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Psalm 146 (LXX 145) - Put Not Your Trust in Princes

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This narration is from a previous version of the study. The text on this page is current.

Psalm 146 begins the final Alleluia movement of the Psalter with a sharp command: praise the Lord, but do not trust princes. The Psalm contrasts mortal rulers, whose breath departs and whose plans perish, with the Lord who made heaven and earth, keeps truth forever, judges for the wronged, feeds the hungry, frees the bound, gives wisdom to the blind, raises the broken down, protects strangers, relieves orphans and widows, and reigns forever.

The Psalm does not forbid responsible human help. It asks us not to make mortal power the soul’s final refuge. We can be grateful for a person’s care and still hope in the God whose faithfulness outlasts every human life. Fear need not be absent before we turn to Him.

The Coptic Church receives this Psalm deeply in prayer. It appears in the Agpeya at the Twelfth Hour, Veil Prayer, and Midnight Prayer Third Watch, where the soul faces night, repentance, and the Lord’s enduring reign. It also appears in Holy Fifty Days references, where its praise can be heard in the light of the Resurrection.

Psalm 146 (LXX 145) - Put Not Your Trust in Princes

Psalm Metadata

FieldNotes
NKJV / Masoretic numberingPsalm 146
Septuagint / Coptic numberingPsalm 145
Accepted authorBrenton’s Septuagint superscription gives “Aggæus and Zacharias,” Haggai and Zechariah. This preserves a traditional association, not proof of historical authorship.
Period in author’s lifeA restoration-era hearing fits the heading’s prophetic association; no definite composition date or historical occasion is established.
Christ prophecy statusStrongly Christological by fulfillment. Christ is the Lord who gives sight to the blind, frees the bound, feeds the hungry, raises the broken, protects the vulnerable, and reigns forever.
Coptic lectionary/service useAgpeya prayers: Twelfth Hour, optional Veil Prayer, Midnight Prayer Third Watch. Lectionary use: Psalm 146:1,2,5 and 146:7-8 on Friday of the third week of the Holy Fifty Days; Psalm 146:10 on Saturday of the fourth week of the Holy Fifty Days; Psalm 146:1,2,10 on Sunday of the sixth week of the Holy Fifty Days; Psalm 146:1,5 in annual Matins references including Baba 29, Hator 5, Hator 27, Kiyahk 16, Baramhat 6, Abib 23, and Mesra 10.
Numbering issueThis note embeds Brenton LXX Psalm 145. The study title uses NKJV Psalm 146 with LXX 145 in parentheses. Local Agpeya display references preserve the Coptic style as Psalm 145 (146), while matched references use printed Psalm 146.

Historical and Scriptural Context

Brenton’s LXX superscription reads, “Alleluia, a Psalm of Aggæus and Zacharias.” Haggai and Zechariah ministered after the exile, encouraging a people concerned with the restoration of worship and community life. Their names invite us to hear this Psalm alongside that work of rebuilding, although the heading does not establish who composed it or when. In such a hearing, trust in the Lord is not abstract piety. It gives people courage to undertake necessary work without making a human ruler their ultimate hope.

The Psalm stands at the beginning of Psalms 146-150, the final Hallelujah conclusion of the Psalter. The previous Psalm ended, “let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever.”1 Psalm 146 answers by teaching the soul what praise looks like when stripped of false trust. Praise is not only singing. It is also turning to God as helper when mortal supports are exposed as breath and dust.

The New Testament reveals Christ as the living fulfillment of the Psalm’s vision of God’s mercy. In Luke 4:18-19, Christ proclaims good news to the poor, liberty to captives, and recovery of sight to the blind. In Matthew 11:4-5, He points to His works, including bodily healings and good news to the poor. Brenton’s Psalm itself says that the Lord gives wisdom to the blind. The Gospel’s healings illuminate the Psalm without replacing its words.

Geographical Significance ⛰️

The Psalm’s horizon is as wide as creation: heaven, earth, and sea. It ends with Sion, the place named with God’s people and His reign. Yet the Creator’s attention is not lost in that vastness. The Psalm also names the hungry, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow.

