Psalms 112 KJV
The Blessings of the Righteous
About This Psalm
An acrostic describing the blessed person. Generous, righteous, unafraid of bad news. The mirror image of Psalm 111.
1raise ye the LORD. Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD, that delighteth greatly in his commandments.
2 His seed shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the upright shall be blessed.
3 Wealth and riches shall be in his house: and his righteousness endureth for ever.
4 Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness: he is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.
5 A good man sheweth favour, and lendeth: he will guide his affairs with discretion.
6 Surely he shall not be moved for ever: the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance.
7 He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD.
8 His heart is established, he shall not be afraid, until he see his desire upon his enemies.
9 He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor; his righteousness endureth for ever; his horn shall be exalted with honour.
10 The wicked shall see it, and be grieved; he shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away: the desire of the wicked shall perish.
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Did You Know?
Psalm 112 forms a deliberate diptych with 111, both acrostics where the second mirrors the first's structure to show the righteous person embodying the very attributes of God celebrated in the prior psalm.
The closing image of the wicked 'gnashing with his teeth' and melting away deliberately echoes Job 16 and Proverbs 10, but here functions as an eschatological reversal in which the fear of the Lord inverts social power.
Verse 9's line 'he hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor; his righteousness endureth for ever' is the only Old Testament passage Paul quotes in 2 Corinthians 9:9, repurposing a wisdom maxim as apostolic proof for Christian generosity.
Although presented as a portrait of individual piety, the psalm's promises of enduring 'seed' and 'house' subtly invoke the Abrahamic covenant, recasting patriarchal blessing in post-exilic wisdom terms.
The acrostic moves from aleph to tav yet groups letters into ten verses in the Masoretic text, a structural choice that visually enacts the 'great delight' in commandments mentioned in the opening line.