For Jehovah is great and exceedingly to be praised; he is terrible above all gods.
The verse opens with "For." It gives the reason behind the call just made: let the whole earth sing to the LORD and carry His glory to the nations. Two claims carry that reason. His greatness deserves praise without limit. And it puts Him past all comparison with anything else people call god.
The reason does not stop at verse 4. It runs on through verses 5 and 6.
(vv. 4-6) This appeal to all the earth rests on the greatness the Lord has shown — the One who is "above all gods." The gods of the nations are nothing at all; Jehovah made the heavens. With Him is honour and majesty. Beauty and strength fill His sanctuary in the midst of Israel.
The pronoun changes from the psalms just before this one. Where they gathered Israel into a shared "us," this psalm turns outward.
Here it is "you" to the nations, not "us" as in the preceding psalms. Yet Jehovah keeps His ordered place on earth. He invites the peoples to the courts of His sanctuary — then indeed a house of prayer for all the peoples.
"Above all gods" is not a ranking among real rivals. See His greatness, and the competition collapses, and the case for idols with it.
The challenge of idols is now completely silenced, because God's greatness is infinite and high above all else. He deserves great praise, and the reverent fear that no idol can ever receive (v. 4). All these so-called "gods" are idols (literally "nothings!") "But the Lord made the heavens" (v. 5). If He made the heavens (all the starry hosts of heaven), it is clear He made the earth too.
The fear in this verse is not a private feeling. It reaches every nation, and it calls them to come and worship in His courts.
He is to be feared above the gods, for He made the heavens. All the families of the peoples are called to come up and own this Jehovah the Creator, whose glory is in Israel. They are to worship in His courts there in the beauty of holiness. All the earth is to fear before Him.
Israel did not reach this conclusion by reasoning alone. When God brought them out of Egypt, He judged the gods that nation worshipped. The psalm's words echo that lesson.
"On their gods also the LORD executed judgments." (Num. 33:4.) We are not told what these judgments were, but we can be sure they were definite and specific, and well known to those who prayed to these deities... Great and terrible wonders delivered them from Egypt. Those wonders also taught them, as the Psalmist sang, that "The Lord is great, and greatly to be praised: He is terrible above all gods; for all the gods of the nations are demons." (Ps. 96:4-5, Septuagint version.)
Note: this quotes the Greek Old Testament. The ESV reads, "all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols."
The psalm looks ahead. It calls for praise before the day the LORD Himself takes the throne of the earth.
Psalm 96 — Here begins "a new song" (v. 1), which all the earth is called upon to sing. This song announces the glories of Jehovah's sanctuary and of His kingdom — not now of creation only, though He made the heavens (v. 5). The nations hear the good news in view of His coming to reign.
- Great — The verse gives the reason for the song. The call to sing rests on His shown greatness, not on the singer's mood.
- Greater — "Above all gods" is settled by one fact: He made the heavens. The rivals are, in the plain sense of the word, nothings.
- Feared — True praise carries reverence with it — reverence no idol can ever receive.
- Proved — God judged Egypt's gods when Israel came out. The nations are asked to own what that history showed.
- Published — The nations sing it, not Israel alone, in view of the day He comes to reign.
For all the gods of the peoples are idols; but Jehovah made the heavens.
Psalm 96 calls the whole earth to sing. Verse 5 gives the reason: every rival god is empty, and the LORD made the heavens. It settles the question of who God is — not by argument, but by pointing at creation.
The verse does not call the other gods weak. It says what they are, and the word behind "idols" is blunter than English shows.
This dispute with idolatry is now coming to an end. The sun rises and drives away the unclean things of the night: "he is to be feared above all gods." And rightly so. For what are they? "All the gods of the peoples are worthless idols" — or, as the word means, "nothings" (compare 1 Cor. 8:4) — "but the LORD made the heavens."
The verse does not debate God's existence. It names one fact — He made the heavens — and lets that fact stand as the whole case.
The first sentence in the Bible sets us in the presence of Him who is the endless source of all true blessedness. There is no long argument here to prove that God exists. The Holy Spirit would never take up anything of that kind. God reveals Himself. He makes Himself known by His works... "All the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the LORD made the heavens."
And the claim reaches further than the sky. One writer draws out what "the heavens" already includes.
