Psalms 115King James Version
Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak not. They that make them are like unto them.
A communal psalm answering the taunt 'Where is now their God?' Not unto us, O LORD, but to your name give glory. Our God is in the heavens and does whatever he pleases. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands: they have mouths but do not speak, eyes but do not see, hands but do not handle. Those who make them shall become like them. Trust in the LORD: he is their help and shield. He will bless the house of Israel, the house of Aaron, those who fear him.
The idol critique is not merely religious satire; it is anthropological: those who make and trust idols gradually become like them, unable to see, hear, or speak truly.
verse: "They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them." The deepest critique of idolatry: the worshipper is conformed to the image of what he worships.
No superscription. Egyptian Hallel (third). The dead who do not praise (v17) creates a striking contrast with the living who bless the LORD 'from this time forth and for evermore.' The Passover context makes the praise of the living especially resonant against the backdrop of Egypt's death.
The congregation of Israel and Aaron and those who fear God; God in the heavens who does what he pleases; the nations taunting 'Where is their God?'; the idols made of silver and gold; the dead who do not praise.
The idol-anatomy passage of vv4-8 (eyes that do not see, ears that do not hear) is echoed in Isaiah 44:9-20 and Jeremiah 10:1-16. Paul uses the logic in Romans 1:22-23. The principle that the worshipper becomes like the object of worship (v8) became central to Christian theology of imagination and attention.
For when the pressure of mockery ('Where is your God?') is real. The psalm does not avoid the taunt; it answers it with a counterattack on the logic of idolatry.
1Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake.
2Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God?
3But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.
4Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.
5They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not:
6They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not:
7They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat.
8They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.
9O Israel, trust thou in the LORD: he is their help and their shield.
10O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield.
11Ye that fear the LORD, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield.
12The LORD hath been mindful of us: he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron.
13He will bless them that fear the LORD, both small and great.
14The LORD shall increase you more and more, you and your children.
15Ye are blessed of the LORD which made heaven and earth.
16The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD'S: but the earth hath he given to the children of men.
17The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence.
18But we will bless the LORD from this time forth and for evermore. Praise the LORD.