Hebrew-English Text
I. Summary
The psalmist proclaims God’s supremacy and calls upon the righteous to celebrate and worship their Lord.

II. Photo
Praise for the righteous: “Light is sown for the righteous, radiance for the upright!” (v. 11)

III. Select Verses    
1: The LORD is king! Let the earth exult, the many islands rejoice!
2-5: Dense clouds are around Him, righteousness and justice are the base of His throne.  Fire is His vanguard, burning His foes on every side.  His lightnings light up the world; the earth is convulsed at the sight; mountains melt like wax at the LORD’s presence, at the presence of the Lord of all the earth.
7: All who worship images, who vaunt their idols, are dismayed; all divine beings bow down to Him.
10-12: O you who love the LORD, hate evil! He guards the lives of His loyal ones, saving them from the hand of the wicked.  Light is sown for the righteous, radiance for the upright. O you righteous, rejoice in the LORD and acclaim His holy name!

IV. Outline
1a. Kingship Proclamation
1b. Anticipated jubilation
2-6. Theophany description
7. Dominion over other gods
8a. Zion’s anticipated joy
8b-9. Rationale: God is the greatest god
10-11. Beatitude/sermon about the righteous
12. Call upon the righteous to praise

V. Comment
Psalm 97 proclaims God’s dominion over nature and the other gods. There is a strong emphasis on the human reward of happiness for living a righteous life. Indeed the Hebrew root smḥ “happiness” appears in vv. 1, 8, 11, 12. There is also a mention of enemies, and those who worship other gods will be “dried out.”

The psalm begins with the words “Yhwh is/was king.” Psalms 93 and 96-99 have very similar phrases, leading scholars to label these psalms “Yhwh Kingship Psalms.” The following verses from other books employ similar phraseology to proclaim a new king:

• 2Sam. 15:10   But Absalom sent agents to all the tribes of Israel to say, “When you hear the blast of the horn, announce that Absalom has become king in Hebron.”
• 1Kings 1:18 Yet now Adonijah has become king, and you, my lord the king, know nothing about it.
• 1Kings 1:34 Let the priest Zadok and the prophet Nathan anoint him there king over Israel, whereupon you shall sound the horn and shout, ‘Long live King Solomon!’
• 1Kings 1:49 Thereupon, all of Adonijah’s guests rose in alarm and each went his own way.
• 2Kings 9:13 Quickly each man took his cloak and placed it under him, on the top step. They sounded the horn and proclaimed, “Jehu is king!”

VI. Works Used
(see “Commentaries” page)
Gerstenberger, Erhard. Psalms Part 2 and Lamentations (Forms of Old Testament Literature; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001).
Photo copied from http://www.lightingpictures.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Light-Energy.jpg

Hebrew-English Text
I. Summary
The psalmist calls upon the inhabitants of the world to praise God because God is the greatest and is coming to judge the world.

II. Photo
God is the greatest god: “All the gods of the peoples are mere idols, but the Lord made the heavens!” (v. 5)

III. Select Verses    
2-3: Sing to the LORD, bless His name, proclaim His victory day after day.  Tell of His glory among the nations, His wondrous deeds, among all peoples
4-5: For the LORD is great and much acclaimed, He is held in awe by all divine beings. All the gods of the peoples are mere idols, but the LORD made the heavens.
7-10: Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.  Ascribe to the LORD the glory of His name, bring tribute and enter His courts.  Bow down to the LORD majestic in holiness; tremble in His presence, all the earth!  Declare among the nations, “The LORD is king!” the world stands firm; it cannot be shaken; He judges the peoples with equity.
11-13:  Let the heavens rejoice and the earth exult; let the sea and all within it thunder,  the fields and everything in them exult; then shall all the trees of the forest shout for joy at the presence of the LORD, for He is coming, for He is coming to rule the earth; He will rule the world justly, and its peoples in faithfulness.

IV. Outline
1-3. Call to praise
4-5. Rationale: God is the greatest god
6. Praise
7-10. Call for the nations to worship
11-13a. Anticipated praise
13b. Rationale: God is coming to judge

V. Comment
No comment today. Stay tuned.
(Note: Psalm 96 is copied, with some differences, by 1 Chron 16:23-33)

VI. Works Used
(see “Commentaries” page)
Gerstenberger, Erhard. Psalms Part 2 and Lamentations (Forms of Old Testament Literature; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001).
Photo copied from http://www.lessing-photo.com/p2/080502/08050246.jpg

Hebrew-English Text
I. Summary
The psalmist calls on the people to worship, praises God, describes God’s relationship with Israel, and exhorts the people to remain loyal.

