This narration is from a previous version of the study. The text on this page is current.
Psalm 115 begins where healthy worship always begins: not with our reputation, but with God’s glory. “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to thy name give glory.” The Psalm then unmasks idols, gathers Israel, Aaron, and all who fear the Lord into one trusting people, and ends by distinguishing the dead from “we, the living,” who bless the Lord from now and forever.
St Augustine reads the opening with ascetical clarity: grace is given so “that men might not seek any glory of their own, but in the Lord’s Name.”1 The Psalm is therefore both anti-idolatry and anti-vanity. It exposes visible paganism, but it also wounds hidden self-worship. In God’s mercy, worship turns us from the self and the dead substitutes we trust toward the living Lord and a people gathered in praise.
Psalm 115 (LXX 113:9-26) - Not to Us, O Lord, but to Thy Name Give Glory
Psalm Metadata
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| NKJV / Masoretic numbering | Psalm 115 |
| Septuagint / Coptic numbering | Second half of LXX Psalm 113, verses 9-26. NKJV Psalms 114 and 115 are joined as LXX Psalm 113. |
| Accepted author | Not named; Alleluia is the superscription of the combined LXX Psalm 113. |
| Period in author’s life | No fixed personal setting is attached; this is liturgical anti-idolatry confession and covenant praise. |
| Christ prophecy status | Christological and ecclesial. The Psalm contrasts dead idols with the living God and culminates in the living praising the Lord, fulfilled in Christ who reveals the Father and restores true worship. |
| Coptic lectionary/service use | A retained Pentecost Second Prostration service includes Psalm 115:12-13, corresponding to LXX 113:20-21 in this guide. |
| Numbering issue | This note embeds Brenton LXX Psalm 113:9-26 because NKJV Psalms 114 and 115 are combined as LXX Psalm 113. |
Historical and Scriptural Context
Psalm 115 belongs to the Hallel. In the combined LXX Psalm 113, this confession follows the Exodus section, with its images of the sea, Jordan, mountains, and rock. The Psalm then turns from the Lord’s acts to the false gods that have mouths but cannot speak and eyes but cannot see. The adopted Brenton heading names no human author: “Alleluia” stands at the beginning of the combined Psalm, not as a new heading at 113:9.
Augustine refuses to reduce the warning to an ancient pagan problem. Idols are the works of human hands, but those who trust them risk being shaped by what they adore. In response, the Psalm gathers the house of Israel, the house of Aaron, and all who fear the Lord into a shared rhythm of trust, remembrance, blessing, and praise.
Geographical Significance ⛰️
The Psalm speaks of the nations and of the covenant households of Israel and Aaron, but its deepest contrast is not territorial. Even the silver and gold used for idols belong to the world the Lord made. The Maker of heaven and earth cannot be confined to one place or fashioned by the hands of His creatures.
The Characters 👥
The Lord. The living God who acts freely, remembers His people, blesses them, and receives the praise of the living.
The nations. Here the Psalm speaks of those who ask, “Where is their God?” and of the idols they worship; it is not a judgment on every people.
The idols. Silver and gold works of human hands, outwardly impressive and inwardly lifeless.
The house of Israel, the house of Aaron, and those who fear the Lord. The people named in the Psalm, who trust the same helper and defender and receive His blessing.
🕯️ Light from the Word
Psalm 113:9-12, not to us, but to Thy name give glory
113:9 Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to thy name give glory, because of thy mercy and thy truth; 113:10 lest at any time the nations should say, Where is their God? 113:11 But our God has done in heaven and on earth, whatsoever he has pleased. 113:12 The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the works of men’s hands.
The doubled “not to us” resists our habit of taking back the credit, even for what begins as service to God. It is not self-loathing: we do not need to despise ourselves in order to thank the One from whom grace comes. The prayer appeals to God’s mercy and truth, not to the people’s achievement.
The word “lest” gives the request its urgency. The people ask God to glorify His name so that the nations will not take their distress as proof that He is absent. The answer is not a claim that the faithful will never suffer. Their God acts freely in heaven and on earth. As Augustine observes, the Creator does not depend on His creation for a place to exist; His freedom is not a reason to call cruelty His pleasure. Augustine also holds mercy, which calls sinners, together with truth, which judges those who refuse that call. Grace is neither our achievement nor permission to disregard God’s truth.
