God’s Works: Truth and Justice in Psalm 111

The works of His hands are verity and justice;
All His precepts are sure.

They stand fast forever and ever,
And are done in truth and uprightness.

My Thoughts

The passage from Psalm 111:7-8 highlights God’s works as embodying truth and justice, affirming that His commands are reliable and unchanging. The commentaries below point out that God’s actions reflect His absolute righteousness and integrity, making Him a trustworthy sovereign. The permanence of His decrees is affirmed, contrasting them with human transience. The text underscores that God’s commandments are essential for our well-being and that His works endure eternally, as they stem from unwavering principles of truth and uprightness, deserving our praise and confidence……..Bill

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Commentaries:

Charles Spurgeon

“The works of his hands are verity and judgment.” Truth and justice are conspicuous in all that Jehovah does. Nothing like artifice or crooked policy can ever be seen in his proceedings; he acts faithfully and righteously towards his people and with justice and impartiality to all mankind. This also should lead us to praise him since it is of the utmost advantage to us to live under a sovereign whose laws, decrees, acts, and deeds are the essence of truth and justice.

“All his commandments are sure.” All that he has appointed or decreed shall surely stand, and his precepts which he has proclaimed shall be found worthy of our obedience, for surely they are founded in justice and are meant for our lasting good. He is no fickle despot, commanding one thing one day and another, but his commands remain absolutely unaltered, their necessity equally unquestionable, their excellence permanently proven, and their reward eternally secure. Take the word commandments to relate either to his decrees or his precepts, and we have in each case an important sense; but it seems more in accordance with the connection to take the first sense and consider the words to refer to the ordinances, appointments, or decrees of the great King.

“They stand fast for ever and ever.” That is to say, his purposes, commands, and courses of action. The Lord is not swayed by transient motives or moved by the circumstances of the hour; immutable principles rule in the courts of Jehovah, and he pursues his eternal purposes without the shadow of a turning. Our works are too often as wood, hay, and stubble, but his doings are as gold, silver, and precious stones. We take up a purpose for a while and then exchange it for another, but he is of one mind, and none can turn him: he acts in eternity and for eternity, and hence what he works abides forever. Much of this lasting character arises out of the fact which is next mentioned, namely,

that they “are done in truth and uprightness.” Nothing stands but that which is upright. Falsehood soon vanishes, for it is a mere show, but truth has salt in it which preserves it from decay. God always acts according to the glorious principles of truth and integrity, and hence there is no need of alteration or revocation; his works will endure till the end of time.

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Enduring Word

The works of His hands are verity and justice: What God does is true and fair, and what He commands is settled (His precepts are sure). This is seen in God’s great works in creation and in history. (Guzik)

i. “Thus, the inspired author brings out the coherence between the Lord’s acts and words. They all reflect his divine nature as a Father-King in relationship to his children-subjects. The precepts with their encouragements, promises, threats, blessings, and curses are true!” (VanGemeren)

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Albert Barnes

The works of his hands – All that he does in the works of creation and providence; all in his acts toward the children of men.

Are verity – Truth. That is, they tend to establish and confirm the truth; they are done in the cause or the defense of truth. Truth, in any case, may be ascertained by what God “does,” for all that he defends and protects is “truth,” and his acts, therefore, may be regarded as an expression of what is true and right.

And judgment – In the cause of justice; or, in maintaining the principles of right. God never does anything to vindicate wrong. None of his acts can be fairly interpreted as having been done to sustain injustice, fraud, deceit, ambition, oppression, murder, or licentiousness. That he suffers free agents to do these things without interference is no evidence that he approves of them. That he “disapproves” of them is shown

(a) by his declarations;

(b) by his threatenings;

All his commandments are sure – His statutes; his ordinances. They are sure; that is, they are to be relied on or are worthy of confidence.

They stand fast forever and ever – Margin, “established.” The Hebrew word means “sustained, supported.” They will not fail or fall. Whatever else may be shaken, his law, his word, and the principles of his administration will not fail. See the notes at Matthew 5:18. Compare Luke 16:17 and Matthew 24:35. The great principles of truth and righteousness will stand, and whatever is founded on those principles will endure forever.

And are done in truth and uprightness – Are based on truth, or on a just view of things; they are done in such a way that truth will be maintained and promoted. The word “uprightness” here means that all this is done on the principles of equity – of what “ought” to be done or what is “best” to be done. Compare Psalms 19:9.

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John Gill

He sent redemption unto his people,…. Or one to redeem them, who effected it; Moses to redeem Israel out of Egypt, and Christ to redeem his people from sin, Satan, and the law, and who has done it; and having obtained eternal redemption, he sent his ministers to publish it in the world, and his Spirit to apply it, and to show his people their interest in it; and make it over to them, and the blessings of it, that they may enjoy it, and all the comforts and advantages arising from it; temporal redemption, as typical of the spiritual and eternal one, is here meant.

