SUMMARY
Everything, everywhere, by every means is called to praise God.
ANALYSIS
This final psalmA psalm is a song of praise. In the Old Testament 150 psalms comprise the psalter, although some of the psalms are laments and thanksgivings. In the New Testament early Christians gathered to sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. is a loud hymn of praise that closes the collection of five praise psalms that end Book V (Psalms 146-150), Book V itself, and the entire PsalterThe psalter is a volume containing the book of Psalms (see Psalm). In the early Middle Ages psalters were popular and contained - in addition to the psalms - calendars, litanies of saints, and other devotional texts.. It calls on “everything that breathes” to praise the Lord. Why? Because of God’s “mighty deeds” (what God does) and God’s “surpassing greatness” (who God is) (v. 2). Further detail is not spelled out, since the psalm assumes everything that is said about God in the 149 psalms that precede it. For all of that, let God be praised!
The psalm is loud, because everything on earth and in the heavens joins in praise (v. 1). Humans praise with voice and with instruments and with dance–finally with “loud clashing cymbals” (v. 5). The praise of God will be loud indeed, and properly so. We praise for who God is and what God does with all that we are and all that we do.
