Psalm 96
13 verses · Psalm of the LORD's kingship
For all the gods of the nations are idols, but it is the LORD who made the heavens.
Introduction
Author unstated, the New Song for the Nations, Book 4: The LORD reigns, Poetry, Psalms Overview.
Most of this psalm also stands in the book of Chronicles, in the song David gave the Levites on the day the ark of the covenant came into Jerusalem. That gives it a known first occasion, which few psalms have. It was written for Israel, and it tells Israel to carry its praise to every other nation. The gods those nations served are named for what they are. Listen for the circle widening, from Israel to the peoples to the whole created world, and for the reason for joy given at the end, the Judge on His way.
Context
- Who
- Israel first, and through Israel the families of the nations the psalm addresses by name
- What
- A new song calling Israel and every nation to praise the LORD as the one true God and the coming Judge.
- Where
- Jerusalem, at the tent David pitched for the ark, and then the temple service after it
- When
- The reign of David, if its first use is the day the ark came to Jerusalem, which 1 Chronicles 16:23 to 33 records.
- Why
- To send Israel's praise out to the nations and give the whole creation a reason to rejoice.
Historical context
The psalm has a recorded first use. Almost all of it stands at 1 Chronicles 16:23 to 33, inside the thanksgiving David handed to Asaph and his brothers on the day the ark was brought to Jerusalem. Verses 7 to 9 repeat Psalm 29:1 and 2 almost word for word, with the families of the nations addressed where Psalm 29 addresses the heavenly beings. The word behind idols in verse 5 is elilim, a thing good for nothing, and its sound against elohim carried the contrast in the letters as well as the sense. The command in verse 10 to say among the nations that the LORD reigns assumes messengers, people who travelled and carried news.
Significance
For Israel the psalm made their own worship into something they owed the nations. Its last verse gave the judgment as good news. The fields and the trees are told to be glad because He is coming to judge, which to a people under bad government meant that a righteous ruler was on the way.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
How it is read
The psalm stands in the group this site calls the enthronement psalms, Psalms 93 and 95 to 99, the psalms that say the LORD reigns and call the whole earth to sing a new song (src/components/book/dossier-content/psalms-structure.ts). That is a statement about the collection rather than about any service, and it is given here as one.
Rashi takes the new song of verse 1 as a song for the future, and he reads the rest of the psalm from that decision. He writes that the song "deals with the future", and that any reference to a new song deals with the future (Rashi on Psalms 96:1:1, Rashi on Psalms, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, CC-BY). On verse 10 he says the same in one line, that "this song will be sung in the future" (Rashi on Psalms 96:10:1, same edition).
The nations in the psalm are read as the nations at that future judgment. Rashi glosses the equity of verse 10 by sending the reader to Zephaniah 3:9, on the peoples given a clear tongue, and he reads the forest trees of verse 12 as the rulers of the nations (Rashi on Psalms 96:10:2 and 96:12:1, same edition). The roaring sea of verse 11 he reads as the sea raising its voice in praise (Rashi on Psalms 96:11:1).
Ibn Ezra and Radak carry eighteen further comments on this chapter for which Sefaria holds no English version, and they are cited by reference (Ibn Ezra on Psalms 96:1:1, Radak on Psalms 96:2:1 and the sixteen references beside them).
What the rabbis say
The corpus records thirty eight places where the Midrash and the Talmud cite this psalm, thirty six under Midrash and two under Talmud, and it carries the locator for each one with no text. The Jerusalem Talmud cites verse 12 at Chagigah 2:1:7, and Tractate Soferim cites the new song of verse 1 at 17:11.
The heaviest weight falls on verse 1 and verse 12. Midrash Tehillim takes up verse 1 from three other psalms, at 44:1, 104:16 and 113:3, and Pesikta DeRav Kahana reads it at 17:5. On verse 12 the corpus carries nine locators, among them Vayikra Rabbah 30:4, Pesikta DeRav Kahana 27:4, Midrash Tanchuma, Emor 18:1 and Midrash Tannaim on Deuteronomy 32:43:5. The site reports where the rabbis cite the verse and reports no saying, because the locator carries none.
