This is the shortest chapter in the entire Bible, only two verses — and it closes the Passover Hallel that Jesus Himself sang with His disciples in the upper room, His voice raised in praise only hours before Gethsemane and the cross.
A study in Psalm 117 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 8 min read
O Praise The LORD, All Ye Nations
“O praise the LORD, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people.”
Psalm 117:1
Written almost certainly by an Israelite, for Israelite worship, this single line still opens its invitation to every nation on earth — the same universal scope already sung in Thy Saving Health Among All Nations and Glorious Things Are Spoken Of Thee, here compressed into its shortest possible form.
His Merciful Kindness Is Great Toward Us
“For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the LORD endureth for ever. Praise ye the LORD.”
Psalm 117:2
The entire psalm gives exactly one reason for the praise it commands — not a list of specific deeds or victories, but simply mercy and truth, named as sufficient reason on their own.
Sung In The Upper Room
“Before leaving the upper chamber, the Saviour led His disciples in a song of praise. His voice was heard, not in the strains of some mournful lament, but in the joyful notes of the Passover hallel: ‘O praise the Lord, all ye nations: Praise Him, all ye people. For His merciful kindness is great toward us: And the truth of the Lord endureth forever. Praise ye the Lord.’”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 672
This scene is worth sitting with. Jesus knew exactly what the next few hours held — betrayal, arrest, the cross — and yet White is specific that His voice was not mournful. He closed the Passover meal, on the very threshold of His own suffering, by singing praise for God’s mercy and enduring truth.
Two verses, the shortest chapter in Scripture, and among the last words Christ is recorded singing before Gethsemane. Its brevity does nothing to diminish what it carried that particular night.
