God’s Unfailing Love

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Praise the LORD, all you nations;
  extol him, all you peoples.
For great is his love toward us,
  and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever.
Praise the Lord.  
— Psalm 117 NIV
This psalm captures the essence of praise in miniature — it is the shortest psalm in the Psalter and the shortest chapter in the Bible. The psalm opens with a call for the nations to praise the Lord (verse 1) and then gives the reason for praise: the Lord's great love and eternal faithfulness toward his people (verse 2).


117:1
The Lord is more than a parochial or tribal deity; he is Lord of all the earth (114:3 – 8;115:15 – 16). Consequently, all nations must praise him. Psalms pictures a great contest between the rebellious nations and their Creator (see 2:1 – 6). The nations submit to their Creator by praising him (see 2:10 – 12; 108:3).

The New Testament attests that the nations have submitted to God because they praise the Son (see 2:10 – 12). Paul quotes this verse in Romans 15:11 to show that the salvation of the nations (Gentiles) has always been God's plan. Thus, they should be welcomed into the worshiping family of God.
117:2
Love. The Lord's faithful covenant love. In Psalm 6:4, the term unfailing love (Hebrew hesed) is one of the richest in the Bible, often denoting God's steadfast, loyal love for his covenant people Israel. It had special meaning for God's people coming out of Egypt (Exodus 15:13; 20:6; 34:6 – 7), and God promised this love to many generations of Israelites, including David (Psalm 89:24,28,33; 2 Samuel 7:15; Isaiah 55:3). More than half of the Bible's references to this covenantal love are found in Psalms, about half of those in psalms of David.

Endures forever. Never wears out. His faithfulness to his covenant promises does not have an expiration date; it will endure into eternity.


Drawn from the verse-by–verse notes in the NIV Zondervan Study Bible.

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