“Praise ye the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul.”
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul. The doubling of praise invocation (opening Hallelujah, praise my soul) creates emphatic summons to the entire being to engage in worship. The address to my soul suggests internalization; praise is not external performance but flows from the psalmist's inmost being. This verse establishes that authentic praise engages the whole self, not merely external action or speech. The tone is invitational: the psalmist summons themselves to praise.
Church Fathers on Psalms 146:1
1. ...Behold the Psalm sounds; it is the voice of some one (and that some one are you, if you will), of some one encouraging his soul to praise God, and saying to himself, “Praise the Lord, O my soul” Psalm 145:1. For sometimes in the tribulations and temptations of this present life, whether we will or no, our soul is troubled; of which troubling he speaks in another Psalm. But to remove this troubling, he suggests joy; not as yet in reality, but in hope; and says to it when…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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