Sources: MannaFest, the enthronement psalms, at src/components/book/dossier-content/psalms-structure.ts, 2026; Rashi, Rashi on Psalms 96, in The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, CC-BY; Ibn Ezra and Radak, their comments on Psalms 96, cited by reference; Sefaria holds no English version; The Midrash and the Talmud, the thirty eight locators on Psalms 96 in scripts/data/sources/sefaria/psalms/96.json.
Psalms 96:1-3
Sing to the LORD a new song: Sing to the LORD stands almost word for word at 1 Chronicles 16:23 to 33, the thanksgiving David gave when the ark came to Jerusalem. The call goes out to all the earth and to the nations, and His salvation is proclaimed day after day. Praise here is daily work.
Psalms 96:1
“This is a prophecy of the calling of the Gentiles; all the earth shall have this new song put into their mouths, shall have both cause and call to sing it. (3.) Let the subject-matter of this song be his salvation, the great salvation which was to be wrought out by the Lord Jesus; that must be shown forth as the cause of this joy and praise.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 more voices on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Psalms 96:1
“O sing unto the Lord a new song. New joys are filling the hearts of men, for the glad tidings of blessing to all people are proclaimed, therefore let them sing a new song. Angels inaugurated the new dispensation with new songs, and shall not we take up the strain? The song is for Jehovah alone, the hymns which chanted the praises of Jupiter and Neptune, Vishnoo and Siva are hushed for ever; Bacchanalian shouts are silenced, lascivious sonnets are no more. Unto the one only God all music is to be dedicated.”
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 4 (1874)Particular Baptist
Psalms 96:1
“O sing - Upon this new and great occasion, not the removal of the ark, but the coming of the Messiah.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
proclaim His salvation day after day: Proclaim is the Hebrew verb for good news, used of the messenger at Isaiah 52:7. Sing to the LORD, bless His name, and proclaim His salvation are one act of praise. It goes on day after day.
Psalms 96:2
“Sing unto the Lord, bless his name. Thrice is the name of the Lord repeated, and not without meaning. Is it not unto the Three One Lord that the enlightened nations will sing? Unitarianism is the religion of units; it is too cold to warm the world to worship; the sacred fire of adoration only burns with vehement flame where the Trinity is believed in and beloved. In other ways beside singing, the blessed Lord is to be blessed. His name, his fame, his character, his revealed word and will are to be delighted in, and remembered with perpetual thanksgiving.”
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 4 (1874)Particular Baptist
Declare His glory among the nations: The audience widens from Israel to the nations and all peoples. His glory and His wonderful deeds are the content, what He is and what He has done. Israel's worship becomes a message carried abroad.
Psalms 96:3
“Declare his glory among the heathen. His salvation is his glory, the word of the gospel glorifies him; and this should be published far and wide, till the remotest nations of the earth have known it. England has spent much blood and treasure to keep up her own prestige among barbarians; when will she be equally anxious to maintain the honour of her religion, the glory of her Lord?”
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 4 (1874)Particular Baptist
Psalms 96:4-6
He is to be feared above all gods: Elilim is the Hebrew word under idols here, and it names a thing good for nothing. The LORD who made the heavens is feared above all gods. Splendor and majesty stand before Him, and His sanctuary holds strength and beauty.
Psalms 96:4
“For the Lord is great,.... In the perfections of his nature; in the works of his hands, of creation, providence, and redemption; and in the several offices he bears and executes: and greatly to be praised; because of his greatness and glory; See Gill on Psa 48:1, he is to be feared above all gods; the angels by whom he is worshipped; civil magistrates, among whom he presides, and judges; and all the fictitious deities of the Gentiles, who are not to be named with him, and to whom no fear, reverence, and worship, are due.”
1 more voice on this verse
Psalms 96:4
“For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised. He is no petty deity, presiding, as the heathen imagined their gods to do, over some one nation, or one department of nature. Jehovah is great in power and dominion, great in mind and act; nothing mean or narrow can be found in him or his acts, in all things he is infinite. Praise should be proportionate to its object, therefore let it be infinite when rendered unto the Lord. We cannot praise him too much, too often, too zealously, too carefully, too joyfully.”
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 4 (1874)Particular Baptist
it is the LORD who made the heavens: The proof of the LORD's rank is creation. The gods of the nations are idols, made by men, and He made the heavens. The heavens the nations worshipped are His work.
