Psalm 96 is a hymn of universal praise calling all the earth — not merely Israel — to sing a 'new song' to the LORD. It declares God's glory among the nations, dismisses the gods of the peoples as worthless, and summons the entire created order — heavens, earth, sea, fields, and forests — to rejoice because the LORD is coming to judge the earth with righteousness and faithfulness. The psalm has no superscription in the Hebrew text but appears in a parallel version in 1 Chronicles 16:23-33.
What Makes This Chapter Remarkable
This psalm explodes Israel's worship beyond its ethnic boundaries. The command is not 'Sing to the LORD, O Israel' but shiru la-YHWH kol ha-arets ('Sing to the LORD, all the earth'). The Hebrew word arets means both 'earth' and 'land,' and here it means the whole planet. The nations (goyim) and peoples (ammim) are summoned to praise, creation itself is summoned to celebrate, and the reason given is not God's past salvation of Israel but his coming judgment of the entire world. The judgment is presented as good news — the earth rejoices at God's coming because his rule means tsedeq ve-emunah ('righteousness and faithfulness'). This is not judgment as punishment but judgment as the establishment of a just order that all creation has been waiting for.
Translation Friction
Verse 5 contains a wordplay that defies translation: kol elohei ha-ammim elilim ('all the gods of the peoples are elilim'). The word elilim sounds like elohim ('gods') but means 'worthless things, nothings, nonentities.' Some scholars connect it to al ('not') — making the gods 'not-gods,' anti-gods, nothings masquerading as somethings. The dismissal is not that other gods are weak but that they are empty — there is nothing there. The parallel in 1 Chronicles 16:23-33 contains some significant textual differences, suggesting that one text was adapted from the other or both drew from a common liturgical source.
Connections
The 'new song' (shir chadash) motif connects to Psalms 33:3, 40:3, 98:1, 144:9, 149:1, and Isaiah 42:10. The phrase YHWH malakh ('the LORD reigns') in verse 10 links this psalm to the enthronement cluster (Psalms 93, 97, 99). The cosmic response to God's coming (trees singing, sea roaring, fields exulting) is paralleled in Isaiah 55:12 and Psalm 98:7-8. The 1 Chronicles 16 parallel places this psalm in the context of David bringing the ark to Jerusalem — the moment when Israel's worship finds its permanent home.
Sing to the LORD a new song!
Sing to the LORD, all the earth!
KJV O sing unto the LORD a new song: sing unto the LORD, all the earth.
Notes & Key Terms
1 term
Key Terms
שִׁיר חָדָשׁshir chadash
"new song"—song, poem, ode; new, fresh, unprecedented
The 'new song' motif appears at moments of fresh divine intervention. In Psalm 40:3, God 'put a new song in my mouth' after deliverance. In Isaiah 42:10, the new song accompanies the new things God is about to do. The newness is not about the music but about the reality it celebrates — something God has done or is about to do that demands a response no existing song can provide.
Translator Notes
The shir chadash ('new song') is not merely a recently composed melody — it is a song that responds to a new act of God. The 'newness' corresponds to the freshness of divine action. The command shiru ('sing!') is an imperative addressed to kol ha-arets ('all the earth'), which universalizes the call beyond any single nation or community.
Sing to the LORD, bless his name!
Proclaim his salvation day after day!
KJV Sing unto the LORD, bless his name; shew forth his salvation from day to day.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The verb bassru ('proclaim, announce good news') is the verbal form of besorah ('good news, gospel'). This is evangelistic language — the worshipers are commanded to announce God's yeshu'ato ('his salvation') to the world. The phrase mi-yom le-yom ('from day to day') means the proclamation is not occasional but daily, continuous, never pausing.
Declare his glory among the nations,
his wonders among all peoples!
KJV Declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The verb sappru ('declare, recount, tell') with ba-goyim ('among the nations') and be-khol ha-ammim ('among all the peoples') makes Israel's worship a mission to the world. God's kevodo ('his glory') and nifl'otav ('his wonders') are not private possessions of the covenant community but realities to be broadcast universally.
he is to be feared above all gods.
For the LORD is great and greatly to be praised;
KJV For the LORD is great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The phrase mehullal me'od ('greatly to be praised') uses the passive participle of halal ('to praise') — God is inherently praiseworthy, whether or not anyone is currently praising him. The nora ('fearsome, to be feared') indicates that the proper response to God's greatness includes not just admiration but awe. The phrase al kol elohim ('above all gods') continues the competitive theology: whatever else claims divine status, YHWH towers above it.
elilim may derive from al ('not, nothing') — making the gods literally 'not-things.' The wordplay with elohim is intentional: what the nations call elohim are actually elilim. Isaiah uses the same term (Isaiah 2:8, 10:10) to mock the pretensions of idol worship. The word is a theological weapon: it denies the other gods not merely supremacy but existence.
