Psalm 145:1

King James Version (KJV)

I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever.

Translations

Psalm 145:1 - Amplified Bible

Psalm 145:1 - American Standard Version

Psalm 145:1 - Bible in Basic English

Psalm 145:1 - Darby Bible

Psalm 145:1 - English Standard Version

Psalm 145:1 - King James Version

Psalm 145:1 - La Biblia de las Americas

Psalm 145:1 - The Message

Psalm 145:1 - New American Standard Bible

Psalm 145:1 - Nueva Biblia Latinoamericana de Hoy

Psalm 145:1 - World English Bible

Psalm 145:1 - Young's Living Translation

Psalm 145:1 - Additional Comments

Psalm 145, and many others, have the designation (Heb.) tehillah (Gr. hymnos, a hymn), meaning a song of praise; a song the prominent thought of which is the praise of God.
This psalm is composed alphabetically, where each sentence begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, in order exactly.
The Jewish writers justly lift up this psalm as one of the brightest stars in this bright constellation of psalms.
This psalm actually begins "David's Psalm of Praise". This not only tells us that David what the author, but it also suggests he took particular pleasure in it, and that he sang it regularly. Of all the psalms, and even of all the psalms of praise,.this psalm was the main psalm David sang to lift up praise.
The first part of this psalm praises the attributes of God and the latter part his kingdom.
Notice who he says does the praising - "I will". No matter what others are doing, David knows what he will be doing.
"Extol" or "Exalt" - means to lift up. It could be used to indicate pride or arrogance, but only for those who don't deserve it. God is the only one fully worthy of being lifted. Because He is worthy and deserving, this is what we are to do.
A Euphemism is a nice or polite way of saying something negative that if said directly would be more offensive, embarrassing, or unpleasant. Examples of euphemisms (direct expressions): mentally challenged (retarded), special (retarded), pre-owned (used), passed away (died), those afar off (unsaved), has seen better days (worn out), fell asleep (died), Bright as Alaska in December (dumb), His antenna doesn't pick up all the channels (dumb), his plane is missing a pilot (dumb), sub-optimal (failure).
"Bless" or "praise" - means to kneel, to bless God as an act of adoration; the implication is man blesses God and in return, from this, man is also blessed. Also (by euphemism) to curse (God or the king, as treason), apparently in a mocking way.
This is how the same words out of someone's mouth can actually have opposite meanings, depending first on the heart, what was meant, which might be displayed by the tone of how it is said. This really means that extolling and blessing God is more a matter of the heart and spirit rather than the words that come forth. Singing in church is only a method to convey what is on the heart. Verbally expressing praise to God is only a method to convey what is on the heart.
Notice David is not blessing God, but God's name. See Phil 2:9-10, where God gave Jesus the name which is above every name, that at His name every knee should bow. Paul was willing to be bound and die "for the name of the Lord Jesus" (Acts 21:13). In Acts 8:12, Philip preached the things concerning the name of Jesus Christ. Acts 2:21 (and Joel 2:32) says we will be saved if we call on the name of the Lord. Isa 24:15 tells us to glorify God and His name.
The name of God is the identification of God and who He is (like a symbolic link in Unix or Shortcut in Windows).
In verses 1-2 David gets started with the blessing of His name. God will reign forever and ever (Rev 11:15), God will have full glory and dominion forever and ever (Rev 1:6, 1 Pet 4:11), and we will be praising forever in eternity. David is beginning to live with God as we will eventually be living with Him (Psa 115:18).

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