Psalms 29

1 The psalm of David. Ye sons of God, bring to the Lord; bring ye to the Lord, the sons of rams. Bring ye to the Lord glory and honour; (The song of David. Ye sons of God, acknowledge to the Lord; acknowledge to the Lord, ye mighty sons. Acknowledge ye the glory and the strength of the Lord;)

2 bring ye to the Lord glory to his name; praise ye the Lord in his holy large place. (acknowledge to the Lord the glory due his name; bow ye down before the Lord in his holy Temple/bow ye down before the Lord in the beauty of his holiness.)

3 The voice of the Lord on waters, God of majesty thundered; the Lord on many waters. (The voice of the Lord is heard upon the waters, the God of glory thundered/the majestic God thundered; the Lord is heard upon the many waters.)

4 The voice of the Lord in virtue; the voice of the Lord in great doing. (The voice of the Lord is strong; the majestic voice of the Lord.)

5 The voice of the Lord breaking cedars; and the Lord shall break the cedars of Lebanon. (The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars; yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon.)

6 And he shall all-break them to dust, as a calf of the Lebanon; and the darling was as the son of an unicorn. (And he maketh Lebanon to jump like a calf; and Sirion to leap like a young wild ox.)

7 The voice of the Lord parting the flame(s) of fire; (The voice of the Lord sendeth out flashes of lightning;)

8 the voice of the Lord shaking desert; and the Lord shall stir (al)together the desert of Kadesh. (the voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness; yea, the Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh.)

9 The voice of the Lord making ready harts (to calve), and he shall show thick things; and in his temple all men shall say glory. (The voice of the Lord maketh the harts to calve, and bringeth the goat kids early to their birth; and in his Temple everyone shall shout, Glory!)

10 The Lord maketh to inhabit the great flood; and the Lord shall sit king (into) without end. (The Lord ruleth over the great flood/The Lord ruleth over the deep waters; and the Lord shall sit as King forever.)

11 The Lord shall give virtue to his people; the Lord shall bless his people in peace. (The Lord shall give strength to his people; the Lord shall bless his people with peace.)

Psalms 29 Commentary

Chapter 29

Exhortation to give glory to God.

- The mighty and honourable of the earth are especially bound to honour and worship him; but, alas, few attempt to worship him in the beauty of holiness. When we come before him as the Redeemer of sinners, in repentance faith, and love, he will accept our defective services, pardon the sin that cleaves to them, and approve of that measure of holiness which the Holy Spirit enables us to exercise. We have here the nature of religious worship; it is giving to the Lord the glory due to his name. We must be holy in all our religious services, devoted to God, and to his will and glory. There is a beauty in holiness, and that puts beauty upon all acts of worship. The psalmist here sets forth God's dominion in the kingdom of nature. In the thunder, and lightning, and storm, we may see and hear his glory. Let our hearts be thereby filled with great, and high, and honourable thoughts of God, in the holy adoring of whom, the power of godliness so much consists. O Lord our God, thou art very great! The power of the lightning equals the terror of the thunder. The fear caused by these effects of the Divine power, should remind us of the mighty power of God, of man's weakness, and of the defenceless and desperate condition of the wicked in the day of judgment. But the effects of the Divine word upon the souls of men, under the power of the Holy Spirit, are far greater than those of thunder storms in the nature world. Thereby the stoutest are made to tremble, the proudest are cast down, the secrets of the heart are brought to light, sinners are converted, the savage, sensual, and unclean, become harmless, gentle, and pure. If we have heard God's voice, and have fled for refuge to the hope set before us, let us remember that children need not fear their Father's voice, when he speaks in anger to his enemies. While those tremble who are without shelter, let those who abide in his appointed refuge bless him for their security, looking forward to the day of judgment without dismay, safe as Noah in the ark.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 29

\\<>\\. In the Vulgate Latin version is added, "at the finishing of the tabernacle"; suggesting that this psalm was composed at that time, and on that occasion; not at the finishing of the tabernacle by Moses, but at the finishing of the tent or tabernacle which David made for the ark in Zion, 2Sa 6:17. The title in the Arabic version is, ``a prophecy concerning the incarnation, ark, and tabernacle.'' In the Septuagint version, from whence the Vulgate seems to have taken the clause, it is, at the "exodion", "exit", or "going out of the tabernacle"; that is, of the feast of tabernacles; and which was the eighth day of the feast, and was called true, which word the Septuagint renders exodion, the word here used, Le 23:36, Nu 29:35; though it was on the first of the common days of this feast that this psalm was sung, as Maimonides {w} says. Some think it was composed when the psalmist was in a thunder storm, or had lately been in one, which he in a very beautiful manner describes. Kimchi thinks it refers to the times of the Messiah; and it may indeed be very well interpreted of the Gospel, and is very suitable to Gospel times. {w} Hilchot Tamidin, c. 10. s. 11.