For the choir director. A Song. A Psalm.

1Shout joyfully to God, all the earth;

2Sing the glory of His name;
         Make His praise glorious.

3Say to God, “How awesome are Your works!
         Because of the greatness of Your power Your enemies will give feigned obedience to You.

4“All the earth will worship You,
         And will sing praises to You;
         They will sing praises to Your name.”

5Come and see the works of God,
         Who is awesome in His deeds toward the sons of men.

6He turned the sea into dry land;
         They passed through the river on foot;
         There let us rejoice in Him!

7He rules by His might forever;
         His eyes keep watch on the nations;
         Let not the rebellious exalt themselves.

8Bless our God, O peoples,
         And sound His praise abroad,

9Who keeps us in life
         And does not allow our feet to slip.

10For You have tried us, O God;
         You have refined us as silver is refined.

11You brought us into the net;
         You laid an oppressive burden upon our loins.

12You made men ride over our heads;
         We went through fire and through water,
         Yet You brought us out into a place of abundance.

13I shall come into Your house with burnt offerings;
         I shall pay You my vows,

14Which my lips uttered
         And my mouth spoke when I was in distress.

15I shall offer to You burnt offerings of fat beasts,
         With the smoke of rams;
         I shall make an offering of bulls with male goats.

16Come and hear, all who fear God,
         And I will tell of what He has done for my soul.

17I cried to Him with my mouth,
         And He was extolled with my tongue.

18If I regard wickedness in my heart,
         The Lord will not hear;

19But certainly God has heard;
         He has given heed to the voice of my prayer.

20Blessed be God,
         Who has not turned away my prayer
         Nor His lovingkindness from me.

Parallel Verses

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
For the choir director. A Song. A Psalm. Shout joyfully to God, all the earth;

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
For the choir director; a song; a psalm. Shout happily to God, all the earth!

King James Bible
<or Psalm.>> Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands:

Douay-Rheims Bible
Unto the end, a canticle of a psalm of the resurrection. Shout with joy to God, all the earth,

Darby Bible Translation
{To the chief Musician. A Song: a Psalm.} Shout aloud unto God, all the earth:

English Revised Version
For the Chief Musician. A Song, a Psalm. Make a joyful noise unto God, all the earth:

Webster's Bible Translation
To the chief Musician, A Song or Psalm. Make a joyful noise to God, all ye lands:

World English Bible
Make a joyful shout to God, all the earth!

Young's Literal Translation
To the Overseer. -- A Song, a Psalm. Shout ye to God, all the earth.

Cross References

Psalm 7:17 I will give thanks to the LORD according to His righteousness And will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High.

Psalm 81:1 For the choir director; on the Gittith. A Psalm of Asaph. Sing for joy to God our strength; Shout joyfully to the God of Jacob.

Psalm 95:1 O come, let us sing for joy to the LORD, Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation.

Psalm 98:4 Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth; Break forth and sing for joy and sing praises.

Psalm 98:6 With trumpets and the sound of the horn Shout joyfully before the King, the LORD.

Psalm 100:1 A Psalm for Thanksgiving. Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth.

Commentary

Matthew Henry's Whole Bible Commentary

PSALM 66

This is a thanksgiving-psalm, and it is of such a general use and application that we need not suppose it penned upon any particular occasion. All people are here called upon to praise God, I. For the general instances of his sovereign dominion and power in the whole creation (v. 1-7). II. For the special tokens of his favour to the church, his peculiar people (v. 8-12). And then, III. The psalmist praises God for his own experiences of his goodness to him in particular, especially in answering his prayers (v. 13-20). If we have learned in every thing to give thanks for ancient and modern mercies, public and personal mercies, we shall know how to sing this psalm with grace and understanding.

To the chief musician. A song or psalm.

