Laudate Dominum de caelis. All creatures are invited to praise their Creator.
Al creatures spiritual and corporal, are inuited to praise God, their Creator and Conseruer, 13. as incomparably excellent.
1Alleluia. Praise ye the Lord from the heavens: praise ye him in the high places.Alleluia. Lodate Dio. Lodate il Signore voi, che state ne' cieli: lodatelo voi, che siete ne' luoghi altissimi.Alleluia. PRAYSE ye our Lord from the heauens: praise ye him in the high places.Alleluja. Laudate Dominum de cælis; / laudate eum in excelsis. 2Praise ye him, all his angels, praise ye him, all his hosts.Lodatelo voi tutti Angeli suoi: lodatelo tutti voi sue milizie.Prayse ye him al his Angels: prayse ye him al his hostes:Laudate eum, omnes angeli ejus; / laudate eum, omnes virtutes ejus. 3Praise ye him, O sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars and light.Lodatelo voi sole, e luna; voi stelle, tu luce, lodatelo,Prayse ye him sunne and moone: prayse him al ye starres, and light.Laudate eum, sol et luna; / laudate eum, omnes stellæ et lumen. 4Praise him, ye heavens of heavens: and let all the waters that are above the heavensLodatelo voi, o cieli de' cieli, e le acque tutte, che son sopra de' cieli,Prayse him ye heauens of heauens: and the waters that are aboue the heauens,Laudate eum, cæli cælorum; / et aquæ omnes quæ super cælos sunt, 5Praise the name of the Lord. For he spoke, and they were made: he commanded, and they were created.lodino il nome del Signore. Perocché egli parlò, e furon fatte le cose, ordinò, e furon create.let them praise the name of our Lord. Because he sayd, and they were made: he commanded, and they were created.laudent nomen Domini. / Quia ipse dixit, et facta sunt; / ipse mandavit, et creata sunt. 6He hath established them for ever, and for ages of ages: he hath made a decree, and it shall not pass away.Le ha stabilite per essere in eterno, per tutti i secoli: fissò un ordine, che non sarà trasgredito.He established them for euer, and for euer and euer: he put a precept, and it shal not passe.Statuit ea in æternum, et in sæculum sæculi; / præceptum posuit, et non præteribit. 7Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons, and all ye deeps:Date laude al Signore voi, che abitate la terra, voi dragoni, e voi tutti, o abissi.Prayse our Lord from the earth: ye dragons, and al depthes.Laudate Dominum de terra, / dracones et omnes abyssi; 8Fire, hail, snow, ice, stormy winds, which fulfil his word:Tu fuoco, tu grandine, tu neve, tu ghiaccio, tu vento procelloso: voi, che ubbidite alla sua parola.Fyre, haile, snow, yse, spirit of stormes: which doe his worde:ignis, grando, nix, glacies, spiritus procellarum, / quæ faciunt verbum ejus; 9Mountains and all hills, fruitful trees and all cedars:Voi monti, e voi tutte, o colline, piante fruttifere, e voi tutti, o cedri.Mountaines, and al litle hilles: trees that beare fruite, and al ceders.montes, et omnes colles; / ligna fructifera, et omnes cedri;
10Beasts and all cattle: serpents and feathered fowls:Voi tutte bestie selvagge, e domestiche: voi serpenti, e voi pennuti augelli.Beastes, and al cattel: serpentes, and fethered fowles:bestiæ, et universa pecora; / serpentes, et volucres pennatæ; 11Kings of the earth and all people: princes and all judges of the earth:Regi della terra, e popoli tutti, principi tutti, e giudici della terra.Kinges of the earth, and al peoples: princes, and al iudges of the earth.reges terræ et omnes populi; / principes et omnes judices terræ; 12Young men and maidens: let the old with the younger, praise the name of the Lord:I giovanetti, e le vergini, i vecchi, e i fanciulli lodino il nome del Signore,Yongmen, and virgins: old with yong let them prayse the name of our Lord:juvenes et virgines; senes cum junioribus, / laudent nomen Domini: 13For his name alone is exalted.perché il nome di lui solo è sublime.because the name of him alone is exalted.quia exaltatum est nomen ejus solius. 14The praise of him is above heaven and earth: and he hath exalted the horn of his people. A hymn to all his saints to the children of Israel, a people approaching to him. Alleluia.La gloria di lui pel cielo si spande, e per la terra; ed egli ha esaltata la potenza del popol suo. L'inno (conviene) a tutti i santi di lui, a' figliuoli d'Israele, al popolo propinquo a lui. Lodate Dio.The confession of him aboue heauen, and earth: and he hath exalted the horne of his people. An hymne to al his sainctes: to the children of Israel, a people approching vnto him. Alleluia.Confessio ejus super cælum et terram; / et exaltavit cornu populi sui. / Hymnus omnibus sanctis ejus; / filiis Israël, populo appropinquanti sibi. / Alleluja.