Lesson Guide
- Key phrases: “Not to us, O Lord, not to us”; “our God has done in heaven and on earth, whatsoever he has pleased.”
- Emphasize: God’s mercy comes before our claim to credit; His glory, not our reputation, is the center of the prayer.
- Avoid: turning the Psalm into tribal triumphalism or treating humility as contempt for oneself.
Psalm 113:13-16, idols that cannot live
113:13 They have a mouth, but they cannot speak; they have eyes, but they cannot see: 113:14 they have ears, but they cannot hear; they have noses, but they cannot smell; 113:15 they have hands, but they cannot handle; they have feet, but they cannot walk: they cannot speak through their throat. 113:16 Let those that make them become like to them, and all who trust in them.
The Psalm’s satire is directed at manufactured objects worshipped as gods. They mimic life, but possess none. Its language does not judge human beings who are blind, deaf, unable to speak, or unable to walk: bodily disability is neither spiritual guilt nor a diminishment of human dignity. Augustine observes that the craftsman is greater than the idol he fashions; the object cannot give the life it has never possessed.
“Let those that make them become like to them” is a petition for judgment, not merely a neutral prediction. It also warns how trust forms the worshipper: a heart given over to what cannot answer may grow unresponsive to the living God and to a neighbour’s need. Isaiah portrays a maker using part of a tree for fuel and asking a god made from the rest for deliverance (Isaiah 44:14-20). Paul likewise warns against serving the creature in place of the Creator (Romans 1:21-25).
Modern idols may be less visible, but they still promise life while deadening the heart. The need for approval can become one: when every act is measured by whether it brings praise, gratitude and attention to others can quietly recede. The answer is not despair. We can bring even that desire to the God whose mercy comes first and begin again.
Lesson Guide
- Key phrases: “They have a mouth, but they cannot speak”; “Let those that make them become like to them.”
- Emphasize: the petition names judgment, and the Psalm warns that what we trust can shape the heart.
- Avoid: applying the satire to disabled people or reducing idolatry to ancient statues alone.
Psalm 113:17-26, trust, blessing, and the praise of the living
113:17 The house of Israel trusts in the Lord: he is their helper and defender. 113:18 The house of Aaron trusts in the Lord: he is their helper and defender. 113:19 They that fear the Lord trust in the Lord: he is their helper and defender. 113:20 The Lord has remembered us, and blessed us: he has blessed the house of Israel, he has blessed the house of Aaron. 113:21 He has blessed them that fear the Lord, both small and great. 113:22 The Lord add blessings to you and to your children. 113:23 Blessed are ye of the Lord, who made the heaven and the earth. 113:24 The heaven of heavens belongs to the Lord: but he has given the earth to the sons of men. 113:25 The dead shall not praise thee, O Lord, nor any that go down to Hades. 113:26 But we, the living, will bless the Lord, from henceforth and for ever.
After the petition against idols comes a confession of trust. Three times the Psalm says that a people trusts the Lord; three times He is named their helper and defender. Israel, Aaron, and those who fear Him do not have different sources of life. Priest and people alike depend on God; no office makes a person self-sufficient.
The Lord has remembered and blessed His people already. The prayer then reaches forward to them and their children, asking for further blessing from the Maker of heaven and earth. “Small and great” belong together in His care. Theodoret of Cyrus reads those who fear the Lord as including people beyond priestly status or Israelite descent, and the small and great as people of different ages and stations. He also sees in the earth given to humanity a sign of God’s care for all people.
Such blessing is not a guarantee of wealth, health, or children. Poverty, sickness, infertility, and death are not evidence of idolatry or of God’s forgetfulness. Remembrance means that our lives belong to the Lord even when we cannot measure His care by the outcome we wanted. Because the earth is His gift, we can receive what we have with thanksgiving and share it responsibly—for example, by making room at our table or offering practical help to someone easily overlooked.
The Psalm’s closing contrast is a summons to praise within mortal life: the dead no longer join the earthly song, but the living can bless the Lord now. This is not a denial of resurrection hope. In 1 Corinthians 15, the risen Christ is the firstfruits, and His resurrection grounds our hope that death will be destroyed. Colossians 1 directs us to the Son through whom all things were made and reconciled. In Him the Church receives the Psalm’s summons with Paschal hope.
