Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 18:49

"Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O Jehovah, among the nations, And will sing praises unto thy name." — Psalms 18:49 (ASV)

Therefore will I give thanks to you - Margin, confess. The Hebrew word ידה (yâdâh), in the form used here, properly means to profess, to confess, to acknowledge. It then especially means to acknowledge or recognize blessings and favors; in other words, to give thanks, to praise. The idea here is that he would make a public acknowledgment of those blessings which he had received, or that he would cause the remembrance of them to be celebrated among the nations.

Among the heathen - Among the nations (see the note at Psalm 18:43). The meaning here is that he would cause these blessings to be remembered by making a record of them in this song of praise—a song that would be used not only in his own age and country but also among other nations and in other times. He would do all in his power to make the knowledge of these favors, and these proofs of the existence of the true God, known abroad and transmitted to other times.

The apostle Paul uses this language (Romans 15:9) as properly expressing the fact that the knowledge of God was to be communicated to the Gentiles: As it is written, For this cause will I confess to thee among the Gentiles. The word “heathen” or “nations” in the passage before us corresponds precisely with the meaning of the word Gentiles; and Paul has used the language of the psalm legitimately and properly, showing that it was a doctrine of the Old Testament that the truths of religion were not to be confined to the Jews but were to be made known to other nations.

And sing praises to your name - To you; the name often being used to denote the person. The meaning is that he would cause the praises of God to be celebrated among foreign or pagan nations as the result of what God had done for him.

Far, probably very far, beyond what David anticipated when he penned this psalm, this has been done. The psalm itself has been chanted by millions who were not then in existence and in lands of which the psalmist had no knowledge; and, connected as it has been with the other psalms in Christian worship, it has contributed eminently to extend the praises of God far throughout the earth and to transmit the knowledge of Him to succeeding generations. What David anticipated is, moreover, still only in the progress of fulfillment.

Millions not yet born will make use of this psalm, as millions have done before, as their medium of praise to God; and down to the most distant times, this sacred song, in connection with the others in the Book of Psalms, will contribute to making God known in the earth and to securing for Him the praises of mankind.