Psalms 145:20
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The LORD preserves all who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
The five foregoing psalms were all of a piece, all full of prayers; this, and the five that follow it to the end of the book, are all of a piece too, all full of praises; and though only this is entitled David's psalm yet we have no reason to think but that they were all his as well as all the foregoing prayers. And it is observable, 1. That after five psalms of prayer follow six psalms of praise; for those that are much in prayer shall not want matter for praise, and those that have sped in prayer must abound in praise. Our thanksgivings for mercy, when we have received it, should even exceed our supplications for it when we were in pursuit of it. David, in the last of his begging psalms, had promised to praise God (Psa 145:9), and here he performs his promise. 2. That the book of Psalms concludes with psalms of praise, all praise, for praise, is the conclusion of the whole matter; it is that in which all the psalms centre. And it intimates that God's people, towards the end of their life, should abound much in praise, and the rather because, at the end of their life, they hope to remove to the world of everlasting praise, and the nearer they come to heaven the more they should accustom themselves to the work of heaven. This is one of those psalms which are composed alphabetically (as Ps. 25 and Ps. 34, etc.), that it might be the more easily committed to memory, and kept in mind. The Jewish writers justly extol this psalm as a star of the first magnitude in this bright constellation; and some of them have an extravagant saying concerning it, not much unlike some of the popish superstitions, That whosoever will sing this psalm constantly three times a day shall certainly be happy in the world to come. In this psalm, I. David engages himself and others to praise God (Ps…
Open source ↗145:20 The Lord cares for those who love him and fear him. God-fearers love the Lord and find refuge in him (5:11); they seek him as their only true Savior (40:16; 70:4). They will experience a grand future (69:36), as well as God’s peace (119:165).
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
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but showing loving devotion to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.
Hate evil, O you who love the LORD! He preserves the souls of His saints; He delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
Love the LORD, all His saints. The LORD preserves the faithful, but fully repays the arrogant.
The wicked will return to Sheol— all the nations who forget God.
You have rebuked the nations; You have destroyed the wicked; You have erased their name forever and ever.
For the LORD guards the path of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
Listen, my beloved brothers: Has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him?
For the LORD loves justice and will not forsake His saints. They are preserved forever, but the offspring of the wicked will be cut off.
Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.