▼34:3 Verses 1-3: The Hebrew word for ‘say good things about’ is ‘baruch.’ We often translate it ‘bless.’ The word ‘boast’ usually means ‘tell people how great you are.’ Here, though, it means ‘tell everyone how great God is.’ Some people translate verse 3 as ‘Let us magnify the LORD.’ ‘Magnify’ means ‘make bigger.’ We cannot make God bigger but we can bring him near to people. We do this by always obeying him. In this way we magnify him.

▼34:6 Verses 4-6: David was afraid. This was probably when he was with the Philistine king. David’s crazy plan was working, but he wanted more. He asked God for help as well. God gave David help. David had a safe journey to Adullam. This made the humble people that came to him very happy. They were so happy that their faces shone!

▼34:7 Verse 7: The angel of the LORD is often a name for God himself in the Bible. Some Christians think that it was the angel Michael. He was the special angel of Israel. Jesus said that we all have an angel when we are children. Our angel may give us help. Many Christians believe that our angel stays with us all our life.

▼34:8 Verse 8: Hundreds of years ago the Church used this psalm when they met for The LORD’s Supper. Other names for it include The Holy Communion and The Eucharist and The Mass. They used it because this verse says, ‘taste and see that the LORD is good.’ We eat bread to remember his broken body. We drink red wine to remember his blood that he gave for us.

▼34:9 Verse 9: If you find this verse difficult, then translate it: ‘Obey the LORD, all his saints. People that obey him will not need anything.’ The last bit means we will have what is necessary, not what we like!

▼34:10 Verse 10: Perhaps there were lions near the camp that David made for his men. Sometimes the lions were hungry. God will give his people all that they need.

▼34:14 Verses 11-14: These verses help us to understand the fear of the LORD. We show God that we fear him by obeying him. We also show him that we love him by obeying him! We call this strange mixing of fear and love by the word ‘worship.’ Look again at the note on verse 9.

▼34:17 Verses 15-17: ‘The LORD’S face is against’ means that ‘he is angry.’ He is looking at people that are his enemies. Verse 15 means that he can see and hear the righteous also. People are righteous not because they do good, but because God forgives them.

▼34:18 Verse 18: ‘A broken heart’ means that we are ‘hurting in our minds, and very very sad.’ We must remember that God is near us when this happens to us. He wants to share our broken heart. He gives us help when we hurt inside.

▼34:20 Verse 19-20: Life is often very hard for God’s people. God does not make life easy for them. He does give them help, though. This is what ‘saves’ in verse 19 means. The promise in verse 20 came true for Jesus when he died. The story is in John 19:36. It is at the end of this psalm. The soldiers broke the body of Jesus, but not his bones. God kept the body of Jesus safe. God raised him from the dead 3 days later. For us, ‘all their bones’ means ‘all their bodies.’ This is how the Jews said it. God will keep us safe until it is time to go to heaven. Then it does not matter what happens to our bodies, because our spirits (or souls) will be safe with God in heaven. Heaven is where God lives. God will raise our bodies, though. We do not know how he will do this. It will happen when Jesus returns to the earth.

▼34:21 Verse 21: In Australia, the aborigines have boomerangs. A boomerang is a bit of wood. The shape of it is as a letter V. When they throw it away, it comes back to them! ‘Throw’ means ‘make it fly from your hand’ The evil that bad men do is like a boomerang. It comes back to them and hurts them. It may take a long time, but it will happen. That is how God punishes people. Read Psalm 7: 15 for an example.

▼34:22 Verse 22: If we have done bad things, we must ask God to forgive us. Then he will not punish us. The evil that we do will not come back to us like a boomerang!