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Advent Season · Third Sunday of Advent · Year A

Psalm 146:6-7, 8-9a, 9b-10

The Lord Sets Prisoners Free

December 14, 2025

The Works of Mercy, Pieter Brueghel the Younger
The Works of Mercy, Pieter Brueghel the Younger, c. 1616-1620Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp
One village street with all of it happening at once: bread handed down from a doorway, the thirsty given drink, the naked clothed, a prisoner visited through a grating, and the dead carried out at the back.He gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free; the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow.Pieter Brueghel the YoungerBrueghel the Younger, who put the works of mercy into an ordinary street rather than an allegory.Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, AntwerpThe Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp.Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp
Roman Lectionary
GospelMatt. 11:2-11Mt 11:2-11
Second ReadingJas. 5:7-10Jas 5:7-10
First ReadingIsa. 35:1-6a, 10Is 35:1-6a, 10
Responsorial PsalmPs. 146:6-7, 8-9a, 9b-10Ps 146:6-7, 8-9a, 9b-10

Overview & Insights

“The Lord sets the prisoners free; the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.” (Psalm 146:7-8)

Psalm 146 begins the five-psalm doxology that closes the Psalter, each of the last psalms opening and shutting with Hallelujah. Its argument is a comparison the excerpt presupposes rather than states: princes are mortal and their plans perish with their breath (vv. 3-4), whereas the God of Jacob made heaven and earth and keeps faith for ever. What follows is a list, and the list is essentially a creed in verbs, justice for the oppressed, bread for the hungry, freedom for prisoners, sight for the blind, lifting for the bowed down, protection for the stranger, the orphan and the widow. That last triad is the standard Deuteronomic formula for those without a patron (Deuteronomy 10:18; 24:19-21). The psalm ends where Advent looks, on a reign that does not pass to a successor, since the Lord will be king for ever.

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Take it further: Psalm 146:6-7, 8-9a, 9b-10

Commentary

Psalm 146:1 CommentariesPs 146:1 Commentaries Bible Hub

Classic commentaries on the psalm's praise of the Lord who executes justice for the oppressed.

Psalm 146 - Trust God, Not PrincesPs 146 - Trust God, Not Princes Enduring Word

Verse-by-verse walk through the psalm's catalogue of God's care for the poor, blind, and fatherless.

Background & Word Study

Psalm 146Ps 146 New Advent (Douay-Rheims)

Douay-Rheims text of the psalm matching the lectionary's response verses.

Psalm 146:1 InterlinearPs 146:1 Interlinear Bible Hub

Hebrew parsing of "Praise the Lord, O my soul" opening the responsorial psalm.

Psalms 146Ps 146 Sefaria

Hebrew-English text with classic commentary on the psalm's praise for the God who gives sight to the blind.

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