Psalm 117 is so short that any number of commentators try to tack it on to Psalm 116, as an appendage, or join it to Psalm 118 as a prelude. It is neither, of course. Psalm 117 stands by itself as one of the great short psalms of the Psalter, in fact, the shortest. Nevertheless, it is a fit introduction to Psalm 118, for its major message—“great is his (God's] love toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever" (v. 2)—is what Psalm 118 elaborates at length. 

There is more to this psalm than what I have explained so far this week. I have taken the “great” in verse 2 in our normal English sense, as something that is large, remarkable, distinguished or superior. But while this is true, many of the commentators also note that in Hebrew the word has the sense of someone or something having “prevailed” over something else because of its superior qualities.

Here is the place to notice how Paul cites Psalm 117:1 near the end of a significant section of Romans (Rom. 14:1–15:13). This long section deals with how Christians who consider themselves “strong” should treat their “weaker” brothers and sisters, and how the “weak” should regard the “strong.” As usual, Paul ends the section by citing proofs from the Old Testament, in this case Psalm 18:49 (in v. 9), Deuteronomy 32:43 (in v. 10), Psalm 117:1 (in v. 11) and Isaiah 11:10 (in v. 12). The surprising thing is that the texts he cites do not deal with the relationship between weaker and stronger people specifically but rather are prophecies that the gospel would one day be extended to the Gentiles.

The last half of this psalm (vv. 12-19) asks, "How can I repay the LORD for all his goodness to me?" How can we repay the Lord for his goodness? What can we give him? He needs nothing. There is nothing we can give to enrich God. In Romans 11 Paul asks this very question rhetorically; “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him" (v. 35)? The obvious answer is no one, of course. No one can give God anything. Why? "For from him and through him and to him are all things" (v. 36). Every good gift comes from God. It is never the other way around. 

As we noted in yesterday's study, verses 10 and 11 are hard to understand, and the result has been somewhat different translations in the versions. Roy Clements spells out four possible translations before settling finally on the NIV rendering. We looked at the first two possible translations yesterday, and continue with the second two in today's study.