Spiritually, the Psalm moves the soul from the court of princes to Sion. Human courts rise and fall; the Lord reigns forever. The worshiping community finds its deepest safety in Him, not in the permanence of a political center. That hope does not mean God’s people will never face danger or loss.

🕯️ Light from the Word

Psalm 145:1-2, the soul commanded to praise

145:1 Alleluia, a Psalm of Aggæus and Zacharias. My soul, praise the Lord.
145:2 While I live will I praise the Lord: I will sing praises to my God as long as I exist.

The Psalm begins with the soul speaking to itself. The command is not a demand to manufacture a cheerful feeling. A distracted or grieving person can turn toward God with a few faltering words. Augustine understands the soul’s praise in this life as sometimes weak, yet sustained by hope.2

St Athanasius describes the Psalter as a mirror in which a reader can recognize the movements of the soul and find words for prayer. He also distinguishes prophecies concerning the Savior and some concerning the Gentiles from this way of taking the words personally.3 St Gregory of Nyssa, reflecting on the Psalter as a whole, connects its teaching and song with growth in virtue and the blessedness of life directed toward God.4 These general insights help us pray this Psalm: its words invite our own souls to look again toward the Lord.

The title’s association with the prophets of restoration also reminds us that praise need not be escape from difficult work. A community can rebuild, seek help, and worship at the same time. The Psalm directs that work toward the One who remains faithful.

“While I live” gives praise urgency, but not panic. Life and breath are gifts, and the Psalmist offers them back to God. In the next verses that same breath will remind us that even the strongest person is mortal.

Psalm 145:3-4, do not trust princes because breath departs

145:3 Trust not in princes, nor in the children of men, in whom there is no safety.
145:4 His breath shall go forth, and he shall return to his earth; in that day all his thoughts shall perish.

Princes have power, but they do not have immortality. Their plans may be impressive today and perish with their breath. The Psalm does not teach contempt for rulers, parents, leaders, doctors, employers, or helpers. It teaches proportion. Human help can be received with gratitude, but it cannot bear the weight of ultimate trust. Seeking medical treatment, taking needed medicine, and asking others for support are not failures of faith.

Augustine presses the question of where the heart finally rests:

“The aid of a mortal is promised, and thou rejoicest; the aid of the Immortal is promised, and art thou sad?”5

His challenge is against treating God’s help as empty while placing all hope in a mortal rescuer. It is not a diagnosis of every sorrowful or anxious person. Earlier in the same sermon he makes room for a troubled soul that praises weakly and lives in hope. We can bring our fear honestly to God while receiving the practical care we need.

“All his thoughts shall perish” also corrects the fantasy of control. The ruler’s plans end with his breath; God’s truth does not. We are free to plan and act responsibly without worshiping the outcome. At night, this Psalm can help us entrust unfinished matters to God, even if the worry does not immediately disappear.

The New Testament deepens the warning. James 4:14 reminds us how brief life is. In Luke 12:16-21 the rich man’s plans cannot secure his life. First Timothy 6:17 directs the rich away from reliance on uncertain riches and toward the living God, followed by a call to generosity. Psalm 146 says the same about making power our final security.

Psalm 145:5-6, blessed is the one whose helper is the God of Jacob

145:5 Blessed is he whose helper is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God:
145:6 who made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all things in them: who keeps truth for ever:

After warning against princes, the Psalm gives the positive form of blessedness. The blessed person is not the one with no needs. He is the one whose helper is the God of Jacob. Jacob’s name matters. Jacob was conflicted, wandering, and wounded, yet held by God’s covenant mercy.

In Genesis 32, Jacob is afraid of meeting Esau. He makes arrangements for the people with him and asks God for deliverance. After wrestling through the night, he leaves wounded and blessed. This story helps us hear “the God of Jacob”: the Lord meets a real person who fears, prays, and acts, not an idealized hero who never needs help.

