Psalms 111
Psalms 111 — Commentary and Meaning
The short answer
Psalm 111 opens with a promise: "I will give thanks to Yahweh" with the whole heart, in the company of God's people. What follows is a carefully built list of reasons for that thanks — a poem that, in Hebrew, works through the alphabet one line at a time. Each half-verse begins with the next letter, from A to Z, as if to say: God's goodness can be counted, remembered, and recited in order. The form matches the message. A God who acts faithfully deserves praise that is thorough, not scattered.
And what does the psalm count? God's works. They are "great," studied by everyone who delights in them. God is "gracious and merciful," gives food to those who fear him, remembers his covenant, and gives his people an inheritance. His precepts are sure and trustworthy. The psalm keeps circling back to two things at once: what God has done in history (redemption, provision) and what God has said (commandments, covenant). Deed and word belong together.
The closing line lands the whole poem: "The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom." This is not terror but reverent attention — the recognition that knowing who God is comes first, and right living follows from it. That is exactly the hinge into Psalm 112, its twin acrostic, which describes the person who fears the LORD. Strikingly, that person looks like the God of Psalm 111: gracious, merciful, generous, lending freely, caring for the poor. Psalm 111 paints the portrait of God; Psalm 112 shows a life traced from that portrait.
Read this way, Psalm 111 is more than a hymn. It is a curriculum: learn who God is, letter by letter, and let that knowledge reorder how you live — especially how you treat your neighbor.
What scholars say
These excerpts answer two linked questions: why Psalm 111's placement among the Passover psalms matters, and how its portrait of who YHWH is becomes the key to the neighbor-centered economic ethic voiced in Psalm 112.
“Psalms 111 and 112 are alphabetic acrostics, as is the massive Psalm 119. In addition, Psalms 111, 112, and 119 share a common theme of reverence for the torah, the instruction given by God to the ancient Israelites at Sinai. Between them lies a collection of psalms (Psalms 113–18) known as the "Egyptian Hallel Psalms," psalms that are recited during the Passover festival celebrated each spring in Jewish life. Passover celebrates the miraculous actions of God in delivering the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. The giving of the torah at Sinai was the centerpiece of the exodus/wilderness wandering experience. In the Psalter, then, a celebration of the torah (Psalms 111, 112, and 119) frames words of praise to God (Psalms 113–18) for deliverance and protection in the defining moment of ancient Israel's history.”
“YHWH engages the needy other; YHWH's Torah keepers do the same. A practice of money and possessions that keeps the neighbor front and center is advocated. Psalm 112 ends, almost as a throwaway line, with a glance at the wicked-guilty who refuse Torah and refuse neighbor. In the end, they are filled with uncontrolled fury as they discern that greedy self-regard at the expense of the neighbor is in no way to generate or guarantee a good future. 5 A clear discernment of who YHWH is in Psalm 111 is the clue to the generative economic ethic voiced in Psalm 112.”
What it means for you
Psalm 111 suggests that gratitude works best when it is specific. Instead of a vague sense that God is good, the psalmist counts particulars — provision, mercy, faithfulness, instruction — in deliberate order. Try the same discipline: name concrete things God has done, one by one, rather than in general.
Then notice where the psalm points. Rightly seeing a God who is gracious and feeds the needy naturally reshapes how you handle money, generosity, and the neighbor in front of you. Worship that stays in your head hasn't finished its work; Psalm 111 expects praise to become practice.
Psalms 111 in context
Psalm 111 sits at a deliberate seam in the Psalter. It pairs with Psalm 112 — both are alphabetic acrostics, one describing God, the other the person who fears God. Together with the great torah acrostic of Psalm 119, they surround Psalms 113–18, the "Egyptian Hallel" recited at Passover to celebrate the exodus. The arrangement means praise for God's instruction encloses praise for God's deliverance — Sinai framing the Red Sea. Psalm 111 opens that frame, grounding everything that follows in who God is and what God has commanded.