Psalm 148:1–14 is a song of praise in the full sense of the word. There are two reasons:

a.      Everything and everyone in heaven and on earth is encouraged to praise the Lord.

b.      The whole song resounds with this call to praise. It is remarkable that the word all appears no less than seven times (for example, all his angels and all his hosts in Psalm 148:2).

In Psalm 147:1–20, a lot of attention was given to the reason for praise; here that is much less, although it does occur. The reason is that God is great and mighty, and that this God is close by and protects his people.

The psalm is divided into two parts:

• In Psalm 148:1–6, the call to praise the Lord is directed to the heavens.

• In Psalm 148:7–14, this call is directed towards the earth and everyone and everything on it.