The Meaning of Psalms 146:2 Explained

Psalms 146:2

KJV: While I live will I praise the LORD: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.

YLT: I praise Jehovah during my life, I sing praise to my God while I exist.

Darby: As long as I live will I praise Jehovah; I will sing psalms unto my God while I have my being.

ASV: While I live will I praise Jehovah: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

While I live  will I praise  the LORD:  I will sing praises  unto my God  while I have any being. 

What does Psalms 146:2 Mean?

Context Summary

Psalms 146:1-10 - The Lord Loveth The Righteous
This and the four following psalms are the "Hallelujah" Psalms. Each begins with that word. They were probably composed for use in the second Temple. In the Septuagint this psalm is ascribed to Zechariah and Haggai. The key to it is Psalms 146:5, which is the last of the twenty-six "Blesseds" in the Psalter. What can bring more blessedness into life than the recognition of Jehovah as Help and Hope?
Psalms 146:6-10 emphasizes the present tense in a way which reminds us of the words of our Lord: "My Father worketh hitherto." It is true that with the oppressed and the prisoners in iron circumstance, the blind and the bowed-down, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widowed, the promises appear unfulfilled. This, however, is probably due to the failure of God's Church and of themselves to realize that the Kingdom has been set up in the unseen sphere, but that we need to appropriate its deliverances by faith. "They which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign." But all God's promises, like the great promise of salvation, are contingent on the exercise of faith. [source]

Chapter Summary: Psalms 146

1  The Psalmist vows perpetual praises to God
3  He exhorts not to trust in man
5  God, for his power, justice, mercy, and kingdom, is only worthy to be trusted

What do the individual words in Psalms 146:2 mean?

I will praise Yahweh while I live I will sing praises to my God while I have my being
אֲהַלְלָ֣ה יְהוָ֣ה בְּחַיָּ֑י אֲזַמְּרָ֖ה לֵֽאלֹהַ֣י בְּעוֹדִֽי

אֲהַלְלָ֣ה  I  will  praise 
Parse: Verb, Piel, Imperfect Cohortative, first person common singular
Root: הָלַל 
Sense: to shine.
יְהוָ֣ה  Yahweh 
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: יהוה 
Sense: the proper name of the one true God.
בְּחַיָּ֑י  while  I  live 
Parse: Preposition-b, Noun, masculine plural construct, first person common singular
Root: חַי 
Sense: living, alive.
אֲזַמְּרָ֖ה  I  will  sing  praises 
Parse: Verb, Piel, Imperfect Cohortative, first person common singular
Root: זָמַר  
Sense: to sing, sing praise, make music.
לֵֽאלֹהַ֣י  to  my  God 
Parse: Preposition-l, Noun, masculine plural construct, first person common singular
Root: אֱלֹהִים  
Sense: (plural).
בְּעוֹדִֽי  while  I  have  my  being 
Parse: Preposition-b, Adverb, first person common singular
Root: עֹוד  
Sense: a going round, continuance adv.