148:1
Calmet
Alleluia. Septuagint, Syriac, etc., add, "of Aggaeus and Zacharias," as it seems to have been composed after the captivity, ver. 13. (Calmet)
Berthier
But why might not David thus invite all to praise God? He descends from the highest creatures to those on earth. (Berthier)
Worthington
Heavens. All ye blessed spirits, preach God for the excellence of your nature, and for your numbers. (Worthington)
148:2
Berthier
The three children made the same invitation to them, rejoicing in this holy communion. [Daniel iii.] (Berthier)
148:3
Kimchi
And light. Hebrew, "of light," meaning the planets. (Kimchi)
St. Augustine
The harmony of these things invites us to praise the Lord. Origen and St. Hilary seem to represent them as intelligent. But (Calmet) when God is praised on their account....they all praise him. (St. Augustine)
Worthington
Irrational things shew forth the excellence of their Creator. (Worthington)
148:4
Of heavens. The highest and most excellent, (Calmet) though not the abode of the angels, which had been specified before.
Berthier
Heavens, in the clouds. It is not necessary to allow these waters to be above the stars. (Berthier)
148:5
Berthier
He spoke, and they were made, is not in Hebrew or Chaldean, being taken from Psalm 32:9., (Calmet) or lost in the original. (Berthier)
148:6
Haydock
Away. The heavenly bodies observe the most constant order. (Haydock)
Berthier
They are not liable to change, like sublunary things, (Calmet) though God may suspend the laws which he has established. (Berthier)
148:7
Haydock
Earth. All ye inhabitants. (Haydock)
He then addresses whales, and all in the seas.
148:8
Haydock
Word. For the punishment of the wicked, (Calmet) and to strike the saints with awe. (Haydock)
148:9
Calmet
Mountains. Thales, Origen, etc., have attributed souls to waters, etc. But this cannot be proved from this poetical personification. (Calmet)
148:11
Kings, etc. God is to be praised for the diversity of states, whereby the whole community is preserved.
148:13
Worthington
Alone. God, and not any idol, has disposed all things. (Worthington)
148:14
Earth. All contribute towards the divine praise. Yet they cannot afford as much as God deserves.
Berthier
Horn. Glory, (Calmet) or the Messias; though this cannot easily be proved to be the literal sense. (Berthier)
Worthington
People. Establishing his Church. (Worthington)
Calmet
Saints. Israelites, (Berthier) particularly the sacred ministers, Deuteronomy 4:7. (Calmet)
148:1
Al ye heauenlie spirites praise God for the excellencie of your nature.
148:2
And for your innumerable multitude.
148:3
Al creatures, wanting sense or reason, shewforth the Maiestie and excellencie of their Creator.
148:11
Againe God is to be praised for the diuersitie of stares in men, wherby the whole communitie, is conserued & gouerned
148:13
God only, & no false imagined god made & disposed al thinges in order.
148:14
More especially for that God hath so fortified his Church.
Sanctified children,
that by grace and free wil, which he geueth them, approch vnto him
Al this considered the Psalmist concluding with Alleluia, inuiteth al to praise our Lord.
148:1
St Justin Martyr † AD 165 Dialogue with Trypho 85
… The passage, then, by which I proved that God reveals that there are both angels and hosts in heaven is this: ‘Praise the Lord from the heavens: praise Him in the highest. Praise Him, all His angels: praise Him, all His hosts.’ ”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Confessions 7.13
… princes, and all judges of the earth; both young men and maidens; old men and children,” praise Thy name. But when, “from the heavens,” these praise Thee, praise Thee, our God, “in the heights,” all Thy “angels,” all Thy “hosts,” “sun and moon,” all ye stars and light, “the heavens of heavens,” and the “waters that be above the heavens,” praise Thy name.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 11.9
… Praise ye Him, all His angels; praise ye Him, all His hosts. Praise ye Him, sun and moon; praise him, all ye stars of light. Praise Him, ye heaven of heavens; and ye waters that be above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the Lord; for He commanded, and they were created.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Reply to Faustus the Manichæan 15.11
… So the prophet says elsewhere: "Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem; celebrate thy God, O Zion: for He hath strengthened the bars of thy gates; He hath blessed thy children within thee."