Verses 1-7

I. In these verses the psalmist calls upon all people to praise God, all lands, all the earth, all the inhabitants of the world that are capable of praising God, v. 1. 1. This speaks the glory of God, that he is worthy to be praised by all, for he is good to all and furnishes every nation with matter for praise. 2. The duty of man, that all are obliged to praise God; it is part of the law of creation, and therefore is required of every creature. 3. A prediction of the conversion of the Gentiles to the faith of Christ; the time should come when all lands should praise God, and this incense should in every place be offered to him. 4. A hearty good-will which the psalmist had to this good work of praising God. He will abound in it himself, and wishes that God might have his tribute paid him by all the nations of the earth and not by the land of Israel only. He excites all lands, (1.) To make a joyful noise to God. Holy joy is that devout affection which should animate all our praises; and, though it is not making a noise in religion that God will accept of (hypocrites are said to cause their voice to be heard on high, Isa. 58:4), yet, in praising God, [1.] We must be hearty and zealous, and must do what we do with all our might, with all that is within us. [2.] We must be open and public, as those that are not ashamed of our Master. And both these are implied in making a noise, a joyful noise. (2.) To sing with pleasure, and to sing forth, for the edification of others, the honour of his name, that is, of all that whereby he has made himself known, v. 2. That which is the honour of God's name ought to be the matter of our praise. (3.) To make his praise glorious as far as we can. In praising God we must do it so as to glorify him, and that must be the scope and drift of all our praises. Reckon it your greatest glory to praise God, so some. It is the highest honour the creature is capable of to be to the Creator for a name and a praise.

II. He had called upon all lands to praise God (v. 1), and he foretels (v. 4) that they shall do so: All the earth shall worship thee; some in all parts of the earth, even the remotest regions, for the everlasting gospel shall be preached to every nation and kindred; and this is the purport of it, Worship him that made heaven and earth, Rev. 14:6, 7. Being thus sent forth, it shall not return void, but shall bring all the earth, more or less, to worship God, and sing unto him. In gospel times God shall be worshipped by the singing of Psalms. They shall sing to God, that is, sing to his name, for it is only to his declarative glory, that by which he has made himself known, not to his essential glory, that we can contribute any thing by our praises.

III. That we may be furnished with matter for praise, we are here called upon to come and see the works of God; for his own works praise him, whether we do or no; and the reason why we do not praise him more and better is because we do not duly and attentively observe them. Let us therefore see God's works and observe the instances of his wisdom, power, and faithfulness in them (v. 5), and then speak of them, and speak of them to him (v. 3): Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works, terrible in thy doings! 1. God's works are wonderful in themselves, and such as, when duly considered, may justly fill us with amazement. God is terrible (that is, admirable) in his works, through the greatness of his power, which is such, and shines so brightly, so strongly, in all he does, that it may be truly said there are not any works like unto his works. Hence he is said to be fearful in praises, Ex. 15:11. In all his doings towards the children of men he is terrible, and to be eyed with a holy awe. Much of religion lies in a reverence for the divine Providence. 2. They are formidable to his enemies, and have many a time forced and frightened them into a feigned submission (v. 3): Through the greatness of thy power, before which none can stand, shall thy enemies submit themselves unto thee; they shall lie unto thee (so the word is), that is, they shall be compelled, sorely against their wills, to make their peace with thee upon any terms. Subjection extorted by fear is seldom sincere, and therefore force is no proper means of propagating religion, nor can there be much joy of such proselytes to the church as will in the end be found liars unto it, Deu. 33:29. 3. They are comfortable and beneficial to his people, v. 6. When Israel came out of Egypt, he turned the sea into dry land before them, which encouraged them to follow God's guidance through the wilderness; and, when they were to enter Canaan, for their encouragement in their wars Jordan was divided before them, and they went through that flood on foot; and such foot, so signally owned by heaven, might well pass for cavalry, rather than infantry, in the wars of the Lord. There did the enemies tremble before them (Ex. 15:14, 15; Jos. 5:1), but there did we rejoice in him, both trust his power (for relying on God is often expressed by rejoicing in him) and sing his praise, Ps. 106:12. There did we rejoice; that is, our ancestors did, and we in their loins. The joys of our fathers were our joys, and we ought to look upon ourselves as sharers in them. 4. They are commanding to all. God by his works keeps up his dominion in the world (v. 7): He rules by his power for ever; his eyes behold the nations. (1.) God has a commanding eye; from the height of heaven his eye commands all the inhabitants of the world, and he has a clear and full view of them all. His eyes run to and fro through the earth; the most remote and obscure nations are under his inspection. (2.) He has a commanding arm; his power rules, rules for ever, and is never weakened, never obstructed. Strong is his hand, and high is his right hand. Hence he infers, Let not the rebellious exalt themselves; let not those that have revolting and rebellious hearts dare to rise up in any overt acts of rebellion against God, as Adonijah exalted himself, saying, I will be king. Let not those that are in rebellion against God exalt themselves as if there were any probability that they should gain their point. No; let them be still, for God hath said, I will be exalted, and man cannot gainsay it.

