PSALM XLT.
13. Blessed be the Loud God of Israel. That is. Let the Lord God of Israel be praised, honoured, adored. The language is an expression of desire that all honour, all happiness, might be His. It is a recognition of God as the source of the mercies refeiTed to, and an expression of the feeling that he is entitled to universal praise. The word Israel here refers to the people of God as descended from Jacob or Israel. % From everlasting, and to everlasting. Through eternity, or eternal ages, — from all past duration to all future duration. The expression "jT/'oj^ everlasting to everlasting," would embrace eternity; and the idea is that God is deserving of eternal praise. ^ Amen, arid amen. The word amen means properly surely, certainly, truly, and is a word expressive of solemn affirmation, or of the desire of the mind that this should be so. Its repetition is emphatic, expressing strong assent to what is said as certainly true, or as eminently the wish of the mind. This benediction marks the close of one of the five books into which the Psalms are commonly divided. See the General Introduction, § 3.