1 It is a good thing to give thanks to Yahweh, to sing praises to your name, Most High;
2 to proclaim your loving kindness in the morning, and your faithfulness every night,
3 with the ten-stringed lute, with the harp, and with the melody of the lyre.
4 For you, Yahweh, have made me glad through your work. I will triumph in the works of your hands.
5 How great are your works, Yahweh! Your thoughts are very deep.
6 A senseless man doesn’t know, neither does a fool understand this:
7 though the wicked spring up as the grass, and all the evildoers flourish, they will be destroyed forever.
Free Grace note
The quick success of the wicked is not the last word. The psalm calls it foolish to misread the world: a senseless man doesn't know, neither does a fool understand this. What is it the fool misses? That though the wicked spring up as the grass and flourish, they will be destroyed forever. Grass grows fast and dies fast. The fool sees only the springing up and envies it, forgetting the withering. This is the same lesson as Psalm 37 and Psalm 73, where the writer nearly stumbled watching the wicked prosper until he considered their end. If you have ever wondered why those who ignore God seem to win, this verse steadies you. Their flourishing is real but brief. God is on high forever more, and outlasts every quick success that troubles you now.
8 But you, Yahweh, are on high forever more.
9 For, behold, your enemies, Yahweh, for, behold, your enemies shall perish. All the evildoers will be scattered.
10 But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox. I am anointed with fresh oil.
11 My eye has also seen my enemies. My ears have heard of the wicked enemies who rise up against me.
12 The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree. He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 They are planted in Yahweh’s house. They will flourish in our God’s courts.
Free Grace note
The righteous flourish because they are planted, not because they strive. The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Then comes the reason: they are planted in Yahweh's house. A tree does not plant itself, and it does not manufacture its own growth by trying harder; it simply stays rooted where it was set, drawing life from the soil. This is the same picture as Psalm 1 and Jeremiah 17:7 and 8, where the one who trusts the Lord is a tree by the water that does not fear drought. The fruitfulness of your life is not a performance you produce to keep God's favor. It is the natural overflow of being rooted near Him. Verse 14 promises fruit even in old age, still full of sap and green, because the source never runs dry.
14 They will still produce fruit in old age. They will be full of sap and green,
15 to show that Yahweh is upright. He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.
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