He Heals the Brokenhearted
Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; make music on the harp to our God, Psalm 147:7 · Berean Standard Bible
The psalmist now invites the people into active worship—singing and making music aren't luxuries but spiritual practices that align our hearts with gratitude and joy.
Moving from meditation into invitation, the psalmist is calling the community to participate. This isn't passive belief but active, embodied celebration.
The psalmist, calling the community to corporate worship.
Music and thanksgiving are woven throughout Israel's worship tradition. From David dancing before the ark to the Psalms themselves being sung in the temple, God's people expressed faith through their whole beings.
The congregation is called to sing thanksgiving and make instrumental music to God, emphasizing that grateful response should be both vocal and instrumental.
The *todah* (thanksgiving) wasn't mere sentiment but a formal sacrifice involving procession, testimony, and communal consumption (Psalm 100:1, Leviticus 7:11-18). The *kinnor* (harp) was the instrument associated with David and temple worship, carrying continuity with pre-exilic ritual practice. This verse assumes restoration of temple infrastructure and liturgical apparatus—the exiles didn't merely return; they reconstituted worship's physical and acoustic dimensions. Gesenius notes that the doubled imperative ('sing... make music') creates rhythmic insistence, mimicking the structure of communal liturgy where calls and responses build momentum.
A liturgical leader or the psalmist, issuing formal invitation to worship.
This embodies the transition from exile's silence (Psalm 137's 'how shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land') to restoration's jubilant re-engagement with temple worship and communal celebration.
5Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding has no limit.
6The LORD sustains the humble, but casts the wicked to the ground.
7Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; make music on the harp to our God,
8who covers the sky with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass to grow on the hills.
9He provides food for the animals, and for the young ravens when they call.
Read all of Psalm 147 — God counts the stars and calls them each by name — and also binds up the wounds of the brokenhearted. Both. At the same time.
This page covers one. BibleKey does all 31,102 — tap any verse for its meaning, any word for its Hebrew or Greek root, and keep reading without leaving the chapter.
Not just the famous ones. BibleKey is free on iPhone and iPad.
Download on the App StoreFree on iPhone & iPad