Psalm 29

Psalms 29:1-2

The Hebrew title reads simply A Psalm of David, which this page's text does not show. The mighty ones addressed in verse 1 render the Hebrew bene elim, sons of the mighty, read by the older writers as a summons to the heavenly beings themselves rather than to Israel's own worshippers, an unusual opening for the Psalter. Give unto the Lord sounds three times across the two verses, glory and strength, the glory due unto his name, worship in the beauty of holiness, ascription piled on ascription before the psalm names a single act.

Psalms 29:3-4

The voice of the Lord begins its sevenfold course here, named seven times across the storm that follows, each occurrence doing something no ordinary thunder does. The God of glory thundereth over many waters, the same waters verse 10 will return to as a throne rather than a threat. The voice is called powerful and full of majesty before it touches a single tree or beast, its character stated before its effects are shown.

Psalms 29:5-6

The voice breaks the cedars of Lebanon, the strongest trees the ancient world knew, and then makes them skip like a calf, Lebanon and Sirion, the Sidonian name for Hermon, leaping like a young wild ox under the thunder. The picture works against itself on purpose: what levels the forest also sets the mountains dancing, the storm's violence turned to something close to play.

Psalms 29:7-9

Three more beats close out the sevenfold voice: it divides the flames of fire, the lightning forked and cut; it shakes the wilderness of Kadesh, driving the storm south toward the desert; it brings the hinds into early labor and strips the forests bare. The last line answers the whole psalm, in his temple doth every one speak of his glory, the storm's violence gathered into worship rather than terror, every voice in the house saying Glory while the thunder still rolls outside. Seven occurrences of the voice of the Lord run from verse 3 to verse 9, a count the text itself carries.

Psalms 29:10-11

The storm ends where it must: the Lord sitteth upon the flood, the same waters of verse 3 now a throne under him rather than a rival to him, and the Lord sitteth King for ever fixes in permanent terms what the thunder only pictured. The psalm turns from theophany to blessing without a seam: the God whose voice breaks cedars gives strength to his people and blesses his people with peace, the storm's power made over into the covenant people's good.