translated). The first simply says, “praise him.” This is now separated from David giving inner praise, as this statement is David speaking to all who are like him – filled with an “el” of “YAH.” Thus, the second part of this says, “by multitude his greatness.” To turn this into “for his excellent greatness” is meaningless. There is no measure for “excellence” or “greatness” when Yahweh is known to be the one affording one to do “mighty acts.” David could not show that “greatness” alone. He needed others in the same state of absolute faith as he possessed (being equally possessed by YAH’s el); so, David sang of how all Israel (a name meaning “Who Retain the el of YAH”) are examples of the “multitude” or “abundance” of YAH’s “greatness” – as measured in human beings achieving His miraculous.
In verse three, David then sings, “Praise him with the blast of the ram's-horn.” This needs to be seen as meaning to loudly blasted out “praise,” which announces the King is within one’s soul. The shofar (or shophar) is a ram’s horn, where the altar of the temple has “horns” on the four corners. This can then be seen as meaning to announce to the world one’s sacrifice of self, in order to marry Yahweh and become His wife – where His "el" is then born. This is then not some blowhard boasting, but demonstrated acts as a devotee to the High Priest of the temple. To “praise him with the sound of a trumpet” means to do the Acts of servitude that is his ”praise.”
[Readings from the book of Acts are mandatory during the Easter season; so, acts are key to the resurrection of Jesus theme. The horns of a ram make it designated to act for the flock. The sound made by a shofar call others into action.]
Whereas the “sound of a trumpet” is loud and direct, David then sang to also announce softly, “praise him with lyre and harp.” This is the symbolism of ministry. The words of David’s psalms were divine words sent to him by Yahweh in prayer (divine communication), received by his “el.” David sang the Word of Yahweh, so others could hear and sing along with that Word. This verse then says the blessing of Yahweh’s presence is not to be held secretly. It is to be announced boldly by one’s actions; and, it is to be shared with others, with love and tenderness, so others will feel the vibrations of Yahweh’s presence through understanding His Word.
Verse four then sings, “Praise him with timbrel and dance; praise him with strings and pipe.” A “timbrel” is a “tambourine,” which is a hand-held percussion instrument, one that provides a rhythmic beat, along with the sound of tiny cymbals shaken together. When “dance” is connected to that, then both the hands and the feet are shown to be giving “praise” to “YAH.” When one has been divinely united with His Spirit, receiving His “el,” then one becomes his hands on the earth, doing His work. This work involves traveling to where YAH says go; and, that involves one’s feet. Thus, the first portion of this verse uses musical instruments and the movement music causes to indicate one’s service to Yahweh.
The “stringed instruments” then indicate one’s soul being connected to His Spirit, so the strums made upon the ‘heartstrings’ makes one’s soul reverberate with the love of Yahweh. Their hearts [a metaphor for souls] sing “praises to YAH.” The “flute” or “pipes” must then be seen as “wind instruments,” where this involves the breath of life given by Yahweh, which is one’s soul. Not only does the physical body show its excitement ‘dancing’ to Yahweh’s tune; so too does one’s soul begin to make beautiful music in His name.
Wake Up!
Verse five then begins by singing, “Praise him with resounding cymbals,” this says a wife of Yahweh will make a “whirring, buzzing” sense of excitement be felt in others (the meaning of the root Hebrew word “tslatsal”). That acts like a ‘wake-up signal.’ David's repeating of “cymbals” (another “whirring” noise made) is then said to be “praise” made as “a shout or blast of war, alarm, or joy” (the meaning of the root Hebrew word “teruah”). Together, this becomes a sounding of the urgency, as well as foretelling of the joy that comes from urgently acting in response to an alarm. There, waking up becomes synonymous with coming alive, versus being dead of Spirit.
The reason for sounding the alarm is stated in verse six, when David sang, “everything that has breath.” That points out that all souls come from Yahweh, so the blessing of life on earth should be recognized as the miracle of Yahweh, which needs to be “praised” in return. Because a soul is the “breath” of Yahweh, thereby being of eternal “spirit,” the soul (a “breath”) is expected to return to the source of “life.” To ensure that return (salvation), everyone must “Praise YAH! Praise YAH!” He must be recognized as the creator of “life;” so, the only way to defeat mortal death is to marry one’s soul to His Spirit, receive His “el,” and give Yahweh the “praise” He deserves. That "praise" comes through service - Acts.
As a song of “praise” that can be sung on the second Sunday of Easter, when the resurrection of Jesus should be within one’s soul, Jesus should be seen as the “el” within, who “praises YAH” and leads a soul to redemption and salvation. Christians are read this Psalm 150 only once in a ‘blue moon,’ and when it is read aloud in unison, no one is preaching about the “el” that nobody sees. Everyone just sits back in their comfortable pew, letting the relaxing breeze of another of David’s psalms cool their foreheads. “Wow,” they think. “That David sure was a prolific poet.” Nobody hears him calling them to do as he did. No priest routinely [as in every Sunday] spends as much as a minute explaining one of David’s songs of “praise.” Thus, nobody hears Jesus singing to them like a woodwind, “Let me in and we’ll sing a song of praise together.” Not many today have been resurrected as Jesus; so, not many today give Yahweh the praise He deserves. That is not a good thing, when everyone remains mortal and bound for judgment after death.