Psalm 96: Sing to the LORD, All the Earth

"O sing unto the LORD a new song: sing unto the LORD, all the earth. Sing unto the LORD, bless his name; shew forth his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people. For the LORD is great, and greatly to be praised… For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens."

"Give unto the LORD, O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the LORD glory and strength. Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come into his courts. O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth. Say among the heathen that the LORD reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people righteously."

"Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof. Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the LORD: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth."

Psalm 29 for the nations

Verses 7–9 rework Psalm 29:1–2: there the "sons of God" are told to "give unto the LORD glory and strength"; here it is "the kindreds of the people," all the families of the earth. The heavenly court becomes the human nations.

Gods and idols

"All the gods (elohim) of the nations are idols (elilim)": a wordplay, elohim against elilim, "nothings, worthless things." The contrast is with the LORD who "made the heavens."

Psalm 96 and 1 Chronicles 16

Psalm 96 appears almost entire in 1 Chronicles 16:23–33, part of the song sung when David brought the ark to Jerusalem, together with parts of Psalms 105 and 106. Which came first is debated: the Chronicler may have composed from existing psalms, or the psalms may have been shaped later. The parallel shows psalms reused as building blocks.

A heading for the rebuilt house

The Hebrew has no heading. The library's Vulgate gives "Canticum ipsi David, quando domus aedificabatur post captivitatem," "when the house was being built after the captivity": the Greek associated the psalm with the second temple. Psalms 93 and 95–99 proclaim "The LORD reigneth" (YHWH malakh) or celebrate God as King. Placed after Psalm 89's lament over the fallen Davidic throne, they answer: the human king has fallen, but the LORD still reigns. Gerald Wilson saw Book IV as the Psalter's editorial response to the exile.

"From the tree"

In the 2nd century, Justin Martyr (Dialogue with Trypho 73) quoted 96:10 as "The Lord reigned from the tree" and accused Jewish teachers of removing the words. The phrase appears in some Old Latin psalters and in the hymn Vexilla Regis ("regnavit a ligno Deus"), but it is not in the Hebrew, nor in the library's Vulgate or Giguet's Greek. It is best explained as an early Christian addition. See the passage page.