Psalms 96:5
“For all the gods of the nations are idols. Mere images of wood and stone, vanities, nothings. But the Lord made the heavens. The reality of his Godhead is proved by his works, and foremost among these the psalmist mentions that matchless piece of architecture which casts its arch over every man's head, whose lamps are the light of all mankind, whose rains and dew fall upon the fields of every people, and whence the Lord in voice of thunder is heard speaking to every creature.”
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 4 (1874)Particular Baptist
1 more voice on this verse
Psalms 96:5
“All the earth being called to sing the new song, they must be convinced that the Lord Jehovah, to whose honour they must sing it, is the one only living and true God, infinitely above all rivals and pretenders; he is great, and they are little; he is all, and they are nothing; so the word used for idols signifies, for we know that an idol is nothing in the world, 1 Cor. viii.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
strength and beauty fill His sanctuary: Four qualities are named in two pairs, splendor with majesty and strength with beauty. The first pair stands before Him like attendants, and the second fills His sanctuary. 1 Chronicles 16:27 reads strength and joy in His dwelling.
Psalms 96:6
“Honour and majesty are before him. Men can but mimic these things; their pompous pageants are but the pretence of greatness. Honour and majesty are with him and with him alone. In the presence of Jehovah real glory and sovereignty abide, as constant attendants. Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. In him are combined all that is mighty and lovely, powerful and resplendent. We have seen rugged strength devoid of beauty, we have also seen elegance without strength; the union of the two is greatly to be admired.”
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 4 (1874)Particular Baptist
Psalms 96:7-9
O families of the nations: These verses repeat Psalm 29:1 and 2 almost word for word, with O families of the nations standing where Psalm 29 addresses the heavenly beings. The summons reaches the whole earth, and it asks for worship in the splendor of His holiness. An offering comes into His courts with it.
Psalms 96:7
“Bring to the Lord, you families of the nations, bring to the Lord glory and honor. If it is said of the temple at Jerusalem, what does it now mean: Bring to the Lord, you families of the nations, bring to the Lord glory and honor? The multitude of the nations, the calling of the nations, is the gathering of the Church. Bring to the Lord glory and honor. When we honor the Lord in our body, the Lord is glorified in us. Bring to the Lord glory to his name.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Homily 23, on Psalm 95patristic
2 more voices on this verse
Psalms 96:7
“All the earth is here summoned to fear before the Lord, to worship him according to his appointment. In every place incense shall be offered to his name, Mal. i. This indeed spoke mortification to the Jews, but, withal, it gave a prospect of that which would redound very much to the glory of God and to the happiness of mankind.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Psalms 96:7
“The first six verses commenced with an exhortation to sing, three times repeated, with the name of the Lord thrice mentioned; here we meet with the expression, Give unto the Lord, used in the same triple manner. This is after the manner of those poets whose flaming sonnets have best won the ear of, the people, they reiterate choice words till they penetrate the soul and fire the heart. The invocation of the sweet singer is still addressed to all mankind, to whom he speaks as, Ye kindreds of the people.”
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 4 (1874)Particular Baptist
bring an offering and enter His courts: The glory due His name is the praise His character deserves. The nations are told to come as an Israelite came, with an offering, through the gates and into the courts. The offering is the minchah, the tribute a subject brought to a king.
Psalms 96:8
“Take up victims, and enter into his courts. 'A holy victim, living, pleasing to God.' Take up victims. Bring victims yourselves. What victims? Be yourselves the victims. Virginity is a whole-burnt-offering to Christ: all chastity, whether in virginity or in widowhood or in continence, is a victim to Christ. I speak a new thing: the victim of chastity carries itself. Take up victims, and enter into his courts: adore the Lord in his holy court. I see many courts, I see one court. Take up victims, and enter into his courts: behold, many courts.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Homily 23, on Psalm 95patristic
tremble before Him, all the earth: The splendor of His holiness is read two ways, as God's own beauty or as the holy attire of those who worship Him. Either way, worship is joined to trembling. Joy and awe stand in the same verse.
Psalms 96:9
“0 worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. This is the only beauty which he cares for in our public services, and it is one for which no other can compensate. Beauty of architecture and apparel he does not regard; moral and spiritual beauty is that in which his soul delighteth. Worship must not be rendered to God in a slovenly, sinful, superficial manner; we must be reverent, sincere, earnest, and pure in heart both in our prayers and praises.”