Augustine moves from creation to trust. He asks:

“Thou admirest the world; why not the Maker of the world?”6

The world can feel so large that a suffering person feels forgotten. Augustine turns our attention from its vastness to the One who made it and cares for His creatures. Theodoret of Cyrus, another ancient Christian commentator, likewise moves from the Creator’s power to His particular care for the wronged and needy.7 The Psalm itself makes that movement: the God who made heaven and earth is the God who attends to those in need.

The Lord “keeps truth for ever.” A prince’s breath and plans end; God’s faithfulness does not. This is not a promise that every difficulty will be resolved as we wish. It is a reason to bring our unfinished lives to the One whose word is not perishable.

In Christ, the God of Jacob comes near. John 1 says the Word through whom all things were made became flesh. Colossians 1 says all things were created through Him and for Him. The Creator who keeps truth forever is not remote. He enters the created world to save it.

Psalm 145:7-8, justice, food, freedom, sight, and raised brokenness

145:7 who executes judgment for the wronged: who gives food to the hungry. The Lord looses the fettered ones:
145:8 the Lord gives wisdom to the blind: The Lord sets up the broken down: the Lord loves the righteous: the Lord preserves the strangers;

These verses name the works of God’s reign: wrongs judged, hungry people fed, the bound loosened, the broken down raised, and strangers preserved. The Creator’s truth is not an idea detached from those who need justice and bread. His kingship is known by mercy and justice.

Brenton says that the Lord “gives wisdom to the blind.” Augustine pays attention to that gift of wisdom and writes:

“There is another kind of fall, there are other kinds of fetters, just as there is other darkness and other light.”8

He reads the verse in terms of spiritual illumination and the fetter of mortality. We too can bring resentment and destructive habits to Christ, asking Him to teach and free us. We can also bring grief and fear without calling them sins. Spiritual blindness is an image for a need of wisdom; it does not mean that a blind or disabled person is sinful or lacks wisdom. Healing may be gradual, with prayer, wise pastoral support, and appropriate professional care.

The spiritual reading must not erase bodily mercy. The Lord truly cares for the wronged and hungry. The Church cannot pray this Psalm and ignore a neighbor’s need for food, protection, access, or companionship. Augustine himself affirms ordinary care for orphans and widows. A person can be hungry for bread and hungry for righteousness; neither need makes the other unimportant.

The Lord who loves the righteous calls us into a life shaped by His truth and mercy. Righteousness is not a claim that we have no need of forgiveness. We return to Him in repentance and learn to love our neighbor.

In the Gospel, Jesus feeds the multitudes, heals, forgives, and proclaims good news to the poor. When John the Baptist sends his question from prison, Christ points to His works (Matthew 11:2-5). Those works reveal the Lord’s mercy; they are not a promise that every sufferer will receive the same earthly outcome on our timetable.

Psalm 145:9-10, orphans, widows, the way of sinners, and the reign of God

145:9 he will relieve the orphan and widow: but will utterly remove the way of sinners.
145:10 The Lord shall reign for ever, even thy God, O Sion, to all generations.

The Psalm ends with the vulnerable and with judgment. Orphans and widows could be left without ordinary protection, and the Lord names them as people under His care. If the Church praises the Lord who relieves them, she must not become cold toward those who need a defender. Mercy can take the form of a meal, a visit, patient listening, or help obtaining what is needed.

Augustine affirms the ordinary duty of caring for orphans and widows. He then speaks by analogy of our longing for the Father whom we do not yet see. We live by faith, not yet by sight:

“in a certain way we are all orphans, not because our Father is dead, but because He is absent.”9

Here the analogy of absence concerns the vision of God not yet enjoyed in fullness; it does not mean that God has abandoned His children. Independently, Christ answers our longing in John 14:18: “I will not leave you orphans.”10 In that passage He promises the abiding Spirit and His own coming to His disciples, and speaks of love expressed in keeping His word. Even when His presence is not felt, the promise invites us to remain with Him and receive His care.