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 148.3
… and, as God is praised in them, they themselves too in a manner praise God. …
148:2
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Against Eunomius 2.11
… Lord in the same sense as all the other existences enumerated by the prophet, “angels and powers, and the heaven of heavens, and the water above the heavens, and all the things of earth, dragons, deeps, fire and hail, snow and vapour, wind of the storm, mountains and all hills, fruitful trees and all cedars, beasts and all cattle, worms and feathered fowls
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 11.33
… the one to whom it is said, “Praise ye Him, all His angels,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Enchiridion 58
… and whether the archangels are the same as those called hosts , so that the expression, “Praise ye Him, all His angels: praise ye Him, all His hosts,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 148.5
5. “Praise Him, all ye angels of His, praise Him, all His powers” (
148:3
Origen † AD 254 Origen Against Celsus 5.13
… of the sons of God,” being for the present subjected to the “vanity” of their material bodies, “by reason of Him who has subjected the same in hope.” But if Celsus had read the innumerable other passages where we speak of sun, moon, and stars, and especially these,—“Praise Him, all ye stars, and thou, O light,” and, “Praise Him, ye heaven of heavens,”
Origen † AD 254 Origen Against Celsus 8.66
… for we have been taught to speak well not only of those creatures that are obedient to the will of God, but even of our enemies. We therefore praise the sun as the glorious workmanship of God, which obeys His laws and hearkens to the call, “Praise the Lord, sun and moon,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 148.5
5. “Praise Him, all ye angels of His, praise Him, all His powers” ( ver. 2 ). “Praise Him, sun and moon; praise Him, all ye stars and light” (
148:4
St Hippolytus † AD 235 The Discourse on the Holy Theophany 1
… So necessary is the element of water; for the other elements took their places beneath the highest vault of the heavens, but the nature of water obtained a seat also above the heavens. And to this the prophet himself is a witness, when he exclaims, “Praise the Lord, ye heavens of heavens, and the water that is above the heavens.”
Origen † AD 254 Origen Against Celsus 5.44
… but we maintain that “the heaven” is neither Jupiter nor God, as we indeed know that certain beings of a class inferior to God have ascended above the heavens and all visible nature: and in this sense we understand the words, “Praise God, ye heaven of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens: let them praise the name of the Lord .”
Origen † AD 254 Origen Against Celsus 6.19
… for David long ago brought to view the profundity and multitude of the thoughts concerning God entertained by those who have ascended above visible things, when he said in the book of Psalms: “Praise God, ye heaven of heavens and ye waters that be above the heavens, let them praise the name of the Lord .”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Confessions 12.15
… “That we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” Therefore, since a certain created wisdom was created before all things, the rational and intellectual mind of that chaste city of Thine, our mother which is above, and is free, and “eternal in the heavens” (in what heavens, unless in those that praise Thee, the “heaven of heavens,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 12.19
… Possibly “ages” is used for “age,” so that nothing else is meant by “ages of ages” than by “age of age,” as nothing else is meant by “heavens of heavens” than by “heaven of heaven.” For God called the firmament, above which are the waters, “Heaven,” and yet the psalm says, “Let the waters that are above the heavens praise the name of the Lord.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 68.38
… Which also we may call the Heavens of Heavens, just as He hath called the firmament Heaven: which Heaven, however, even as Heavens we read of, in the place where there is written, “and let the waters which are above the Heavens praise the name of the Lord.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 148.5
5. “Praise Him, all ye angels of His, praise Him, all His powers” ( ver. 2 ). “Praise Him, sun and moon; praise Him, all ye stars and light” ( ver. 3 ). “Praise Him, ye heaven of heavens, and waters that are above the heavens” (
St John of Damascus † AD 749 An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith 2.6
Since , therefore, the Scripture speaks of heaven, and heaven of heaven , and heavens of heavens
148:5
St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 2.2.5
… It too, therefore, was made by His Word, as Scripture tells us in the book of Genesis that He made all things connected with our world by His Word. David also expresses the same truth [when he says] “For He spake, and they were made; He commanded, and they were created.”
