Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 33:12

"Blessed is the nation whose God is Jehovah, The people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance." — Psalms 33:12 (ASV)

Blessed is the nation—For the meaning of the word “blessed,” see the notes at (Psalms 1:1). The idea here is that the nation referred to is happy, or that its condition is desirable. What is true of a nation is just as true of an individual.

Whose God is the Lord—Whose God is Yahweh—for so it is in the original Hebrew. That is, the nation that worships Yahweh and is under his protection. This is evidently said to distinguish such a nation from those that worshipped false gods or idols. Such a nation is blessed or happy, because:

1. He is a real God, the true God, and not an imagination or fiction;
2. His laws are just and good, and their observance will always tend to promote the public welfare and prosperity;
3. His protection will be vouchsafed to such a nation; and
4. His worship, and the influence of His religion, will tend to diffuse virtue, intelligence, purity, and truth over a land, and thus will promote its welfare.

And the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance—Chosen to be “His”—or His portion. The primary reference here is undoubtedly to the Hebrew people, called his “inheritance”: (Deuteronomy 4:20); (Deuteronomy 9:26); (Deuteronomy 32:9); (Psalms 74:2); (Psalms 78:62, 71); or “heritage,” (Psalms 94:5); (Jeremiah 12:7, 9); but what is here affirmed of that people is also true of all other people who worship the true God.