Passage Study
Psalm 111: The Great Works of the Lord Lead to Reverent Wisdom
Psalms 111:1–111:10
Psalm 111 praises the Lord’s great works in creation, redemption, covenant provision, and judgment. His deeds are full of splendor, His righteousness endures, and He remembers His covenant with His people. The psalm ends by saying that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. In Jesus, God’s covenant mercy and mighty works come into focus, calling His redeemed people to worshipful obedience.
- In this study
- 10 verses · 5 movements
Psalms 111
111:1Praise the LORD! I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart, in the council of the upright, and in the congregation.
111:2The LORD’s works are great, pondered by all those who delight in them.
111:3His work is honor and majesty. His righteousness endures forever.
111:4He has caused his wonderful works to be remembered. The LORD is gracious and merciful.
111:5He has given food to those who fear him. He always remembers his covenant.
111:6He has shown his people the power of his works, in giving them the heritage of the nations.
111:7The works of his hands are truth and justice. All his precepts are sure.
111:8They are established forever and ever. They are done in truth and uprightness.
111:9He has sent redemption to his people. He has ordained his covenant forever. His name is holy and awesome!
111:10The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. All those who do his work have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!
CONTEXTUAL OVERVIEW
Psalm 111 is an alphabetic hymn of praise that calls the worshiper to consider the Lord’s works. The works named are not impersonal displays of power. They reveal His gracious and merciful character, His provision of food, His remembrance of covenant, His giving of the nations’ inheritance, and the justice and reliability of His commands.
The supplied note on yirah, “reverence or awe,” gives the final line its weight. Fear of the Lord is not panic before an unpredictable deity. It is the fitting, teachable response to the God whose works are great, whose righteousness endures, and whose covenant faithfulness makes Him worthy of trust and obedience.
HISTORICAL AND LITERARY CONTEXT
Psalm 111 is a wisdom-shaped praise psalm. Its acrostic form gives ordered expression to a central conviction: wisdom begins not with mastering life by oneself but with seeing the Lord truthfully. The corresponding Psalm 112 develops the blessed life of the person who fears the Lord, so Psalm 111 supplies the God-centered foundation for the neighbor-shaped obedience that follows.
The psalm uses Israel’s covenant vocabulary without specifying a single historical moment. Food, covenant remembrance, and inheritance recall the Lord’s care in the exodus and land, while the insistence that His precepts are trustworthy brings worship into ordinary moral life. Praise is not escape from obedience; it is the source of obedient wisdom.
SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS
- Verses 1–3 · Psalms 111:1Whole-hearted praise studies the Lord’s great works and delights in His enduring righteousness.
- Verses 4–6 · Psalms 111:4God’s memorable works, provision, covenant remembrance, and inheritance display His gracious faithfulness.
- Verses 7–10 · Psalms 111:10His just works and reliable commands lead to reverent fear, the beginning of wise and obedient living.
CHRIST IN THIS PASSAGE
Psalm 111 praises the God who remembers His covenant and provides redemption for His people. Jesus is the decisive revelation of that covenant mercy: in His death and resurrection God acts to forgive sin, redeem a people, and establish the new covenant promised by the prophets. The psalm does not identify the Messiah by name, but its redemption-and-covenant language reaches a clear fulfillment in Him.
Jesus also embodies the reverent obedience Psalm 111 calls wise. He perfectly fears the Father, fulfills God’s righteous will, and teaches His disciples that wisdom begins with hearing and doing His words. United to Him, believers learn that worship is not merely admiration of God’s works but a life increasingly ordered by His holy and gracious rule.
REFLECTION
When wisdom feels like finding the right private strategy, Psalm 111 redirects the question. Begin by studying what God has done: His creation, His covenant faithfulness, His redemption in Christ, and His trustworthy commands. Let awe make you teachable rather than self-assured.
Choose one command of Jesus that you have treated as optional or abstract, and bring it into concrete obedience this week. Fear of the Lord does not shrink a life; it frees it from the exhausting task of treating personal instinct as final authority and roots it in the goodness of the Redeemer.
Original Hebrew Word Study
Psalm 111:10
יִרְאָה
yirah · H3374
Usually translated: fear, reverence, or awe
Yirah means reverent awe. Wisdom begins when a person sees God as He truly is and orders life accordingly.
Follow the Scripture trail
Psalm 111: The Great Works of the Lord Lead to Reverent Wisdom in the larger story
The connection: Psalm 111 praises the Lord who remembers His covenant, redeems His people, and teaches reverent wisdom. Jesus fulfills this covenant mercy through His saving death and resurrection, forming a people whose worship becomes obedient life under His reign.
Respond to the passage
Spend time this week considering one specific work of God in Scripture rather than only your immediate problem. Thank Jesus for the covenant mercy it reveals, then practice one concrete act of obedience that shows reverent trust in His wise authority.
- Why does the psalm connect delight in God’s works with the beginning of wisdom?
- How do covenant remembrance and trustworthy commands keep praise from becoming merely emotional?
- How does Jesus’ new-covenant work give shape to reverent obedience today?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, Your redemption reveals the Father’s gracious covenant faithfulness. Give me reverent awe, make me teachable in Your Word, and form in me the wise obedience that brings praise to Your name. Amen.