Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 146:3-4

"Put not your trust in princes, Nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; In that very day his thoughts perish." — Psalms 146:3-4 (ASV)

Princes— The thought of Psalm 118:8-9 is here elaborated, with distinct allusion to Genesis 2:7; Genesis 3:19 (Compare to 1 Maccabees 2:63). The verse, no doubt, was in Shakespeare’s mind when he made Wolsey say:

“Oh, how wretched
Is that poor man that hangs on princes’ favours!”

as it was quoted by Strafford when the news reached him that Charles I had given the royal assent to the bill of attainder against him. But in the psalm it is not the caprice of princes, as in these notable instances, but their frailty as men that is declared untrustworthy.