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Psalms

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Psalm 145

1 A psalm of praise; by David. I will extol you, my God, O King. I will praise your name continually. 2 Every day I will praise you. I will praise your name continually. 3 The Lord is great and certainly worthy of praise. No one can fathom his greatness. 4 One generation will praise your deeds to another and tell about your mighty acts. 5 I will focus on your honor and majestic splendor and your amazing deeds. 6 They will proclaim the power of your awesome acts. I will declare your great deeds. 7 They will talk about the fame of your great kindness and sing about your justice. 8 The Lord is merciful and compassionate; he is patient and demonstrates great loyal love.⁠ 9 The Lord is good to all and has compassion on all he has made. 10 All your works will give thanks to you, Lord. Your loyal followers will praise you. 11 They will proclaim the splendor of your kingdom; they will tell about your power, 12 so that mankind might acknowledge your mighty acts and the majestic splendor of your kingdom. 13 Your kingdom is an eternal kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations.⁠ 14 The Lord supports all who fall and lifts up all who are bent over. 15 Everything looks to you in anticipation, and you provide them with food on a regular basis. 16 You open your hand and fill every living thing with the food it desires. 17 The Lord is just in all his actions and exhibits love in all he does. 18 The Lord is near all who cry out to him, all who cry out to him sincerely. 19 He satisfies the desire of his loyal followers; he hears their cry for help and delivers them. 20 The Lord protects all those who love him, but he destroys all the wicked. 21 My mouth will praise the Lord. Let all who live praise his holy name forever.

Texts in conversation

Compare KTU 1.2 IV:10 and Psalm 145:13

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

The everlasting kingdom and lasting dominion in Psalm 145 closely echo the Baal Cycle's promise of eternal kingship to Baal, giving Israel's God the royal authority celebrated for Baal.

Passages

KTU 1.2 IV:10

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
From his mouth his speech barely went forth, from his lips his word, and he gave forth his voice in groaning beneath the throne of Prince Yamm. And Kothar-wa-Hasis spoke: Indeed I say to you, O Prince Baal, I repeat, O Charioteer of the Clouds, now your foe, Baal, now your foe you must smite; now you must destroy your adversary. Take your everlasting kingdom, your eternal dominion. Kothar fashioned two maces, and he pronounced their names: You, your name is “Expeller”. Expeller, expel Yamm, expel Yamm from his throne, Nahar from the siege of his dominion! You must leap from the hand of Baal, like a falcon from his fingers. Strike the shoulders of Prince Yamm, the chest of Ruler Nahar! The mace leapt from the hand of Baal, like a falcon from his fingers.
1350–1185 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in KTU

Psalm 145:13

Hebrew Bible
4 One generation will praise your deeds to another and tell about your mighty acts. 5 I will focus on your honor and majestic splendor and your amazing deeds. 6 They will proclaim the power of your awesome acts. I will declare your great deeds. 7 They will talk about the fame of your great kindness and sing about your justice. 8 The Lord is merciful and compassionate; he is patient and demonstrates great loyal love. 9 The Lord is good to all and has compassion on all he has made. 10 All your works will give thanks to you, Lord. Your loyal followers will praise you. 11 They will proclaim the splendor of your kingdom; they will tell about your power, 12 so that mankind might acknowledge your mighty acts and the majestic splendor of your kingdom. 13 Your kingdom is an eternal kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations.
600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Psalms

References

“... In parallelistic verse, a single idea is expressed in units of two or three lines (a bicolon or a tricolon) by repetition, synonyms, or sometimes antonyms, as seen in the following lines from the Ugaritic Baal Cycle (KTU 1.2 IV 7–10; SAC  114): Let me tell you, Prince Baal, let me repeat, Rider on the Clouds: Now, your enemy, Baal, now you will kill your enemy, now you will annihilate your foe. You will take your eternal kingship, your dominion forever and ever. [...] Not only the lines’ poetic technique but also their content are familiar from the Psalms: For your enemies, O LORD, for your enemies shall perish, all evildoers shall be scattered. (92:10[9] ) Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations. (145:13) As these two verses suggest, parallelism is broadly shared by the poetry of the Ugaritic texts and the Psalms. [...] In the case of Psalm 92: [10] 9, this traditional image has been applied to “evil-doers” and not simply to enemy combatants. ...”
Mark S. Smith, “Canaanite Backgrounds to the Psalms,” in The Oxford Handbook of the Psalms, ed. William P. Brown (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014), 45.

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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KTU 1.2 IV:10 and Psalm 145:13

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