King James Version
Psalms 95
11 verses with commentary
Oh Come, Let Us Sing to the Lord
O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
This opening verse initiates a corporate call to worship with multiple imperatives that engage the whole person. 'O come, let us sing unto the LORD' employs the Hebrew word 'shir' (to sing), which denotes celebratory, joyful expression. The repetition of 'let us' demonstrates collective participation - this is not solitary worship but communal proclamation. 'Make a joyful noise to the rock of our ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(1) **O come.**—The invitation is general, and may be contrasted with the heathen warning to the uninitiated, *procul este profani. *This exhortation to worship God, not with penitence, but with loud thanksgiving, is, as Perowne notes, the more remarkable considering the strain in which the latter part of the psalm is written.
**Make a joyful noise.**—There is no one English expression for the ful...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
16-20. With these he unites his public thanks, inviting those who fear God (Psa 60:4; 61:5, His true worshippers) to hear. He vindicates his sincerity, inasmuch as God would not hear hypocrites, but had heard him.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 95
Chapter Outline
part. An exhortation to praise God.
(1-7)
A warning not to tempt Him.(7-11)
**Verses 1-7**
Whenever we come into God's presence, we must come with thanksgiving. The Lord is to be praised; we do not want matter, it were well if we did not want a heart. How great is that God, whose the whole earth is, and the fulness thereof; who directs and disposes ...
Read full commentary →Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. come: Heb. prevent his face
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse expands the worship invitation to include thanksgiving and expanded musical expression. 'Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving' establishes that entrance into God's presence requires a posture of gratitude. The phrase 'before his presence' (Hebrew 'panav') suggests standing in the face-to-face position of intimacy and accountability before God. Thanksgiving (Hebrew 'todah') ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(2) **Come before.**—Literally, *go to meet. *It is the word rendered “prevent” in Psalm 18:5, where see Note.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
16-20. With these he unites his public thanks, inviting those who fear God (Psa 60:4; 61:5, His true worshippers) to hear. He vindicates his sincerity, inasmuch as God would not hear hypocrites, but had heard him.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 95
Chapter Outline
part. An exhortation to praise God.
(1-7)
A warning not to tempt Him.(7-11)
**Verses 1-7**
Whenever we come into God's presence, we must come with thanksgiving. The Lord is to be praised; we do not want matter, it were well if we did not want a heart. How great is that God, whose the whole earth is, and the fulness thereof; who directs and disposes ...
Read full commentary →For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse establishes God's superiority within the cosmos through explicit theological declaration. 'For the LORD is a great God' employs the word 'gadol' (great), indicating supremacy in power, authority, and dignity. The emphasis 'and a great King above all gods' makes a twofold claim: first, that God is king (ruler and sovereign), and second, that He is exalted above all other gods. This decla...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(3) **Above all gods.**—Not here angelic beings, but the gods of surrounding tribes, as accurately explained in Psalm 96:4-5. (Comp. Exodus 15:11; Exodus 18:11.) Commentators vex themselves with the difficulty of the ascription of a real existence to these tribal deities in the expression,” King above all gods.” But how else was Israel constantly falling into the sin of worshipping them? It was in...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
16-20. With these he unites his public thanks, inviting those who fear God (Psa 60:4; 61:5, His true worshippers) to hear. He vindicates his sincerity, inasmuch as God would not hear hypocrites, but had heard him.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 95
Chapter Outline
part. An exhortation to praise God.
(1-7)
A warning not to tempt Him.(7-11)
**Verses 1-7**
Whenever we come into God's presence, we must come with thanksgiving. The Lord is to be praised; we do not want matter, it were well if we did not want a heart. How great is that God, whose the whole earth is, and the fulness thereof; who directs and disposes ...
Read full commentary →In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also. In: Heb. In whose the strength: or, the heights of the hills are his
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also.</strong> This verse proclaims God's sovereign ownership over creation's extremes—from the deepest chasms to the highest peaks. "In his hand" (<em>beyado</em>, בְּיָדוֹ) signifies possession, control, and power. The "hand" of God is a biblical metaphor for His active power and governance (Exodus 15:6; Psalm...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(4) **Deep places.**—From a root meaning “to search,” perhaps by digging. Hence either “mines” or “mineral wealth.”
**Strength of the hills.**—The Hebrew word rendered “strength” is rare, found only here and Numbers 23:22; Numbers 24:8 (“strength of an unicorn”), and Job 22:25 (“plenty of silver;” margin, “silver of strength”). The root to which the word is usually assigned means “to be weary,” fr...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
16-20. With these he unites his public thanks, inviting those who fear God (Psa 60:4; 61:5, His true worshippers) to hear. He vindicates his sincerity, inasmuch as God would not hear hypocrites, but had heard him.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 95
Chapter Outline
part. An exhortation to praise God.