Translator Notes
The word elilim is sometimes rendered 'idols,' but that refers to the physical objects of worship. elilim refers to what those objects represent: nothing. We render it 'worthless things' to capture the sense of emptiness rather than merely the physical artifact.
Splendor and majesty stand before him;
strength and glory fill his sanctuary.
KJV Honour and majesty are before him: strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Four attributes attend God's presence: hod ('splendor, radiance'), hadar ('majesty, honor'), oz ('strength, might'), and tif'eret ('glory, beauty'). The first pair stands lefanav ('before him') — in his presence, approaching his throne. The second pair is be-miqdosho ('in his sanctuary') — filling his temple. The verse personifies these qualities as attendants in a royal court, standing before the king and filling his chambers.
Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples!
Ascribe to the LORD glory and strength!
KJV Give unto the LORD, O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the LORD glory and strength.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The imperative havu ('give, ascribe') addressed to mishpechot ammim ('families of the peoples') extends the call beyond Israel to every clan and nation on earth. The language echoes Psalm 29:1-2, where the same imperative is addressed to bene elim ('sons of gods,' the divine council). What the heavenly beings do in Psalm 29, all human families are summoned to do here: attribute kavod ('glory') and oz ('strength') to the LORD.
Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name!
Bring an offering and come into his courts!
KJV Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come into his courts.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The kevod shemo ('the glory of his name') means the honor that his reputation deserves. The command se'u minchah ('bring a grain offering') and u-vo'u le-chatsrotav ('and come into his courts') invites the nations into Israel's temple worship. The minchah is a grain or tribute offering — the approach of a subject before a sovereign. The universalism of the psalm reaches its peak: the nations are not merely told to acknowledge God from a distance but to enter his courts with offerings.
Worship the LORD in holy splendor!
Tremble before him, all the earth!
KJV O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The phrase be-hadrat qodesh ('in the splendor of holiness') may refer to holy garments (the priests' vestments) or to the splendor that holiness itself radiates. The verb chilu ('tremble, writhe, be in anguish') is a verb of physical shaking — not merely emotional reverence but bodily tremor in the presence of the holy. The command is addressed to kol ha-arets ('all the earth') — every nation, every person, every creature.
Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns!"
The world is established; it cannot be shaken.
He will judge the peoples with equity.
KJV 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The instruction to declare YHWH malakh ba-goyim ('among the nations') is remarkable — it envisions Israel as a herald to the world, not a sect withdrawn from it. The message is political as well as theological: the LORD reigns means no human empire has ultimate authority.
Let the heavens rejoice and the earth be glad;
let the sea roar, and all that fills it!
KJV Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The cosmic response begins. The shamayim ('heavens') and erets ('earth') form the standard merism for 'everything' (as in Genesis 1:1). The hayyam u-melo'o ('the sea and everything filling it') adds the aquatic realm. Three domains — sky, land, sea — respond with simchah ('joy'), gilah ('gladness'), and ra'am ('thunder, roaring'). Creation itself celebrates God's coming reign. This is not pathetic fallacy but theological conviction: the non-human creation has a stake in God's justice.
Let the field exult, and everything in it!
Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy
KJV Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The sadai ('the field,' open agricultural land) and kol asher bo ('everything in it') bring the cultivated world into the celebration. Then kol atsei ya'ar ('all the trees of the forest') — the wild, uncultivated trees — yerannu ('will sing for joy'). The verb rannan is the same piercing, exuberant cry of verse 1. Trees singing is not merely poetic embellishment — it expresses the conviction that the non-human creation participates in the cosmic drama. Romans 8:19-22 will articulate this same idea: creation groans, waiting for liberation.
before the LORD, for he is coming —
for he is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness
and the peoples with his faithfulness.
KJV 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.
Notes & Key Terms
1 term
Key Terms
צֶדֶקtsedeq
"righteousness"—righteousness, justice, rightness, correctness, what is right and proper
tsedeq describes the quality of being in right order — morally correct, judicially fair, cosmically aligned. When God judges with tsedeq, the result is a world put right: the oppressed are vindicated, the oppressor is restrained, and every relationship — human, ecological, cosmic — is restored to its intended condition. This is why creation celebrates God's judgment.
Translator Notes
The entire psalm builds toward this verse. Every imperative — sing, proclaim, declare, ascribe, worship, tremble — has been leading to this moment: God is coming. The judgment of the earth is presented not as threat but as consummation — the event all creation has been waiting for.