If He made the heavens — all the starry hosts of heaven — then clearly He made the earth too, for the earth is only one of the planets of the heavens.
If God is known by His works, why do the nations have other gods at all? The answer is that God did not hide Himself.
God has not chosen to hide Himself. It is men who have turned away from Him. "Although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him. Their thinking became empty, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools. They exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man, and birds, and animals, and creeping things" (Rom. 1:21-23).
Here the commentators add a second layer. The idol is empty, but something real stands behind the worship. When God brought Israel out of Egypt, He judged Egypt's gods as well. One writer traces what Israel learned from that, and how the ancient Greek version of the Old Testament renders this psalm.
"On their gods also the LORD executed judgments" (Num. 33:4). We are not told what these judgments were. But we can be certain they were definite and specific, and well known to the people who prayed to these gods. Israel knew about them too. By great and terrible wonders they were brought out of Egypt, and they were also taught, as the Psalmist sang, that "The Lord is great, and greatly to be praised: He is terrible above all gods; for all the gods of the nations are demons" (Ps. 96:4-5, in the ancient Greek version).
The object is empty. The power behind it is not.
The idol itself is nothing, but what is behind the idol, and which fills the heart and mind of the worshipper, is a demon.
Psalm 96 does not keep this truth inside Israel. It hands it to the nations as news.
Psalm 96 calls all the earth to come in, in the spirit of the everlasting gospel. They are to acknowledge Jehovah; the gods of the nations are mere emptiness. Psalm 95 invites those already inside the company — "Come, let us sing." Now the call goes out to those who are far off: sing to Jehovah, and declare His glory among the nations. Jehovah is Creator (v. 5).
Commentators look on to a day when the rivalry is over and one object of worship remains.
Then men will turn to only one object of worship. They will turn to the True God, the Living God, the Everlasting God, the Maker of all things, the Creator of heaven and earth — and the Redeemer and Saviour of His people too.
Until then, the warning has a nearer edge than carved statues.
An idol is anything that creeps into your affections and takes over the one place in the heart that belongs to God alone.
- Nothing. The word behind "idols" means "nothings" — the rival gods are not weaker beings, they are empty.
- Maker. Against that emptiness stands one fact: He made the heavens, and therefore the earth within them.
- Turned. Idolatry did not come from God hiding; men knew Him, refused to honour Him, and exchanged His glory for images.
- Behind. The idol is nothing, yet a demon stands behind the worship given to it — empty object, real deception.
- Sung. So the psalm goes out to all nations, until the whole earth worships one true God — and until then, whatever takes God's place in your heart is your idol.
Majesty and splendour are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
I have strong material. Here is the commentary.
Psalm 96 calls the whole earth to sing to the Lord, and verse 6 gives the ground of that call. It names two things that rarely sit together — strength and beauty — and puts them in His sanctuary.
The call of this psalm goes out past Israel to every nation, yet it keeps one centre:
This summons goes out to the peoples and nations, not Jews... The summons is to all the earth, yet Jerusalem is the centre, and the Jews are called upon as its instruments. Jehovah is the subject of the song... All the families of the peoples are called to come up and own this Jehovah the Creator, whose glory is in Israel. They are to worship in His courts there in the beauty of holiness.
The pronoun itself marks the shift:
It is "you" here to the nations, not "us" as in the earlier psalms. Yet Jehovah holds to His ordered place on earth, and the peoples are invited to the courts of His sanctuary, then indeed a house of prayer for all the peoples.
Verse 6 completes an argument that starts with the emptiness of the idols:
The ground of this appeal to all the earth is the shown greatness of the Lord — the One who is "above all gods." The gods of the nations are only emptiness; Jehovah made the heavens. With Him is honour and majesty. Beauty and strength are found in His sanctuary in the midst of Israel.
Another writer gives the word behind "idols" its plain sense:
This controversy with idolatry is now coming to an end. The sun rises and drives away the unclean things of the night: "Jehovah is to be feared above all gods." Truly — for what are they? "All the gods of the peoples are idols" — or, as the word means, "nothings" (compare 1 Corinthians 8:4). "But Jehovah made the heavens." Such is He who has now come down to an earthly sanctuary, to reveal His heavenly glory on earth.
One writer weighs what it means for a kingdom to hold both at once:
Honour and majesty are the glories that introduce His kingdom. Once it is here, marvellous strength appears in His sanctuary, coupled with beauty — a most fitting combination, not found together in any mere kingdom of men.