Praise is not a test of vocal strength. It may be offered in silence and supported by the prayers of the community; a person who is weak or unable to speak is not thereby excluded from life in God.
Lesson Guide
- Key phrases: “The house of Israel trusts in the Lord”; “But we, the living, will bless the Lord.”
- Emphasize: priest and people share one helper; the God who has remembered them receives their praise now.
- Avoid: treating blessing as mere prosperity language or the Psalm’s words about the dead as a denial of resurrection. The heart of blessing here is remembrance, belonging, and worship.
The Church’s Voice in Worship 📖
In a retained Pentecost Second Prostration service, for Paone 13, 1743 / June 20, 2027, the Psalm printed before the Gospel is Psalm 115:12-13. Its words about God’s remembrance and blessing of Israel, Aaron, and those who fear Him, both small and great, correspond to 113:20-21 above. The service’s English speaks of blessing in the future, while Brenton here says that God has blessed.
The Gospel that follows, Luke 24:36-53, tells of the risen Christ blessing His disciples and of their return to praise God. Read together, the passages invite reflection on God’s blessing and a people answering in praise; this is a way to contemplate the sequence, not a claim about an undocumented intention behind it.
Iconography Connection 🖼️
For reflection, this Psalm may be placed beside icons of the Baptism of Christ, the Harrowing of Hades, or the saints rejecting idols. These are suggested pairings, not prescribed interpretations. An icon is not paint or wood worshipped as a deity: it directs our attention to the person depicted. Worship belongs to God alone; honoring an icon is not worship of its material. The Psalm leads us away from dead substitutes toward the living Lord who heals our worship.
Spiritual Fruit 🍇
- Give God the glory first. Begin prayer with thanksgiving for a gift you did not create, without denying your own God-given worth.
- Name your idols honestly. Ask what promises life while quietly demanding the place of God in your heart.
- Turn from dead substitutes to the living God. Ask for the grace by which worship forms desire and character in His likeness.
- Choose living praise now. Do not postpone prayer until life feels settled; bring weakness and grief to God as well as gratitude.
- Trust as the covenant people trust. Praise is not solitary heroism, but life inside God’s people. Remember someone overlooked and offer the help you can.
Teacher's Notes
- Timing: 10 minutes for glory versus self, 15 minutes for the anatomy of idols, 15 minutes for covenant trust and living praise, 10 minutes for application.
- Where to linger: Psalm 113:13-16 and 113:25-26.
- Key phrase to say slowly: “Let those that make them become like to them, and all who trust in them.”
- Pastoral warning: distinguish lifeless objects from people with disabilities; do not infer idolatry or divine neglect from suffering. Bring the Psalm into modern desires without making anyone’s hardship a verdict on their faith.
Glossary
- Idolatry: Worship of what is not God, whether a manufactured object treated as a deity or a ruling passion that takes God’s place.
- House of Aaron: The priestly household, representing ordered worship.
- Hades: The realm of the dead in the Psalm’s language.
- Living praise: Worship offered by those alive in covenant communion with God, not limited to audible speech.
- Icon: An image that directs attention to the person depicted; its material is not worshipped as a deity.
Translation and Source Notes
Embedded Scripture is Brenton’s English Septuagint, Psalm 113:9-26. The study title uses NKJV numbering first, Psalm 115, with its corresponding LXX section in parentheses because NKJV Psalms 114 and 115 are combined as LXX Psalm 113. The service selection uses its own printed numbering and English wording.
Sources
Primary sources: Brenton Septuagint, Psalm 113:9-26; Isaiah 44; 1 Kings 18; Romans 1; Colossians 1; John 1:14-18; 1 Corinthians 15:12-28.
Patristic sources: St Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, Psalm CXV, especially §§1-3, 5, and 8-9; Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on the Psalms, Psalm 115, §§4-6, in Robert C. Hill, trans., Commentary on the Psalms 73-150, Fathers of the Church 102 (2001), pp. 225-228. Theodoret is included as a historical exegetical witness.
Coptic Orthodox / liturgical sources: Retained Pentecost Second Prostration service, Psalm 115:12-13 and Luke 24:36-53, in the selected Paone 13, 1743 / June 20, 2027 context.
Footnotes
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St Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, Psalm CXV, §1, public volume. ↩