He hath commanded his covenant for ever; which cannot be the covenant of circumcision, or that at Sinai, neither of which were forever; but the covenant of grace made with Christ, and which stands fast with him forever; it is everlasting, sure, and can never be removed; its blessings and promises are forever; and it is so made and framed, and so kept and observed, as that it shall always continue, which is meant by its being “commanded”: as well as it may denote the decree and resolution of God never to break and alter it; see Psalm 89:3.

Holy and reverend is his name; the name of God is “holy”; it is his nature, and appears in all his works; and in which he is glorious, and so is reverend; he is to be feared and reverenced by all his creatures, and among his saints, as he is by the angels in heaven.

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Matthew Henry

The works of his hand are verity and judgment (v. 8), that is, they are done in truth and uprightness; all he does is consistent to the eternal rules and reasons of equity, all according to the counsel of his wisdom and the purpose of his will, all well done and therefore there is nothing to be altered or amended, but his works are firm and unchangeable. Upon the beginning of his works, we may depend for the perfecting of them; work that is done properly will last, will neither go to decay nor sink under the stress that is laid upon it.

What God has said shall never be unsaid: All his commandments are sure, all straight and therefore all steady. His purposes, the rule of his actions, shall all have their accomplishment: Has he spoken, and will he not make it good? No doubt he will; whether he commands light or darkness, it is done as he commands. His precepts, the rule of our actions, are unquestionably just and good, and therefore unchangeable and not to be repealed; his promises and threatenings are all sure, and will be made good; nor shall the unbelief of man make either the one or the other of no effect. They are established, and therefore, they stand fast forever and ever, and the scripture cannot be broken. The wise God is never put upon new counsels nor obliged to take new measures, either in his laws or in his providences. All is said, as all is done, in truth and uprightness, and therefore it is immutable. Men’s folly and falsehood make them unstable in all their ways, but infinite wisdom and truth forever exclude retraction and revocation: He has commanded his covenant forever. God’s covenant is commanded, for he has made it as one that has an incontestable authority to prescribe both what we must do and what we must expect, and an unquestionable ability to perform both what he has promised in the blessings of the covenant and what he has threatened in the curses of it, Ps. 105:8.

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Matthew Poole

7 The works of his hands are verity and judgment; ^hall his commandments are sure.

The works of his hands; all that he doth, either on the behalf of his people, or against his or their enemies; of both which sorts of works he spoke in the foregoing verse. Are verity and judgment; are exactly agreeable to his word or promises, and to the rules of justice. All his commandments; either,

1. His laws given to the Israelites, especially the moral law considered with its sanction, the promises made to the observers of it, and the threatenings denounced against transgressors. Or, 2. His works, as it is in the first clause, called his commands, because they were done by virtue of his decree, and by his power and authority; as in like manner God is said to command those blessings which he purposeth to give, and doth effectually procure, as Deut. 28:8; Psal. 42:8; 68:28; 133:3, and to command those creatures which he moveth and acteth as he pleaseth, as 1 Kings 17:4; Matt. 8:27. Are sure, or faithful, or certain; constant and unchangeable, as his laws are, being grounded upon the immutable rules of justice or equity; infallible and irresistible, as his counsels and ways are.

Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible, vol. 2 (New York: Robert Carter and Brothers, 1853), 175.

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Cross References

⁷ The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul:

The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.

The Holy Bible: King James Version, Psalm 19:7.

³And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; ^qjust and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.

The Holy Bible: King James Version, Revelation 15:3.

¹⁸For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

The Holy Bible: King James Version, Matthew 5:18.

⁸ The grass withereth, the flower fadeth:

But the word of our God shall stand for ever.

The Holy Bible: King James Version, Isaiah 40:8.

^4 sWho shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art ^tholy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.

The Holy Bible: King James Version, Revelation 15:4.

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KJV W/Strongs Bible

111:7 The works 4639 of his hands 3027 [are] verity 571 and judgment 4941; all his commandments 6490 [are] sure 539 8737.

111:8 They stand fast 5564 8803 for ever 5703 and ever 5769, [and are] done 6213 8803 in truth 571 and uprightness 3477.(stand…: Heb. are established)

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Geneva Bible 1560

Psalm 111:7-8

7 The (d) works of his hands are truth & judgement: all his statutes are true.

8 Thei are stablished for ever and ever, and are done in trueth and equitie.

(d) As God promised to take the care of his Church: so in effect does he declare himself just and true in the government of the same.

Closing Thoughts:

Isaiah 43:18-19 NKJV

“Do not remember the former things,

Nor consider the things of old.

Behold, I will do a new thing,

Now it shall spring forth;

Shall you not know it?

I will even make a road in the wilderness

And rivers in the desert.