Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake.
Parallel translations
- WEB Not to us, Yahweh, not to us, but to your name give glory, for your loving kindness, and for your truth’s sake.
- BSB Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to Your name be the glory, because of Your loving devotion, because of Your faithfulness.
- NKJV Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, But to Your name give glory, Because of Your mercy, Because of Your truth.
- NASB Not to us, Lord, not to us, But to Your name give glory, Because of Your mercy, because of Your truth.
- NLT Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name goes all the glory for your unfailing love and faithfulness.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The psalm opens by refusing self-glory and directing all praise to God's name for the sake of his steadfast love and faithfulness. It matters because worship rightly centers on God, not us.
Overview
Israel pleads that glory belong to Yahweh alone, grounded in his covenant loving kindness and truth rather than any merit of theirs. This God-centered humility is the heartbeat of true worship and stands against all human pride. The gospel deepens it: salvation is 'not of works, lest anyone should boast' (Eph. 2:9), so that grace alone receives the glory.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Ps 79:9–10Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name’s sake.
- Isa 48:11For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another.
- Ps 96:8Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come into his courts.
- Ezek 20:14But I wrought for my name’s sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, in whose sight I brought them out.
- Ezek 36:32Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord GOD, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel.
- Ezek 36:22Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name’s sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went.
- Eph 1:6To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
- Ps 89:1–2I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.
- Rev 4:10–11The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
- Ps 61:7He shall abide before God for ever: O prepare mercy and truth, which may preserve him.
- Dan 9:19O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.
- Josh 7:9For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do unto thy great name?
- Rom 15:8–9Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers:
- Mic 7:20Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.
- John 1:17For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
- Ps 74:22Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 115:1 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.