Translation: ESV
We give thanks to you, O God; we give thanks, for your name is near. We recount your wondrous deeds.
The conviction that God is near is the foundation of gratitude and praise.
▸God's name being 'near' means that God's presence is real.
God's name being 'near' means that God's presence is real. The reason for gratitude is the conviction that God is not a distant abstract being but one who is near in presence. The evidence of that presence is the wondrous deeds God has performed.
For not from the east or from the west and not from the wilderness comes lifting up,
Human exaltation and humiliation come not from any human power in any direction but only from God.
▸This is a theological declaration that human exaltation does not come from any direction but from God.
but it is God who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another.
God alone is the judge who puts down and lifts up, and history is under God's sovereignty.
▸This is the positive declaration to counter the negation of verse 6.
All the horns of the wicked I will cut off, but the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up.
Within God's just rule, a reversal ultimately occurs where the wicked are humbled and the righteous are exalted.
▸'Horn' in Hebrew is an image symbolizing strength and honor.