St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 2.34.3
… The prophetic Spirit bears testimony to these opinions, when He declares, “For He spake, and they were made; He commanded, and they were created: He hath established them for ever, yea, forever and ever.”
Origen † AD 254 Origen De Principiis 2.1.5
… “First of all believe that there is one God who created and arranged all things, and made all things to come into existence, and out of a state of nothingness.” Perhaps also the expression in the Psalms has reference to this: “He spake, and they were made; He commanded, and they were created.”
Origen † AD 254 Origen Against Celsus 2.9
… And we make these statements not from our own conjectures, but because we believe the prophecies circulated among the Jews, in which it is said of God, and of the works of creation, in express words, as follows: “He spake, and they were made; He commanded, and they were created.”
Novatian † AD 258 A Treatise of Novatian Concerning the Trinity 3
Him, then, we acknowledge and know to be God, the Creator of all things—Lord on account of His power, Parent on account of His discipline—Him, I say, who “spake, and all things were made;”
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Against Eunomius 2.6
… What! He Who “upholds all things by the word of His power ,” Who says what He wills to be done, and does what He wills by the very power of that command, He Whose power lags not behind His will and Whose will is the measure of His power (for “He spake the word and they were made, He commanded and they were created
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Against Eunomius 2.7
… for He stands in need of nothing.” This proposition, though Eunomius states it with a certain looseness of phrase, we yet do not reject as inconsistent with godly doctrine. For learning as we do that “He spake the word and they were made: He commanded and they were created
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Against Eunomius 2.9
… does not, however, convey thereby all that we include in creative generation, as time, place, the furnishing of matter, the fitness of instruments, the design in the things that come into being, but it leaves these, and asserts of God in lofty and magnificent language the creation of all existent things, when it says, “He spake the word and they were made
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Against Eunomius 2.11
… But by what sacred utterance was He ever taught His list of so many obediences? Nay, on the contrary every inspired Scripture attests His independent and sovereign power, saying, “He spake the word and they were made: He commanded and they were created
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Against Eunomius 4.2
… by flowing or by dissevering Himself from conjunction with Himself, nor did He bring it by means of gradual growth from being small to completeness of magnitude, nor was He fashioned into the form of earth by undergoing mutation or alteration, but His will sufficed Him for the existence of all things that were made: “He spake and they were generated
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Against Eunomius 8.4
… generation among ourselves,—neither place nor time nor preparation of material, nor the co-operation of instruments, nor the purpose in the things produced, but it leaves these out of sight, and greatly and loftily claims for God the generation of the things that are, where it says, “He spake and they were begotten, He commanded and they were created
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Exposition of the Christian Faith 1.12
… “God is not like a man that He should repent.” If, indeed, God works mysteriously, seeing that He doth not work any work, or fashion anything, or bring it to completion, by labor of hands, or in any course of days, “for He spake, and they were made; He gave the word and they were created,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Catechising of the Uninstructed 17
… For it was in the power of the Almighty to make all things even in one moment of time. For He had not labored in the view that He might enjoy (a needful) rest, since indeed “He spake, and they were made; He commanded, and they were created;”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Acts or Disputation Against Fortunatus the Manichaean 1.13
… But he is not almighty who seeks the assistance of any material whence he may make what he will. From which it follows, that according to our faith, all things that God made through His Word and Wisdom, He made out of nothing. For so we read: "He ordered and they were made; He commanded and they were created."
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Concerning the Nature of Good, Against the Manichæans 26
… "Who calls the things that are not as if they are." But still more plainly it is written in the book of Maccabees: "I pray thee, son, look at the heaven and the earth and all the things that are in them; see and know that it was not these of which the Lord God made us." And from this that is written in the Psalm: "He spake, and they were made."