(1-7)
A warning not to tempt Him.(7-11)
**Verses 1-7**
Whenever we come into God's presence, we must come with thanksgiving. The Lord is to be praised; we do not want matter, it were well if we did not want a heart. How great is that God, whose the whole earth is, and the fulness thereof; who directs and disposes ...
Read full commentary →The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land. The sea: Heb. Whose the sea is
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.</strong> This verse grounds God's ownership in His creative work: the sea belongs to Him because <em>He made it</em>; the land is His because <em>He formed it</em>. The Hebrew structure emphasizes these twin claims: <em>lo hayam ve-hu asahu</em> (לוֹ הַיָּם וְהוּא עָשָׂהוּ, "His is the sea, and He made it") and <em>veyabbas...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 95
Chapter Outline
part. An exhortation to praise God.
(1-7)
A warning not to tempt Him.(7-11)
**Verses 1-7**
Whenever we come into God's presence, we must come with thanksgiving. The Lord is to be praised; we do not want matter, it were well if we did not want a heart. How great is that God, whose the whole earth is, and the fulness thereof; who directs and disposes ...
Read full commentary →O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse pivots from the external expression of worship (singing, music) to the internal posture of the body and spirit. 'O come, let us worship and bow down' introduces 'worship' (Hebrew 'shachah'), which etymologically relates to prostration or bowing before a superior. This is not casual acknowledgment but deliberate physical submission. 'Bow down' emphasizes the physicality of worship - the ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(6) **Worship.**—Properly, *prostrate ourselves.*
**Kneel.**—The practice of kneeling low in the East, only used in moments of deep humiliation, is first mentioned in 2Chronicles 6:13. It was also Daniel’s practice (Daniel 6:10).
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
PSALM 67 Psa 67:1-7. A prayer that, by God's blessing on His people, His salvation and praise may be extended over the earth.
**1. cause his face to shine--**show us favor (Nu 6:24, 25; Psa 31:16).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 95
Chapter Outline
part. An exhortation to praise God.
(1-7)
A warning not to tempt Him.(7-11)
**Verses 1-7**
Whenever we come into God's presence, we must come with thanksgiving. The Lord is to be praised; we do not want matter, it were well if we did not want a heart. How great is that God, whose the whole earth is, and the fulness thereof; who directs and disposes ...
Read full commentary →For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice,
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse establishes the relationship between God and His people through the metaphor of shepherd and flock, while introducing an urgent temporal element with 'To day.' 'For he is our God' reasserts the intimate covenantal relationship: God is not merely the great God of the universe but 'our' God, characterizing Him as intimately committed to this particular people. 'And we are the people of hi...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(7) **To-day if . . .**—In joining this clause with Psalm 95:8-9 the Authorised Version follows the LXX. The Masoretic text connects it with the preceding part of the verse, and there seems no good reason for departing from that arrangement. Indeed, the change from the third person, “his voice,” to the first, “tempted me,” in the same sentence is intolerable even in Hebrew poetry. Nor is there any...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**2. thy way--**of gracious dealing (Is 55:8), as explained by--
**saving health--**or literally, "salvation."
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 95
Chapter Outline
part. An exhortation to praise God.
(1-7)
A warning not to tempt Him.(7-11)
**Verses 1-7**
Whenever we come into God's presence, we must come with thanksgiving. The Lord is to be praised; we do not want matter, it were well if we did not want a heart. How great is that God, whose the whole earth is, and the fulness thereof; who directs and disposes ...
Read full commentary →Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: provocation: Heb. contention
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Harden not your heart, as in the provocation</strong> (אַל־תַּקְשׁוּ לְבַבְכֶם כִּמְרִיבָה, <em>al-takshu levavkhem ki-merivah</em>)—<em>Kasheh</em> means harden, make stiff, stubborn; <em>merivah</em> means contention, strife, provocation. <strong>And as in the day of temptation in the wilderness</strong> (כְּיוֹם מַסָּה בַּמִּדְבָּר, <em>ke-yom massah ba-midbar</em>)—<em>Massah</em> mean...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(8) The mention of the guiding voice suggests to the poet to make God Himself address His people, and with this verse the Divine warning begins.
**Provocation . . .** **temptation.**—It is better to keep here the proper names *Meribah *and *Massah *(Exodus 17:1-7; Numbers 20:13 : comp. Deuteronomy 33:8).