David sang much of this psalm in his own day, in 1 Chronicles 16. There he says gladness and place where the psalm says beauty and sanctuary:
Verse 27 there says, "Strength and gladness are in His place," while verse 6 of the psalm says, "Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary." This was not yet the beauty of Christ's reign, although it was the joy of David's reign at its beginning. Also, at this time the sanctuary had not yet been built for the ark.
The new song this psalm calls for is still ahead. One writer sets it against the first song creation sang:
There has been a creation song, when the earth came fresh from the hands of God and "the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy" (Job 38:7). Sadly, sin spoiled that fair creation, and singing gave place to weeping, and songs to groans. In the millennial day, earth will be made new; creation's groan will be hushed, and heaven and earth will unite in a new song.
Strength and beauty marked God's earthly house. One writer draws out what that means for His house today:
Psalm 96:6 says that strength and beauty are in His sanctuary. Knowing that these features marked God's earthly house, we conclude that it must be His desire that these same features, in a spiritual way, should be seen in His house at the present time. May it always be our desire and prayer for grace to show, as living stones, some rays of the glory, some display of the strength, and some traits of the beauty, of the church's living Head.
- Nothing — the gods of the nations are "nothings." The verse answers them with the One who made the heavens and then came down to a sanctuary on earth.
- Something — His sanctuary holds strength and beauty together, a pairing no human kingdom has ever managed.
- Somewhere — the sanctuary is a fixed centre, and its courts stand open to the nations. The psalm says "you" to them, not only to Israel.
- Not yet — David sang a shorter form of this song. He said "gladness" and "place" instead of "beauty" and "sanctuary," because the full beauty belongs to Christ's reign.
- Then and now — creation's first song ended in groans, and a new song waits for a renewed earth. Meanwhile God's house is to show some rays of that strength and beauty today.
Give unto Jehovah, ye families of peoples, give unto Jehovah glory and strength;
Here the psalm stops singing about God and turns to speak to the nations. It tells the families of the earth to give the LORD the glory and strength that already belong to Him. Who is called? What can people who never knew Him give? And where do they bring it?
The psalm before this one says "let us" — a people inviting each other. Here the wording changes, and one writer ties that to a change of audience.
The previous psalm spoke to the nation of Israel. That is why the words "Let us" keep coming — "Let us sing"; "Let us make a joyful noise"; "Let us come"; "Let us worship," and "Let us kneel." This psalm speaks to the Gentiles, so the appeal is to "All the earth," "the heathen," and "all the people."
Two things are already settled: what the nations' gods are worth, and where the true God has come down.
God has not hidden Himself for no reason. It is men who have turned away from Him. They knew God, but they did not honour Him as God or thank Him. So their thinking became empty and their foolish hearts went dark… They swapped the glory of the immortal God for images of mortal man, of birds, of animals and of crawling things (Rom. 1:21-23). This controversy with idolatry is now coming to an end. The sun rises and drives away the unclean things of the night: "Jehovah is to be feared above all gods." And rightly so. What are the others? "all the gods of the peoples are idols" — or, as the word means, "nothings" — "but Jehovah made the heavens." This is the God who has now come down to a sanctuary on earth, to show His heavenly glory here: "honour and glory are before Him; strength and beauty are in His sanctuary."
The command sets His worth beside anything we could hand over. It also shows the kindness that still accepts what we bring.
The families of the people are summoned to give the Lord glory and strength (v. 7). No one can exaggerate the greatness of His glory. The glory due His name is infinite. With this in view, how can we give Him anything less and be content with it? Yet the kindness of God is involved in the invitation to bring an offering and come into His courts (v. 8). Of course He is worthy of far more adoration and worship than we, or all creation together, can ever give. Yet He still delights in whatever measure of honour we give Him, and we are blessed through this.
The psalm does not leave the families where they are. It names a place to come to, and a name to own Him by.
This summons is addressed to the peoples and nations, not Jews… Here the summons is to all the earth. Yet Jerusalem is the centre, and the Jews are the instruments of the summons. Jehovah is the subject of the song… All the families of the peoples are called to come up and own this Jehovah the Creator, whose glory is in Israel. They are to worship in His courts there in the beauty of holiness… So Israel stands at the centre, as the place of Jehovah's covenant, while the whole creation is called into joy, for He is the Creator as well as Israel's God.