Calvin's Commentary

1. Shout unto God, all the earth. 2. Sing the honor of his name: make glorious his praise. [466] 3. Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works! in the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies lie [or feign submission] unto thee. 4. All the earth shall worship thee, and they shall sing unto thee; they shall sing thy name. Selah.

1. Shout unto God, all the earth The psalm begins with this general declaration, which is afterwards reduced to particulars. [467] He addresses himself to the whole world, and from this it would seem evident, that he predicts the extent to which the kingdom of God should reach at the coming of Christ. In the second verse the call is repeated with increasing vehemency, to stir up to the praises of God, such as might otherwise be remiss in the service. To sing the honor of his name, is an expression sufficiently obvious; meaning, that we should extol his sacred name in a manner suitable to its dignity, so that it may obtain its due and deserved adoration. But the clause which follows is rather ambiguous. Some think that it conveys a repetition of the same idea contained in other words, and read, set forth the glory of his praise. [468] I prefer taking the Hebrew word signifying praise to be in the accusative case; rendering the words literally, make a glory his praise. And by this I understand him to mean, not as some do, that we should glory exclusively in his praises, [469] but simply, that we highly exalt his praises, that they may be glorious. The Psalmist is not satisfied with our declaring them moderately, and insists that we should celebrate his goodness in some measure proportionably to its excellence.

3. Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works! Here he proceeds to state the grounds why he would have us to praise God. Many content themselves with coldly descanting to others of his praises, but with the view of awakening and more deeply impressing our hearts, he directs us to address ourselves immediately to God. It is when we hold converse with him apart, and with no human eye to witness us, that we feel the vanity of hypocrisy, and will be likely to utter only what we have well and seriously meditated in our hearts. Nothing tends more to beget a reverential awe of God upon our spirits than sisting ourselves in his presence. What the Psalmist adds is fitted and designed to produce the same feeling, that through the greatness of God's power, his enemies feign submission to him Are they who would perversely and obstinately revolt from his service, forced to humble themselves before him, whether they will it or not, how much more, then, ought his own children to serve him, who are invited into his presence, by the accents of tenderness, instead of being reduced to subjection by terror? There is an implied contrast drawn between the voluntary homage which they yield, as attracted by the sweet influences of grace, and that slavish obedience which is wrung reluctantly from the unbeliever. The Hebrew word here used for to lie, signifies to yield such a submission as is constrained, and not free or cordial, as Psalm 18:45. Neither the words nor the scope favor the other senses which have been suggested, as, that his enemies would acknowledge themselves to have been deceived in their hopes, or that they would deny having ever intended hostilities against him. There are many ways in which hypocrites may lie, but nothing more is meant by the Psalmist here, than that the power of God is such as to force them into a reluctant subjection.

4. All the earth shall worship thee. The Psalmist had good reason for insisting upon this one point again and again. Though all tongues were tuned to the praise of God, they never could adequately extol it; and yet such are the negligence and the perversity of men, that they will scarcely lift one feeble note in celebration of a theme which should command their united strength and might. We have another prediction here, of a time being to come when God would be worshipped, not only by the Jews, a small section of the human family, but by all the nations which would be eventually brought under his government. And we are not to consider that he refers to such a worship as would be constrained, and only not withheld, because resistance might be dangerous, but to the sincere homage of the heart -- they shall sing unto thee! they shall sing unto thy name Praise is the best of all sacrifices, (as we are told, Psalm 50:14, 23) and the true evidence of godliness. [470]

Footnotes:

[466] "Ou, mettez gloire a sa louan." -- Fr. marg. "Or, put glory to his praise."

[467] "Generalis est praefatio, quam mox sequentur hypotheses." -- Lat. "C'est une preface generale, dont les applications speciales suivent incontinent apres." -- Fr.

[468] Hammond's objection to this is, that if kvvr, glory, were in the construct state, governing the noun which follows, and giving this reading, the glory of his, praise, the vowel should be changed from kamets, to segol

[469] This is Aben Ezra's view. He would read, "Make your glory his praise;" that is, let it be your glory to praise him.

[470] "Est enim hoc praecipuum laudis sacrificium, ut habetur, Psalmo 50:14, 23, ac verum etiam testimonium pietatis. -- Lat. "Car c'est le principal sacrifice, que le sacrifice de louange, etc., et aussi le vray tesmoignage de piete." -- Fr.

Links

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