“Praise the Lord, all you nations. Praise him, all you people of the earth. For his unfailing love for us is powerful; the Lord’s faithfulness endures forever. Praise the Lord!”
Psalms 117:1-2 NLT
Hebrew, “laud (shabach: commend) Him all you Gentiles!” SHINE (halal: shine) to Yhvh (Yahweh).
God’s was considered to be so holy that it should never be pronounced by human lips. The Jewish priests had the scribes omit the vowels, thus making it difficult to really know how to pronounce God’s name. It is a guess to insert an “a” and an “e” giving us an approximation of Yahweh. The root word is havah: to become, but God himself referred to his name as “I am” (hayah: to fall out, come to pass, become, be), I was, are and will be. The word hallelujah can be seen in the combining of some common words, halal, shine or praise, to hayah (I am).
In Hebrew it is much clearer: Laud Him, Gentiles. Laud Him people of God (Jews), His truth endures and His merciful kindness towards us is great! Laud Him forever. The Psalm is an eternal declaration due from God’s greatest creation – us. That all people, Jews and Gentiles would recognize and extol our creator.
Any notion that creation, especially us as human beings, came from NOTHING is the greatest insult of arrogance ever perpetrated in history. To believe it and proclaim it shows absolute contempt of intelligence and any shred of humanity towards God, who needs no acknowledgement to exist or extend in His mercy. The mere fact that humans are the only ones stupid enough to shun their creator shows us our own ultimate sin of arrogance and ignorance. The Psalmist writes the declaration of truth that everyone seems to pretend can be decided for themselves outside of God. Even in that denial of existence, that defiance of truth, that selfishness, the Apostle Paul writes, while were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Prayer
Dad,
Simply said, we are an embarrassment to ourselves. Creation itself believes and mocks us in our arrogance. What must the angels, created lower than us, even think about our freedoms spurned against you in such a manner? I humbly apologize for our kind. And, I am thankful for your loving kindness and patient mercy as you woo us towards yourself.