Let everything that hath breath praise Jah. Hallelujah!
The book of Psalms ends here. Its last line asks God for nothing; it only calls for praise, and the call reaches every creature that breathes.
The last note of the book
Commentators hear this last line as the high point of a long build-up.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinAnd the finale, the last Psalm! It is the praise to the full. We have seen the "crescendo" of praise in these Psalms and now we reach the "fortissimo," the loudest and the strongest praise. With this the great redemption is complete. This Psalm begins with hallelujah and after this first hallelujah we find nothing but praise — praise Him — praise Him — praise Him! Let all that has breath praise the Lord. Hallelujah!
Nobody is left out
The song does not stop with trained singers. The call widens until it takes in everyone able to make a sound.
J Wilson SmithHow glad the singers, how sweet the song! But the call goes out to make the song universal, and to gather every intelligent being into its joy: "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord." Breath means the breath of life, the faintest ability to say anything at all. Let such, and all such, praise the Lord. Hallelujah!
Living voices, not just instruments
The verses just before this one are full of instruments. The last line moves from what praise is played with to what praise comes from.
F. B. HoleThe following verses show us Israel praising their God "with" all kinds of instruments of music. Men made these instruments with their fingers. Today they use them, like all the other works of their fingers, for their own pleasure and praise. Then they will be wholly for God. But even when they serve His glory in this way, they will still be lifeless instruments. Men may praise with them, but the instruments themselves do not praise.
So the closing line puts one sound above the whole orchestra.
Hamilton SmithEvery instrument in the temple service is to serve His praise. But above all, the voice of man is to sound the praise of the Lord. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.
Every instrument at full capacity
One writer looks ahead to what those instruments will sound like when man no longer draws discord from nature.
Frederick W GrantThen He is to be praised with all sorts of instruments, according to the full capacity of each. This waking up of lifeless nature, responsive to the touch or breath of man, is a blessed thing to look forward to. Nature is waiting on man, and so far he has drawn little but discord out of it. But this will be changed; and then what glorious music will fill man's home.
The coming day of full praise
This line is a command. Commentators point to a coming age when it is answered in full.
F. B. HolePraise can only spring from those that have the "breath" of life. In the coming age there will at long last be an adequate outburst of praise to the Lord, coming from everything that has breath. The curse will be gone, and praise will fill the scene. The Hallelujah chorus will be universal and complete.
Another writer ties that day to the last words of the whole collection.
William Kelly"Praise the Lord." So this inspired collection of psalms and hymns and spiritual songs ends as it should, in a grand chorus of praise. It rises from this long-suffering earth, which will soon be set free and full of joy, when the world-kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ has come.
Praise that starts and never stops
The Psalter closes on a note that has a beginning but no recorded end.
C E StuartWith this call to praise, the Psalter closes. We read of praise beginning, but we never hear of it ending. Sighs and groans have often sounded on earth, and will sound again. Tears, too, have run down many a cheek and soaked many a bed. Sighs and groans will one day stop on earth. But praise will keep rising from this world, sin-stricken as it now is. It will rise when the trials and sorrows of the saints are past, and all on earth are at last enjoying the reign of the Prince of Peace. So the Psalter ends with "Praise the Lord," or "Hallelujah" — the keynote for God's people here below until time is no more.
Believers can taste that day now, whenever they gather.
Scripture QuarterlyWhen the climax of the Psalms is reached, there is no room for any idea except praise to the Lord. "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord." So when we gather, we taste the state of things that will soon overflow in a universe of blessing. We too have no requests to make. We are simply wrapped in a garment of praise.
Summary
- Crescendo. The Psalms build toward this line. The last psalm is the loudest, and after its opening "Hallelujah" nothing is left but praise.
- Breath. Praise can only come from what has the breath of life. Instruments are lifeless, so the voice of man sounds above the whole orchestra.
- Everyone. The call reaches the faintest ability to say anything, so it leaves out no intelligent being.
- Capacity. Every instrument is to sound His praise to its full capacity, as lifeless nature wakes up under the hand of man.
- Endless. Sighs and groans will stop. This praise begins, and no one ever hears of it ending — and believers can taste it now when they gather, with no requests left to make.