Psalms 115 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
Probably after the return from Babylonian exile, roughly 538 to 400 BC
Location
Jerusalem, in temple worship among people who had lived surrounded by foreign religion
Audience
The Jewish community, with priests and congregation trading lines back and forth
Situation
The psalm answers the taunt of the nations who ask where Israel's God is. It mocks handmade idols with mouths that cannot speak and eyes that cannot see, then calls Israel, the priestly house of Aaron and all who revere God to trust him.
Key Background
Babylonian and Canaanite worship centered on carved and cast images that were ritually washed, dressed and fed by priests, so the list of senseless features is aimed at a practice worshipers had watched up close. The line that idol makers become like what they make states a conviction running through the Hebrew scriptures, that people take on the character of whatever they trust. The repeated calls to Israel, the house of Aaron and those who revere the Lord suggest a leader singing and separate groups in the temple courts answering, including non-Israelites who had attached themselves to the faith.
Not to us, not to us — but to your name give the of glory, because of your love, because of your
Why should the say, "Where is their God?"
Our God is in the heavens; he does whatever he wants.
Their are silver and gold, the work of human hands.
They have mouths but cannot speak, eyes but cannot see.
They have ears but cannot hear, noses but cannot smell.
They have hands but cannot feel, feet but cannot walk. No sound rises from their throats.
The people who make them will become just like them — and so will everyone who in them.
Israel, trust in Yahweh! He is their help and their
of trust in Yahweh! He is their help and their shield.
You who in of Yahweh, trust in Yahweh! He is their help and their shield.
Yahweh us — he will things: he will to the house of Israel, he will to the house of Aaron.
He will bring good things to those who stand in awe of Yahweh— the small alongside the great.
May Yahweh give you — you and your children after you.
May you be by Yahweh, who and
The heavens belong to Yahweh, but the earth he has to humanity.
The dead do not praise Yahweh, nor do any who go down into
But we — we will Yahweh, from this moment and forever. Praise