The removal of the way of sinners is real divine judgment, not merely a harmless change of direction. Augustine warns against a way of life that mocks the Kingdom and treats only what can be seen as worth living for.11 The Psalm assures the wronged that evil will not reign forever, and it calls each of us to repent. It does not give us permission for private vengeance, contempt, or a verdict on another person’s destiny. Nor does someone’s suffering tell us that God is punishing that person.

The final line, “thy God, O Sion,” returns the soul to worship. The answer to perishing princes is not despair. It is the reign of God among His people. In Christ, Sion opens into the Church and the heavenly Jerusalem. The Lord who reigns forever is the risen Christ, and His reign is already tasted in prayer, mercy, repentance, Eucharist, and the life of the Church.

The Church’s Voice in Worship 📖

The consulted Agpeya preserves the whole Psalm in the Twelfth Hour, the Veil Prayer, and the Midnight Prayer Third Watch. It prints the Psalm as 145 (146), in nine numbered units; the Brenton text in this guide has ten. The two presentations are distinct witnesses, not a reason to change either text.12

In the Twelfth Hour, the Psalm can help us place the day’s unfinished plans before God. Its Gospel, Luke 2:25-32, tells of Simeon’s waiting, his seeing God’s salvation in the child Jesus, and his peaceful departure. As we pray at night, we may ask for that trust without judging ourselves by how quickly we become calm or fall asleep. Sleeplessness is not proof of unbelief, and needed treatment is compatible with prayer.

The Veil Prayer is labeled for monks in the consulted Agpeya and is not a universal lay obligation. Its Gospel, John 6:15-23, tells how Jesus withdraws from an attempt to make Him king by force and then comes toward His frightened disciples on the sea. Beside the Psalm’s warning about princes, this offers a fitting occasion to contemplate Christ’s kingship and His nearness in fear. The Veil absolution also asks God for bodily repose.

The Third Watch joins praise to watchfulness. Its Gospel, Luke 12:32-46, speaks of the Father’s gift of the Kingdom, almsgiving, and the steward who gives the household its food. It also warns against a steward’s violent abuse of others. Watchfulness is therefore more than staying awake: it includes receiving the Kingdom with hope and caring faithfully for those entrusted to us.

In the retained Friday readings of the third week of the Holy Fifty Days, Matins selects Psalm 146:1,2,5 and is paired with Matthew 22:41-46, where Jesus asks how the Christ can be both David’s son and David’s Lord. Vespers selects Psalm 146:7-8, specifically the clauses about freedom, blind eyes being opened, the bowed being raised, and the Lord’s love for the righteous. Its Gospel is Matthew 11:20-24, Christ’s rebuke of cities that did not repent despite His mighty works. The service selection does not include the preceding judgment and food clauses or the following clause about strangers. Its wording about eyes differs from Brenton’s wording about wisdom; neither should be substituted for the other.13

In the retained Saturday Matins of the fourth week, Psalm 146:10 announces the Lord’s enduring reign alongside John 7:31-36, where people respond to Jesus’ signs and the authorities seek to take Him.14 The risen King’s reign gives the Church reason for praise even as the Gospel shows disagreement about Him.

For Sunday Vespers of the sixth week, the retained service prints “Psalm 145:1,2,10.” Its actual words are the praise, life, and reign of this guide’s Psalm 146 (LXX 145). A package label identifies the selection with MT Psalm 145, but the words correspond to MT Psalm 146. The paired Gospel, Mark 12:28-37, brings together love of God and neighbor with Jesus’ question about David’s Lord.15 Praise of the reigning Lord and love of neighbor belong together.

Annual Matins references preserve Psalm 146:1,5 on Baba 29, Hator 5, Hator 27, Kiyahk 16, Baramhat 6, Abib 23, and Mesra 10, with Matthew 4:18-22 as the Gospel reference. The selected Psalm words offer praise and hope in the God of Jacob beside Christ’s call to the disciples. These references do not establish an unchanging appointment every year regardless of the season or feast.16

Psalm 146 begins the final Alleluia sequence, Psalms 146-150 in NKJV numbering. It stands before the cosmic praise of Psalms 148-150, the biblical heart of the Fourth Hoos in Coptic Midnight Praise. The soul learns to reject false trust and join creation in praise of the faithful Lord.

