“Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.”
The opening invocation 'Bless the LORD, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name!' launches the hymnic celebration with emphatic, whole-self commitment to praise. The verb 'bless' (barak) reverses the conventional piety wherein God blesses humanity; here the created being actively blesses the Creator, participating in the cosmic liturgy. The address to the soul (naphshi) and 'all that is within me' suggests a totality of being—emotional, spiritual, physical—enlisted in praise, refusing any compartmentalization between different dimensions of the self. The doubled invocation of the LORD's name emphasizes the personal relationship; to bless God's name is to affirm God's revealed character and identity. This opening establishes the entire psalm as a declaration of wholehearted devotion, an invitation to the listener to join in comprehensive praise.
Church Fathers on Psalms 103:1
1. ...“Bless the Lord, O my soul! And all that is within me, His holy Name” Psalm 102:1. I suppose that he speaks not of what is within the body; I do not suppose him to mean this, that our lungs and liver, and so forth, are to burst forth into the voice of blessing of the Lord. There are lungs in our breast indeed, like a kind of bellows, which send forth successive breathings, which breathing forth of the air inhaled is pressed out into voice and sound, when the words are…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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