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 4 (1874)Particular Baptist
1 more voice on this verse
Psalms 96:9
“Beauty - Cloathed with all the gifts and graces, which are necessary in God's worship.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Psalms 96:10-11
The nations are told plainly that the LORD reigns. On that reign rests a world that stands firm and cannot be moved. He judges the peoples with equity, and the heavens, the earth and the sea answer with gladness.
Psalms 96:10
“Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth. This is the gladdest news which can be carried to them, —the Lord Jehovah, in the person of his Son has assumed the throne, and taken to himself his great power. Tell this out among the heathen, and let the heathen themselves, being converted, repeat the same rejoicing. The dominion of Jehovah Jesus is not irksome, his rule is fraught with untold blessings, his yoke is easy, and his burden is light. The world also shall be established that it shall not be moved.”
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 4 (1874)Particular Baptist
3 more voices on this verse
Psalms 96:10
“For he has set right the round world, which shall not be moved. Nothing is ever set right except what was formerly straight and afterward became crooked. So therefore both we, and the whole human race, understand God by nature. For there are no nations that do not by nature understand their Creator. For though they venerate stones and wood, yet they understand that there is something greater than they themselves are, and in their very error they show that they have wisdom — that is, there is no nation that does not by nature understand God.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Homily 23, on Psalm 95patristic
Psalms 96:10
“Reigneth - God hath now set up his kingdom in the world. Established - The nations of the world shall by the means of it enjoy an established and lasting peace.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Psalms 96:10
“The standing of the world, and its stability, are owing to the mediation of Christ. Sin had given it a shock, and still threatens it; but Christ, as Redeemer, upholds all things, and preserves the course of nature. The world of mankind shall be established, shall be preserved, till all that belong to the election of grace are called in, though a guilty provoking world.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
let the sea resound: Heaven, earth and sea are the three parts of the world, and each is told to be glad. The roar of the sea is turned into applause. The whole creation joins what the nations were told to say.
Psalms 96:11
“Furthermore, let no one maintain that the heavens or the heavenly bodies are animate, for they are inanimate and without feeling. So, even though sacred Scripture says, "Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad," it is really calling on the angels in heaven and the people on earth to rejoice.”
John Damascene · written before 749 · Orthodox Faith 2:6patristic
2 more voices on this verse
Psalms 96:11
“Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad. Above and below let the joy be manifested. Let the angels who have stood in amaze at the wickedness of men, now rejoice over their repentance and restoration to favour, and let men themselves express their pleasure in seeing their true prince set upon his throne. The book of creation has two covers, and on each of these let the glory of the Lord be emblazoned in letters of joy.”
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 4 (1874)Particular Baptist
Psalms 96:11
“The dialect here is poetical; the meaning is, 1. That the days of the Messiah will be joyful days, and, as far as his grace and government are submitted to, will bring joy along with them. We have reason to give that place, that soul, joy into which Christ is admitted.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Psalms 96:12-13
Let the fields exult: , and the forest sings with them. He is coming stands twice here, where the same song at 1 Chronicles 16:33 says it once. Judgment follows, righteousness for the world and faithfulness for the peoples.
Psalms 96:12
When the Lord invites certain ones from villages and streets to the supper, He clearly designates that people who had known how to keep the law under civilized society; but when He commands His guests to be gathered from highways and hedges, He doubtless seeks to gather a rustic people, that is, the Gentiles, of whose signification it is said through the Psalmist: "Then shall all the trees of the forest rejoice before the face of the Lord, because He comes."
Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 36patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Psalms 96:12
“Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein. Let the cultivated plains praise the Lord. Peace enables their owners to plough and sow and reap, without fear of the rapine of invaders, and therefore in glad notes they applaud him whose empire is peace. Both men, and creatures that graze the plain, and the crops themselves are represented as swelling the praises of Jehovah, and the figure is both bold and warranted, for the day shall come when every inhabited rood of ground shall yield its song, and every farmstead shall contain a church.”
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 4 (1874)Particular Baptist
He is coming to judge the earth: The joy has a reason: the Judge is on the way. He judges in righteousness and in faithfulness, so His verdict will be fair and will keep His word. Creation waits for it with gladness.