Iconography Connection 🖼️

Psalm 146 can be taught with icons of Christ healing the blind man, feeding the multitude, raising the paralytic, and the Anastasis. The icon of the Anastasis is especially fitting: Christ breaks the fetters of death and raises Adam and Eve. No prince or grave has the final word. The Lord alone reigns forever.

Images of Haggai and Zechariah or of the rebuilding of the temple can accompany a restoration-era hearing of the superscription. They can help students consider faithful work and worship together without presenting the image as proof of the Psalm’s composition date.

Spiritual Fruit 🍇

  1. Name your princes. Consider where money, status, influence, or a particular outcome has become your final security. Receive the help of family, doctors, and others gratefully, without asking them to take God’s place.
  2. Pray before sleep with release. At night, say Psalm 146 slowly and place the day’s unfinished plans before God. If anxiety or sleeplessness continues, you can pray again and seek the care you need; neither means that God has left you.
  3. Let mercy define God’s reign in your life. Offer a practical kindness to a person who is hungry, isolated, newly arrived, or in need of support. Ask what would actually help rather than assuming.
  4. Look for hidden fetters. Bring a grudge, a destructive habit, or another burden to Christ. Ask for wisdom and accept that healing and change may take time and the help of others.
  5. Live as a citizen of Sion. Turn from the temptation to live for what is visible alone. Practice praise, repentance, truth, and mercy in hope of the Lord who reigns forever.

Footnotes

  1. Brenton, Psalm 144:21 (LXX; Psalm 145:21 in MT numbering), English Septuagint. ↩

  2. St Augustine, Exposition on Psalm CXLVI, §§1-3, NPNF, volume 8. ↩

  3. St Athanasius, Letter to Marcellinus, discussion of the Psalms as the reader’s own prayer and a mirror of the soul, English text. The discussion is used here thematically. ↩

  4. St Gregory of Nyssa, On the Inscriptions of the Psalms, Part One, chapters 1 and 3, on blessedness, virtue, and the formation offered by psalmody; a thematic paraphrase. ↩

  5. St Augustine, Exposition on Psalm CXLVI, §4, NPNF, volume 8. ↩ ↩2

  6. St Augustine, Exposition on Psalm CXLVI, §5, NPNF, volume 8. ↩

  7. Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on Psalm 146, §§4-6, printed pp. 358-359, Robert C. Hill translation, edition record. The commentary is a wider Christian exegetical witness; the English is paraphrased here. ↩

  8. St Augustine, Exposition on Psalm CXLVI, §7, NPNF, volume 8. ↩

  9. St Augustine, Exposition on Psalm CXLVI, §7, NPNF, volume 8. The quotation retains the lower-case beginning of the source fragment. ↩

  10. John 14:15-24, especially verse 18, NKJV. ↩

  11. St Augustine, Exposition on Psalm CXLVI, §8, NPNF, volume 8. ↩

  12. Agpeya, Twelfth Hour, printed p. 164; Veil Prayer, p. 212; Third Watch, p. 289, with their respective Gospel readings, service book. ↩

  13. Friday of the third week of the Holy Fifty Days, Matins and Vespers, May 8, 2020 readings. ↩

  14. Saturday of the fourth week of the Holy Fifty Days, Matins, May 13, 2023 readings. ↩

  15. Sunday of the sixth week of the Holy Fifty Days, Vespers, May 28, 2023 readings. The printed label and actual Psalm words differ in their apparent numbering convention. ↩

  16. Annual Matins cycle references for the seven named dates; for a complete dated example, see Mesra 10, August 16, 2023. Baramhat 6 is represented by a cycle reference rather than a complete dated witness in the consulted material. ↩

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