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Psalm 150 · a question people ask

Four times a psalm closes by blessing the LORD, with an amen. Why does the last psalm have no amen?

In the text

The book doesn't say. Four times a psalm closes by blessing the LORD, with an amen: "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting and to everlasting! Amen and amen" (Psalm 41:13), and again at 72:18-19, 89:52 and 106:48. Psalm 150 has neither Blessed nor Amen. Its last words are "Praise the LORD!" (150:6), as are the last words of 106:48 after its amen, and of each of the four psalms before it (146:10, 147:20, 148:14, 149:9). The book doesn't say who put the psalms in this order, or why, and these notes don't either.

The verses

“Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!”
Psalm 150:6 · World English Bible
“Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting and to everlasting! Amen and amen.”
Psalm 41:13 · World English Bible
“Praise be to the LORD God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds. Blessed be his glorious name forever! Let the whole earth be filled with his glory! Amen and amen.”
Psalm 72:18-19 · World English Bible
“Blessed be the LORD forever more. Amen, and Amen.”
Psalm 89:52 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Psalm 150

Psalm 150: Everything that has breath

The book of Psalms ends with the verb praise thirteen times in six verses. Its "heavens" are the expanse of Genesis 1 (150:1), its word for sounding comes nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible (150:3), and its breath is the word of Genesis 2:7: "Let everything that has breath praise the LORD!" (150:6).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions