Charles Spurgeon

Then all mankind will fear and proclaim the work of God; so they will ponder what He has done.

“And all men shall fear. They shall be filled with awe by the just judgments of God, as the Canaanites were by the overthrow of Pharaoh at the Red Sea.”

Let the righteous rejoice in the LORD and take refuge in Him; let all the upright in heart exult.

“The righteous shall be glad in the Lord. Admiring his justice and fully acquiescing in its displays, they shall also rejoice at the rescue of injured innocence yet, their joy shall not be selfish or sensual, but altogether in reference to the Lord.”

Praise awaits You, O God, in Zion; to You our vows will be fulfilled.

“Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion. Though Babylon adores Antichrist, Zion remains faithful to her King; to him, and to him only, she brings her perpetual oblation of worship.”

Praise awaits You, O God, in Zion; to You our vows will be fulfilled. O You who listen to prayer, all people will come to You.

“UPON Zion there was erected an altar dedicated to God for the offering of sacrifices. Except when prophets were commanded by God to break through the rule, burnt offering was only to be offered there.”

O You who listen to prayer, all people will come to You.

“O thou that hearest prayer. This is thy name, thy nature, thy glory. God not only has heard, but is now hearing prayer, and always must hear prayer, since he is an immutable being and never changes in his attributes.”

When iniquities prevail against me, You atone for our transgressions.

“Iniquities prevail against me. Others accuse and slander me, and in addition to my own sins rise up and would beset me to my confusion, were it not for the remembrance of the atonement which covers every one of my iniquities.”

Blessed is the one You choose and bring near to dwell in Your courts! We are filled with the goodness of Your house, the holiness of Your temple.

“Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee. After cleansing comes benediction, and truly this is a very rich one. It comprehends both election, effectual calling, access, acceptance, and sonship.”

With awesome deeds of righteousness You answer us, O God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas.

“By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of our salvation. God's memorial is that he hears prayer, and his glory is that he answers it in a manner fitted to inspire awe in the hearts of his people.”

You formed the mountains by Your power, having girded Yourself with might.

“Which by his strength setteth fast the mountains. He, as it were, fixed them in their sockets, and preserved them from falling by earthquake or storm. The firmest owe their stability to him.”

You stilled the roaring of the seas, the pounding of their waves, and the tumult of the nations.

“Which stilleth the noise of the seas. His soft breath smooths the sea into a glass, and the mountainous waves into ripples. God does this.”

Those who live far away fear Your wonders; You make the dawn and sunset shout for joy.

“They also that dwell in the uttermost parts are afraid of thy tokens. Signs of God's presence are not few, nor confined to any one region. Zembla sees them as well as Zion, and Terra del Fuego as surely as the Terra Sacra.”

You attend to the earth and water it; with abundance You enrich it.

“Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it. God's visits leave a blessing behind; this is more than can be said of every visitor. When the Lord goes on visitations of mercy, he has abundance of necessary things for all his needy creatures.”

You soak its furrows and level its ridges; You soften it with showers and bless its growth.

“Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly: thou settlest the furrows thereof. Ridge and furrow are drenched. The ridges beaten down and settled, and the furrows made to stand like gutters flooded to the full. Thou makest it soft with showers.”

You crown the year with Your bounty, and Your paths overflow with plenty.

“Thou crownest the year with thy goodness. The harvest is the plainest display of the divine bounty, and the crown of the year. The Lord himself conducts the coronation, and sets the golden coronal upon the brow of the year.”

The pastures of the wilderness overflow; the hills are robed with joy.

“They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness. Not alone where man is found do the showers descend, but away in the lone places, where only wild animals have their haunt, there the bountiful Lord makes the refreshing rain to drop.”

The pastures are clothed with flocks, and the valleys are decked with grain. They shout in triumph; indeed, they sing.

“The pastures are clothed with flocks. The clothing of man first clothes the fields. Pastures appear to be quite covered with numerous flocks when the grass is abundant. The valleys also are covered over with corn.”

Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth!

“Make a joyful noise unto God. "In Zion, "where the more instructed saints were accustomed to profound meditation, the song was silent unto God, and was accepted of him; but in the great popular assemblies a joyful noise was more appropriate and natural, and it…”

All the earth bows down to You; they sing praise to You; they sing praise to Your name.” Selah

“All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee. All men must even now prostrate themselves before thee, but a time will come when they shall do this cheerfully; to the worship of fear shall be added the singing of love.”

Come and see the works of God; how awesome are His deeds toward mankind.

“Come and see the works of God. Such glorious events, as the cleaving of the Red Sea and the overthrow of Pharaoh, are standing wonders, and throughout all time a voice sounds forth concerning them—"Come and see."”

For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us like silver.

“For thou, O God, hast proved us. He proved his Israel with sore trials. David had his temptations. All the saints must go to the proving house; God had one Son without sin, but he never had a son without trial.”

I will enter Your house with burnt offerings; I will fulfill my vows to You—

“I will. The child of God is so sensible of his own personal indebtedness to grace, that he feels that he must utter a song of his own.”

Come and listen, all you who fear God, and I will declare what He has done for me.

“Come and hear. Before, they were bidden to come and see. Hearing is faith's seeing. Mercy comes to us by way of ear gate. "Hear, and your soul shall live." They saw how terrible God was, but they heard how gracious he was.”

I cried out to Him with my mouth and praised Him with my tongue.

“I cried unto him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue. It is well when prayer and praise go together, like the horses in Pharaoh's chariot.”

If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.

“If I regard iniquity in my heart. If, having seen it to be there, I continue to gaze upon it without aversion; if I cherish it, have a side glance of love toward it, excuse it, and palliate it; The Lord will not hear me.”

But God has surely heard; He has attended to the sound of my prayer.

“But verily God hath heard me. Sure sign this that the petitioner was no secret lover of sin. The answer to his prayer was a fresh assurance that his heart was sincere before the Lord.”