Someone has to carry this call to the families of the peoples. One writer finds the preachers themselves in this psalm, and their converts in Revelation.
I rejoice to think the day is coming when evangelists, commissioned and called of God to the work, will go out to call the nations. You may say, How do you know their work will succeed? … Do you not remember that great multitude "that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages"? (Rev. 7:9.) How were they converted? By hearing the preachers. Who the preachers are is not stated there, but the effect of their preaching is obvious, and in Ps. 96 I believe we get the preachers.
Their message is old and simple.
Psalm 96 summons all the earth to come in, in the spirit of the everlasting gospel. They are to own Jehovah; the gods of the nations are mere vanity… He is known in the sanctuary in Israel on the earth (v. 7, 8).
- Called — the previous psalm says "let us" to Israel; this one says "all the earth" to the nations. The circle of worship widens.
- Grounded — the gods they served are "nothings." The God who made the heavens has come down to a sanctuary where strength and beauty are found.
- Giving — no one can match the glory due His name. Yet He delights in the honour we bring, and He blesses the giver.
- Coming — the families are called to come up, bring an offering, and own the Creator as Jehovah in His courts.
- Carried — preachers carry the summons out, in the spirit of the everlasting gospel. Its fruit is a crowd from every nation that no one can number.
Give unto Jehovah the glory of his name; bring an oblation and come into his courts;
Psalm 96 calls the whole earth to worship. Verse 8 says what the nations must do: give Him what His name is worth, and come to Him with something in hand. Three questions follow. Who is called? What is the offering? Where are these courts?
The psalm before this one speaks to people already inside the circle of worship. This one turns outward, and commentators read it as good news for the nations. Some writers use the name "Jehovah" where this verse says "the LORD."
Psalm 96 summons all the earth to come in, in the spirit of the everlasting gospel. They are to own Jehovah; the gods of the nations are mere vanity. Psalm 95 invites those who already belong to the company — "Come, let us sing." Now the word goes to those who are far off: Sing to Jehovah. His glory is to be declared among the nations.
The phrase "the glory due his name" sets a standard no worshipper can meet. So why does God ask for it?
The families of the people are summoned to give the Lord glory and strength (v. 7). No one can exaggerate the greatness of His glory. The glory due His name is infinite. With this in view, how can we give Him anything less and be content with it? Yet God's kindness shows in the invitation to bring an offering and come into His courts (v. 8). Of course, He is worthy of far more adoration and worship than we, or all creation combined, can ever give. Yet He still delights in whatever measure of honour we give Him, and we are blessed through this.
"His courts" is not a vague phrase for God's presence. It names a place, and the summons is to come up to it.
Though the summons is to all the earth, Jerusalem is the centre. The Jews are called on as the instruments of the summons, and Jehovah is the subject of the song… All the families of the peoples are called to come up and own this Jehovah the Creator, whose glory is in Israel. They are to worship in His courts there in the beauty of holiness.
If the courts are real, so is the offering brought into them. One writer sets this verse beside other passages about a temple and priesthood on earth. He argues Scripture states these things plainly, instead of leaving us to work them out.
Where a temple is on earth, a priesthood goes with it. And if there is a priesthood, it is hard to see its use without sacrifices. With us, spiritual priesthood and spiritual sacrifices go together. (Compare Hebrews 10–13; and 1 Peter 2:5.) Nor does Scripture leave us to work it out by inference. It says plainly that there will be priests of Aaron's line, offerings and sacrifices, and it even describes them in detail. (Compare Psalm 96:8; 132:13-18; Isaiah 60:6-7; Jeremiah 33:18; Ezekiel 43–46; Zechariah 14:16-21.)
1 Chronicles 16 repeats much of this psalm, but not word for word. One of the changes falls on this verse.
In the same way, 1 Chronicles 16:29 says, "Come before Him," rather than "Come into His courts" (Psalm 96:8). This again fits the passing state of David's reign.
The instruction to bring something is not confined to this psalm. It runs through the law, and the New Testament takes it up too.
