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Psalms 96:4

in Psalms 96

For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

For great is Jehovah, and greatly to be praised: He is to be feared above all gods.

KJV

For the Lord is great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods.

This verse in Psalms 96

Commentary

8 notes on this verse
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.

This site's exposition

He is to be feared above all gods

on Psalms 96:4-6

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.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Augustine of Hippo

Exposition on Psalm 96 · Written before 430.

proposed

"For the Lord is great, and cannot worthily be praised" [Psalm 96:4]. What Lord, except Jesus Christ, "is great, and cannot worthily be praised"? You know surely that He appeared as a Man: ye know surely that He was conceived in a woman's womb, you know that He was born from the womb, that He was suckled, that He was carried in arms, circumcised, that a victim was offered for Him, that He grew; lastly, you know that He was buffeted, spit upon, crowned with thorns, was crucified, died, was pierced with a spear; ye know that He suffered all these things: "He is great, and cannot worthily be praised." Despise not what is little, understand what is great. He became little, because you were such: let Him be acknowledged great, and in Him you shall be great....For what can a small tongue say towards the praise of the Great One? By saying, Beyond praise, he has spoken, and has given to imagination what it may conceive: as if saying, What I cannot utter, do thou reflect on; and when you shall have reflected, it will not be enough. What no man's thought utters, does any man's tongue utter? "The Lord is great, and cannot worthily be praised." Let Him be praised, and preached: His honour declared, and His house built.

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

) and to be feared, great and honourable to his attendants, great and terrible to his adversaries. Even the new song proclaims God great as well as good; for his goodness is his glory; and, when the everlasting gospel is preached, it is this, Fear God, and give glory to him, Rev. xiv.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens

The Nineteenth Century3 voices

A commentator

Charles Spurgeon

1834–1892

The Treasury of David, Vol. 4 (1874)

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.

A commentator

Charles Spurgeon

1834–1892

The Treasury of David, Vol. 4 (1874)

proposed

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. He deserves that nothing in his worship should be little, but all the honour rendered unto him should be given in largeness of heart, with the utmost zeal for his glory. He is to be feared above all gods. Other gods have been worshipped at great cost, and with much fervour, by their blinded rotaries, but Jehovah should be adored with far greater reverence. Even if the graven images had been gods they could not have borne comparison for an instant with the God of Israel, and therefore his worship, should be far more zealous than any which has been rendered to them. He is to be feared, for there is cause to fear. Dread of other gods is mere superstition, awe of the Lord is pure religion. Holy fear is the beginning of the graces, and yet it is the accompaniment of their highest range. Fear of God is the blush upon the face of holiness enhancing its beauty.

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

He is to be feared above all gods - I think the two clauses of this verse should be read thus: - Jehovah is great, and greatly to be praised. Elohim is to be feared above all. I doubt whether the word אלהים Elohim is ever, by fair construction, applied to false gods or idols. The contracted form in the following verse appears to have this meaning.
1 more voice on this verse

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

For the Lord is great - Yahweh is great. See the notes at Psa 77:13. This verse is taken literally from 1Ch 16:25. And greatly to be praised - Worthy of exalted praise and adoration. He is to be feared above all gods - He is to be reverenced and adored above all that are called gods. Higher honor is to be given him; more lofty praise is to be ascribed to him. He is Ruler over all the earth, and has a claim to universal praise. Even if it were admitted that they were real gods, yet it would still be true that they were local and inferior divinities; that they ruled only over the particular countries where they were worshipped and acknowledged as gods, and that they had no claim to “universal” adoration as Yahweh has.

The words behind it

10 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • כִּ֥יfor

    kiH3588 →4482 times

  • גָ֘ד֤וֹל[is] great

    gadolH1419 →526 times

  • יְהוָ֣הYahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • וּמְהֻלָּ֣לand [is] to be praised

    umehulalH1984 →165 times

  • מְאֹ֑דexceedingly

    meodH3966 →300 times

  • נוֹרָ֥א[is] to be feared

    nora'H3372 →315 times

  • ה֝֗וּאhe

    hu'H1931 →1879 times

  • עַל־above

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • כָּל־all

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • אֱלֹהִֽים׃gods

    ʾelohimH430 →2601 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Revelation 15:4

    Who will not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before You, for Your righteous acts have been revealed.”

    it leads to

    • Psalms 86:9

      All the nations You have made will come and bow before You, O Lord, and they will glorify Your name.

    • Jeremiah 10:7

      Who would not fear You, O King of nations? This is Your due. For among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like You.

    • Malachi 1:11

      For My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place, incense and pure offerings will be presented in My name, because My name…

    • Psalms 22:27

      All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD. All the families of the nations will bow down before Him.

    • Revelation 11:15

      Then the seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and loud voices called out in heaven: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign…

  • Through

    Psalms 95:3

    For the LORD is a great God, a great King above all gods.

    it leads to

    • Psalms 145:3

      Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised; His greatness is unsearchable.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

  • Through

    Psalms 145:3

    Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised; His greatness is unsearchable.

    it leads to

    • Psalms 147:5

      Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding has no limit.

    • Romans 11:33

      O, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and untraceable His ways!

Where this verse is studied

About Psalms

Olive Trees. Vincent van Gogh, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, November 1889. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
Olive Trees. Vincent van Gogh, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, November 1889. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 96; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 4; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.