Psalm 99:4-9

4 Strong king who loves justice, you are the one who established what is fair. You worked justice and righteousness in Jacob.

5 Magnify the LORD, our God! Bow low at his footstool! He is holy!

6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel too among those who called on his name. They cried out to the LORD, and he himself answered them—

7 he spoke to them from a pillar of cloud. They kept the laws and the rules God gave to them.

8 LORD our God, you answered them. To them you were a God who forgives but also the one who avenged their wrong deeds.

9 Magnify the LORD our God! Bow low at his holy mountain because the LORD our God is holy!

Psalm 99:4-9 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 99

This psalm, with the foregoing from Ps 90:1 is ascribed to Moses by Jarchi and others; but cannot be his, since mention is made of Samuel in it, who lived many years after him. The Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions, more rightly attribute it to David; the inscription of the Syriac version, after saying it is David's, subjoins,

``concerning the destruction of the Midianites, whom Moses and the people of Israel led captive;''

of which there is not the least mention in it; but it more truly adds,

``and a prophecy concerning the glory of the kingdom of the Messiah;''

as it undoubtedly is.

Footnotes

• [a] Correction; MT A king’s strength