On the other hand, we know that worship is something we ought to bring. God deserves to be worshipped (see Deuteronomy 26:10; 1 Chronicles 16:29; Psalm 29:2; 45:11; 95:6; 96:9; 99:5, 9; 132:7). We should not "appear before the Lord empty" (Exodus 23:15; 34:20; Deuteronomy 16:16). New Testament encouragements to worship include 1 Peter 2:5 and Hebrews 13:15.
- Called. The call goes outward, to the nations far off, in the spirit of the everlasting gospel.
- Owed. The glory due His name is infinite. That is the reason never to be content with giving Him less.
- Invited. He still delights in any measure of honour we give. That is His kindness, not our achievement.
- Courts. The destination is a real place. Jerusalem is the centre, and the peoples must come up to it.
- Brought. Worship is something we carry, not only something we feel. Scripture repeats that we should not appear before the Lord empty.
Worship Jehovah in holy splendour; tremble before him, all the earth.
Psalm 96 calls the whole world to sing. Verse 9 tells that world how to come: worship in the splendour of holiness, and tremble before Him. So what makes holiness beautiful, and why does that beauty bring trembling?
The psalm before this one speaks to Israel; this one turns outward. One writer traces the shift by the pronouns themselves:
The previous psalm speaks to the nation of Israel. That is why the words "Let us" keep coming back — "Let us sing"; "Let us make a joyful noise"; "Let us come"; "Let us worship," and "Let us kneel." This psalm speaks to the nations outside Israel. So the appeal is to "All the earth," "the nations," and "all the peoples."
The call goes out to those far off, and it carries the tone of good news:
Psalm 96 calls all the earth to come in, in the spirit of the everlasting gospel. They are to own Jehovah; the gods of the nations are nothing but emptiness. Psalm 95 invites people as part of the company — "Come, let us sing." Now the word goes out to those who are far off: Sing to Jehovah, and declare His glory among the nations.
This worship has an address. The same writer names the centre the nations are called to:
The summons goes to all the earth, yet Jerusalem is the centre, and the Jews are the ones called on to carry that summons. Jehovah is the subject of the song… All the families of the peoples are called to come up and own this Jehovah the Creator, whose glory is in Israel. They are to worship in His courts there in the beauty of holiness. All the earth is to fear before Him.
The verse ties beauty to holiness. Older wording calls it "the beauty of holiness," and the writers here use that phrase. One writer explains holiness by what it loves and what it refuses, then links it to the trembling in the second half of the verse:
Our worship too is to be "in the beauty of holiness," not in the ugliness of forced subjection. Holiness involves the love of what is good and the positive rejection of what is evil. No wonder, then, that all the earth should "tremble before Him."
The phrase also works by contrast:
I have often been struck by the expression in the Old Testament, "the beauty of holiness" (Ps. 29:2; 96:9). It is a delightful expression. There is beauty in holiness, but there is ugliness in sin, and how offensive sin is to God!
This trembling is not the fear of an unstable world. It stands beside a promise:
The ground of the appeal is that Jehovah reigns, and the world is established. No longer moved by wars and rumours of wars, it will come into rest. Jehovah will exercise judgment over all the peoples in righteousness.
No worshipper produces this beauty out of himself. One writer says where it comes from:
So we may come with confidence into His blessed presence. Rejoicing before Him, we give Him our praise and worship together, blessing His Holy Name… How wonderful that we can give to Him! We have nothing in ourselves, and we are unworthy too. Yet God's rich grace puts us among those called to give to the Lord, and enables us to offer to Him in the beauty of holiness — the beauty that is ours in Christ through His redeeming work at Calvary.
And the giving itself is never a matter of the least we can manage:
It is impossible to exaggerate the greatness of His glory. The glory due His name is infinite. With that in view, how can we give Him anything less, and be content with it?
- Called — The psalm before it says "let us" to Israel. This one says "all the earth" to the nations, and it comes in the spirit of good news, not bare command.
- Centred — The call has an address. The nations come up to His courts, where Jehovah's glory is in Israel.
- Clothed — "The beauty of holiness" is holy splendour: the love of what is good and the refusal of what is evil. Sin is the ugly thing; holiness is the beautiful one.
- Covered — Nothing in ourselves fits us to offer that beauty. It is ours in Christ through His work at Calvary, so we can come with confidence.
- Crowned — The trembling is not forced subjection. It rests on a settled announcement: the Lord reigns, the world is established, and He will judge the peoples in righteousness.