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Messianic Prophecies

Psalms 147:3, 6

This passage comes from the wider catalog — a broader, more lightly curated list than the core set. Both readings are shown as peers; GEBible takes no side.

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Psalms 147:3, 6

He heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds. Yahweh upholds the humble. He brings the wicked down to the ground.

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Praise Yah, for it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant and fitting to praise him.

Yahweh builds up Jerusalem. He gathers together the outcasts of Israel.

He heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds.

He counts the number of the stars. He calls them all by their names.

Great is our Lord, and mighty in power. His understanding is infinite.

Yahweh upholds the humble. He brings the wicked down to the ground.

Sing to Yahweh with thanksgiving. Sing praises on the harp to our God,

who covers the sky with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass grow on the mountains.

He provides food for the livestock, and for the young ravens when they call.

He doesn’t delight in the strength of the horse. He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man.

Yahweh takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his loving kindness.

The counter-reading

How this passage is read within its own context.

The critical reading takes Psalm 147 as a hymn describing YHWH's own character rather than a prediction of a future individual, so the healing and lifting-up it praises are divine attributes, not messianic forecasts. It observes that Luke 4:18 explicitly cites Isaiah 61:1-2 (spliced with Isaiah 58:6), not Psalm 147, so the New Testament text names a different Old Testament source than the one credited here. On this view the connection is thematic at best and is broken at the level of citation, since the psalm is not the passage the evangelist quotes.

The fulfillment reading

How this passage is read as pointing to the Messiah.

On the messianic-fulfillment reading, Psalm 147:3, 6 praises YHWH as the one who heals the brokenhearted and lifts up the lowly, and Jesus' healing and restorative ministry embodies that same divine compassion. When Jesus announces his mission in the Nazareth synagogue (Luke 4:18), advocates hold that he identifies himself with the God whose character the psalm celebrates, so the psalm's portrait of divine healing finds living expression in him. On this view the passage is one thread among many Old Testament texts converging on the same ministry of restoration, reinforcing the identification of Jesus with YHWH's saving activity.

How the New Testament uses this passage

Each entry names how the New Testament author draws on the passage — a direct quotation, an allusion, an echo, or a typological reading. An echo or an allusion is not the same as a prediction; the label says which is which.

  • Luke 4:18 Not cited by the New Testament

    Luke 4:18 quotes Isaiah 61:1-2 (composite with Isaiah 58:6), not Psalm 147; the psalm is at most a thematic parallel and is neither cited nor alluded to.