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 1.5
… Surely much more were they made. Dost thou inquire concerning spiritual beings, concerning angels, archangels, thrones, dominions, powers, principalities? These also were made. For when the Psalm enumerated all these things, it finished thus: “He spoke, and they were made; He commanded, and they were created.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 90.3
… nevertheless, if there is any propriety in these words, the Angels are “made;” for as they are enumerated among His heavenly works, the enumeration itself is thus concluded: “He spake the word, and they were made; He commanded, and they were created;”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 148.5
5. “Praise Him, all ye angels of His, praise Him, all His powers” ( ver. 2 ). “Praise Him, sun and moon; praise Him, all ye stars and light” ( ver. 3 ). “Praise Him, ye heaven of heavens, and waters that are above the heavens” ( ver. 4 ). “Let them praise the Name of the Lord” (
St John of Damascus † AD 749 An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith 2.6
… Still, whether it is this way or that, all things have been made and established by the divine command, and have the divine will and counsel for a foundation that cannot be moved. For He Himself spoke and they were made: He Himself commanded and they were created. He hath also established them for ever and ever: He hath made a decree which will not pass
148:6
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Confessions 12.15
… This is the house of God, not earthly, nor of any celestial bulk corporeal, but a spiritual house and a partaker of Thy eternity, because without blemish for ever. For Thou hast made it fast for ever and ever; Thou hast given it a law, which it shall not pass.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 148.6
6. “He hath established them for the age, and for age upon age” (
148:7
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 148.7
7. Let him then turn himself to things on earth too, since he hath already spoken the praises of things in heaven. “Praise ye the Lord from the earth” (
148:8
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 13.24
… “Fire and hail; snow and vapors; stormy wind;”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Holy Trinity 3.9
… whence also in the Psalm, when some things of this kind had been mentioned, “Fire and hail, snow and vapor, stormy wind,” lest any one should think those to be brought about either by chance or only from corporeal causes, or even from such as are spiritual, but exist apart from the will of God, it is added immediately, “fulfilling His word.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Holy Trinity 14.16
… whence is that in the Psalms, “Fire and hail, snow and ice, the spirit of the storm.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 78.9
… Sometimes even the wind is called spirit; as it is in the Psalm, “Fire, hail, snow, frost, the spirit of the tempest.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 148.8
8. “Fire, hail, snow, ice, wind of storms, which do His word” (
148:9
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 148.10
10. Then he mentioneth, that they may praise the Lord, “mountains and hills, fruitful trees and all cedars” (
148:10
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 148.10
10. Then he mentioneth, that they may praise the Lord, “mountains and hills, fruitful trees and all cedars” ( ver. 9 ): “beasts and all cattle, creeping things, and winged fowls” (
148:11
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 148.10
10. Then he mentioneth, that they may praise the Lord, “mountains and hills, fruitful trees and all cedars” ( ver. 9 ): “beasts and all cattle, creeping things, and winged fowls” ( ver. 10 ). Then he goeth to men; “kings of the earth and all people, princes and all judges of the earth” (
148:12
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 148.10
… 9 ): “beasts and all cattle, creeping things, and winged fowls” ( ver. 10 ). Then he goeth to men; “kings of the earth and all people, princes and all judges of the earth” ( ver. 11 ): “young men and maidens, old men and young, let them praise the Name of the Lord” (
148:13
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 104.12
… for He hath made strong the bars of thy gates;” when the bars are now strengthened and the city closed, whence, as we said some time since, no friend goeth out, no enemy entereth;
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 148.10
… 10 ). Then he goeth to men; “kings of the earth and all people, princes and all judges of the earth” ( ver. 11 ): “young men and maidens, old men and young, let them praise the Name of the Lord” ( ver. 12 ). Ended is the praise from heaven, ended is the praise from earth. “For His Name only is exalted” (
148:14
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 148.10
… 11 ): “young men and maidens, old men and young, let them praise the Name of the Lord” ( ver. 12 ). Ended is the praise from heaven, ended is the praise from earth. “For His Name only is exalted” ( ver. 13 ). Let no man seek to exalt his own name. Wilt thou be exalted? Subject thyself to Him who cannot be humbled. “His confession is in earth and heaven” (
148:2
… Abraham (Gen. 18:1-2; 22:1-18), to Lot (Gen. 19:1), to Jacob (Gen. 28:12). In the Old Testament there is no explicit mention of the creation of the angels, but it is implicit in the fact that the one God is described as creator of all beings (Ex. 20:11; Ps. 148:2-5). They existed before man sinned in the earthly paradise: the presence of the cunning tempter in the form of a serpent (Gen. 3:1-15) hints at the fall of the angels (transformed into …
148:7
The tannin (from tnn "to stretch out lengthwise") was a sea monster or cetacean (Gen. 1:21 is translated κῆτος; but Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion: δράκων; Ps. 148:7; cf. Job 7:12; Is. 27:1), or a fearsome serpent (Ex. 7:9-12; Deut. 32:33; Ps. 91 [90]:13). …
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Douay 1609-10), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.