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
3-5. Thanks will be rendered for the blessings of His wise and holy government (compare Is 2:3, 4; 11:4).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 95
Chapter Outline
part. An exhortation to praise God.
(1-7)
A warning not to tempt Him.(7-11)
**Verses 1-7**
Whenever we come into God's presence, we must come with thanksgiving. The Lord is to be praised; we do not want matter, it were well if we did not want a heart. How great is that God, whose the whole earth is, and the fulness thereof; who directs and disposes ...
Read full commentary →When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>When your fathers tempted me, proved me</strong> (אֲשֶׁר נִסּוּנִי אֲבוֹתֵיכֶם בְּחָנוּנִי, <em>asher nissuni avoteikhem bechanuni</em>)—<em>Nassah</em> means test, try; <em>bachan</em> means examine, test, prove. <strong>And saw my work</strong> (גַּם־רָאוּ פָעֳלִי, <em>gam-ra'u fo'oli</em>)—<em>Ra'ah</em> means see, witness; <em>po'al</em> means work, deed, action.<br><br>The wilderness ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(9) **Proved me.**—Properly, of trying metals. This term is used of man’s attitude towards Providence, both in a good and bad sense (Malachi 3:10; Malachi 3:15).
**And saw my work.**—Better (as in Isaiah 49:15), *Yea, they saw my works, *watched, that is, God’s dealings with ever the same readiness to murmur and repine, and try the Divine patience.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
3-5. Thanks will be rendered for the blessings of His wise and holy government (compare Is 2:3, 4; 11:4).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 95
Chapter Outline
part. An exhortation to praise God.
(1-7)
A warning not to tempt Him.(7-11)
**Verses 1-7**
Whenever we come into God's presence, we must come with thanksgiving. The Lord is to be praised; we do not want matter, it were well if we did not want a heart. How great is that God, whose the whole earth is, and the fulness thereof; who directs and disposes ...
Read full commentary →Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Forty years long was I grieved with this generation</strong> (אַרְבָּעִים שָׁנָה אָקוּט בְּדוֹר, <em>arba'im shanah akut be-dor</em>)—<em>Kut</em> means loathe, feel disgust, be grieved. <strong>And said, It is a people that do err in their heart</strong> (וָאֹמַר עַם תֹּעֵי לֵבָב הֵם, <em>va'omar am to'ei levav hem</em>)—<em>Ta'ah</em> means wander, go astray, err; <em>levav</em> is heart...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(10) See Notes, Hebrews 3:17, *New Testament Commentary.*
**I grieved.**—Better, *I loathed.*
**A people that do err.**—Literally, *a people of wanderers in heart. *They are morally astray through ignorance of God’s paths.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
3-5. Thanks will be rendered for the blessings of His wise and holy government (compare Is 2:3, 4; 11:4).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 95
Chapter Outline
part. An exhortation to praise God.
(1-7)
A warning not to tempt Him.(7-11)
**Verses 1-7**
Whenever we come into God's presence, we must come with thanksgiving. The Lord is to be praised; we do not want matter, it were well if we did not want a heart. How great is that God, whose the whole earth is, and the fulness thereof; who directs and disposes ...
Read full commentary →Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest. that: Heb. if they enter into my rest
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Unto whom I sware in my wrath</strong> (אֲשֶׁר־נִשְׁבַּעְתִּי בְאַפִּי, <em>asher-nishba'ti be-appi</em>)—<em>Shaba</em> means swear an oath; <em>af</em> means wrath, anger, nostrils. <strong>That they should not enter into my rest</strong> (אִם־יְבֹאוּן אֶל־מְנוּחָתִי, <em>im-yevo'un el-menuchati</em>)—<em>Menucha</em> means rest, resting place; the <em>im</em> formula is a Hebrew oath: "...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(11) **I sware.**—Numbers 14:21-27.
**Rest.**—This is, of course, the Promised Land, as the context unmistakably shows. The freedom taken with the passage by the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, in order to make the psalm point us to a “future” rest, was such as Jewish doctors ordinarily used, and of which other instances occur in the New Testament—notably St. Paul’s argument in Galatians 3:1...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
6-7. The blessings of a fruitful harvest are mentioned as types of greater and spiritual blessings, under which all nations shall fear and love God.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 95
Chapter Outline
part. An exhortation to praise God.
(1-7)
A warning not to tempt Him.(7-11)
**Verses 1-7**
Whenever we come into God's presence, we must come with thanksgiving. The Lord is to be praised; we do not want matter, it were well if we did not want a heart. How great is that God, whose the whole earth is, and the fulness thereof; who directs and disposes ...
Read full commentary →