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Psalms

About this book
Psalm 136

1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his loyal love endures.⁠ 2 Give thanks to the God of gods,⁠ for his loyal love endures. 3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his loyal love endures. 4 To the one who performs magnificent, amazing deeds all by himself, for his loyal love endures. 5 To the one who used wisdom to make the heavens, for his loyal love endures.⁠ 6 To the one who spread out the earth over the water,⁠ for his loyal love endures. 7 To the one who made the great lights, for his loyal love endures,⁠ 8 the sun to rule by day, for his loyal love endures, 9 the moon and stars to rule by night, for his loyal love endures. 10 To the one who struck down the firstborn of Egypt, for his loyal love endures, 11 and led Israel out from their midst, for his loyal love endures, 12 with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, for his loyal love endures. 13 To the one who divided the Red Sea in two, for his loyal love endures, 14 and led Israel through its midst, for his loyal love endures, 15 and tossed Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea, for his loyal love endures. 16 To the one who led his people through the wilderness, for his loyal love endures. 17 To the one who struck down great kings, for his loyal love endures, 18 and killed powerful kings, for his loyal love endures, 19 Sihon, king of the Amorites, for his loyal love endures, 20 Og, king of Bashan, for his loyal love endures, 21 and gave their land as an inheritance, for his loyal love endures, 22 as an inheritance to Israel his servant, for his loyal love endures. 23 To the one who remembered us when we were down, for his loyal love endures, 24 and snatched us away from our enemies, for his loyal love endures. 25 To the one who gives food to all living things, for his loyal love endures. 26 Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his loyal love endures!

Texts in conversation

Compare Psalm 136:1 and 1 Maccabees 4:24

Hebrew Bible · Deuterocanon

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Summary

1 Maccabees quotes the opening of Psalm 136 to celebrate Judas Maccabeus’s return from battle, connecting his military victory with the liturgy of gratitude and with what God did in Israel's traditional history.

Passages

Psalm 136:1

Hebrew Bible
1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his loyal love endures. 2 Give thanks to the God of gods, for his loyal love endures. 3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his loyal love endures. 4 To the one who performs magnificent, amazing deeds all by himself, for his loyal love endures. 5 To the one who used wisdom to make the heavens, for his loyal love endures.
600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Psalms

1 Maccabees 4:24

Deuterocanon
22 they all fled into the land of the Philistines. 23 Judas returned to plunder the camp, and they took much gold, silver, blue, sea purple, and great riches. 24 Then they returned home, and sang a song of thanksgiving, and gave praise to heaven, because he is good, because his mercy endures forever. 25 Israel had a great deliverance that day. 26 The foreigners who had escaped came and told Lysias all the things that had happened.
134–63 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Maccabees

References

"... The laments comprise about a third of the pieces that may qualify as poetry in 1 Maccabees (compare 2:49b–68; 3:3–9; 4:24b; 4:30b–33; 7:17, 37–38; 9:21, 41; 14:4–15). It is noteworthy that all except the last two of these lyrical segments are in the first half of the book, which is devoted to the careers of Mattathias and Judas. The only piece that explicitly mentions joy is the last one, the eulogy of Simon, which thereby reflects a reversal of fortunes compared to the five laments (14:4–15). Three pieces are scriptural quotations (4:24b [compare Ps 136:1]; 7:17 [compare Psalm 79:2–3]; 9:21 [compare 2 Samuel 1:25a, 27a; Judges 3:9]). The five laments along with Mattathias’s farewell speech (2:48b–68) and the ode to Judas (3:3–9) represent the highest concentration of poetry in 1 Maccabees as they punctuate the narration from Antiochus’s plundering of the Temple to Judas’s leading of his troops into battle at Emmaus (1:20–3:60) ..."
Michael W. Duggan, “1 Maccabees: Emotions of Life and Death in Narrative and Lament,” in Ancient Jewish Prayers and Emotions: Emotions Associated with Jewish Prayer in and around the Second Temple Period, ed. Stefan C. Reif and Renate Egger-Wenzel (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2015), 95–116.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Psalm 136:1 and 1 Maccabees 4:24

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