Psalms 96:13
“Before the Lord: for he cometh. Even now he is near, his advent should, therefore, be the cause of immediate rejoicing: already are we in his presence, let us worship him with delight. For he cometh to judge the earth, to rule it with discretion; not to tax it, and control it by force, as kings often do, but to preside as magistrates do whose business it is to see justice carried out between man and man. All the world will be under the jurisdiction of this great Judge, and before his bar all will be summoned to appear.”
Charles Spurgeon · The Treasury of David, Vol. 4 (1874)Particular Baptist
1 more voice on this verse
Psalms 96:13
“Judging is here put for ruling; and though this may be extended to the general judgment of the world at the last day, which will be in righteousness ( Acts xvii. 31 ), yet it refers more immediately to Christ's first coming, and the setting up of his kingdom in the world by the gospel.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
How this psalm is built
The form: A prophecy of the calling of the Gentiles, in which all the earth is given both cause and call to sing a new song, as Henry classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| Sing to the LORD, three times over | Verses 1 and 2 open three lines in a row with the same command to sing to the LORD, and verses 7 and 8 do the same with the command to ascribe. The psalm builds by repeating an imperative and changing only what follows it.Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1832, on Psalm 96:1. | Psalm 96:1, Psalm 96:2, Psalm 96:7, Psalm 96:8 |
| The creation called in by kind | Verses 11 and 12 summon the heavens, the earth, the sea and all that fills it, the fields and everything in them, and the trees of the forest. Matthew Henry reads the summons as a statement that the kingdom of Christ would be a blessing to the whole creation, since the creatures that declare the glory of the Creator declare the glory of the Redeemer too.Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710, on Psalm 96:11. | Psalm 96:11, Psalm 96:12 |
| He is coming, said twice | Verse 13 says He is coming and then says it again in the same verse, where the same song at 1 Chronicles 16:33 says it once. The doubling is the psalm's own addition and it falls on the last line before the judging.Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 4, 1874, on Psalm 96:13. | Psalm 96:13 |
| The word for idols | Verse 5 sets the gods of the nations against the LORD who made the heavens, and the Hebrew word under idols is elilim, which names a thing good for nothing. Adam Clarke marks the sound of it: instead of being elohim they are elilim, so the contrast is carried in the letters as well as the sense.Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1832, on Psalm 96:5. | Psalm 96:5 |
Its historical value
9 more paragraphs on the patterns
Almost all of this psalm stands at 1 Chronicles 16:23 to 33, inside the thanksgiving David gave Asaph and his brothers on the day the ark came to Jerusalem. That makes Psalm 96 one of the few psalms whose first use is recorded in the narrative books, and it allows the two versions to be compared line by line. The differences are small and they are worth noticing: the psalm adds an offering and the courts at verse 8, and it says He is coming twice at verse 13 where the Chronicles version says it once.
Where it comes from
Verses 7 to 9 repeat Psalm 29:1 and 2 almost word for word, with one change that carries the whole psalm. Psalm 29 addresses the heavenly beings; Psalm 96 addresses the families of the nations. The same summons is handed down from heaven to earth.
The debated point
Whether the psalm was written for the day of 1 Chronicles 16 or adapted from it later is not settled by either text. John Wesley reads the occasion as the Messiah's coming rather than the ark's removal, which takes the psalm as prophecy first. Adam Clarke reads verse 2 through its Hebrew and renders it preach the gospel of his salvation from day to day, noting that the Greek version uses the verb to evangelize, which puts the missionary reading in the words themselves. The site carries the Chronicles link as the fact and the two readings of its occasion as positions with their holders.
In the Psalter
The line the nations are given to say at verse 10 is the line Psalm 93, Psalm 97 and Psalm 99 open with. Psalm 96 is where that sentence stops being Israel's confession and becomes a message carried abroad.
The door
The ark of the covenant carries the day this psalm was first sung, and The great commission carries the sending the psalm anticipates.
Keep studying
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1832, on Psalm 96:1; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, 1765, on Psalm 96:1 and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710, on Psalm 96:1.
The exposition
Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Psalms; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
The painting
Olive Trees. Vincent van Gogh, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, November 1889. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.