II. Photo
The psalmist praises God: “His is the sea, He made it; and the land, which His hands fashioned.” (v. 5)

III. Select Verses    
1-2: Come, let us sing joyously to the LORD, raise a shout for our rock and deliverer;  let us come into His presence with praise; let us raise a shout for Him in song!
3-5: For the LORD is a great God, the great king of all divine beings.  In His hand are the depths of the earth; the peaks of the mountains are His.  His is the sea, He made it; and the land, which His hands fashioned.
7a: He is our God, and we are the people He tends, the flock in His care.
7b-11: O, if you would but heed His charge this day: Do not be stubborn as at Meribah, as on the day of Massah, in the wilderness, when your fathers put Me to the test, tried Me, though they had seen My deeds.  Forty years I was provoked by that generation; I thought, “They are a senseless people; they would not know My ways.”  Concerning them I swore in anger, “They shall never come to My resting-place!”

IV. Outline
1-2. Call to praise and worship
3-5. Hymnic rationale: God is king and creator
6. Call to praise and worship
7a. Rationale: God is Israel’s shepherd
7b-11. Oracular exhortation: Do not rebel like the wilderness generation

V. Comment
No comment today. Stay tuned.

VI. Works Used
(see “Commentaries” page)
Gerstenberger, Erhard. Psalms Part 2 and Lamentations (Forms of Old Testament Literature; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001).
Photo copied from
http://widescreen.qkype.com/wallpapers/nature_4/scenery_28/isolated_island_widescreen_wallpaper_96703.jpg

Hebrew-English Text
I. Summary
The psalmist addresses God, taunts the wicked, praises the righteous, and places his trust in God.

II. Photo
The psalmist places his trust in God: “When I think my foot has given way, your faithfulness, O Lord, supports me.” (v. 18)

III. Select Verses    
3-7: How long shall the wicked, O LORD, how long shall the wicked exult,  shall they utter insolent speech, shall all evildoers vaunt themselves?  They crush Your people, O LORD, they afflict Your very own;  they kill the widow and the stranger; they murder the fatherless,  thinking, “The LORD does not see it, the God of Jacob does not pay heed.”
12-15: Happy is the man whom You discipline, O LORD, the man You instruct in Your teaching,  to give him tranquillity in times of misfortune, until a pit be dug for the wicked.  For the LORD will not forsake His people; He will not abandon His very own.  Judgment shall again accord with justice and all the upright shall rally to it.
18-19: When I think my foot has given way, Your faithfulness, O LORD, supports me.  When I am filled with cares, Your assurance soothes my soul.

IV. Outline
1-2. Invocation and Petition
3-7. Complaint about the wicked
8-11. Taunt at the wicked
12-13. Beatitude for the righteous
14-15. Rationale: God is with his people
16-19. Affirmation of confidence
20-21. Complaint about the wicked
22. Affirmation of confidence
23. Imprecation/wish

V. Comment
No comment today. Stay tuned.

VI. Works Used
(see “Commentaries” page)
Gerstenberger, Erhard. Psalms Part 2 and Lamentations (Forms of Old Testament Literature; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001).
Photo copied from http://blog.findmefit.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/tying-shoes.jpg

Hebrew-English Text
I. Summary
The psalmist praises God’s grandeur, stability, position over the waters, righteous decrees, and personal abode.

II. Photo
The psalmist praises God: “He is robed in grandeur; the Lord is robed, he is girded with strength!” (v. 1)

III. Select Verses    
(the entire psalm)
1-2: The LORD is king, He is robed in grandeur; the LORD is robed, He is girded with strength. The world stands firm; it cannot be shaken. Your throne stands firm from of old; from eternity You have existed.
3-4: The ocean sounds, O LORD, the ocean sounds its thunder, the ocean sounds its pounding.  Above the thunder of the mighty waters, more majestic than the breakers of the sea is the LORD, majestic on high.
5: Your decrees are indeed enduring; holiness befits Your house, O LORD, for all times.

IV. Outline
1-2. Hymnic praise and affirmation
3-4. Hymnic praise: God over the waters
5. Hymnic praise: decrees and house

V. Comment
Just five verses long, Psalm 93 has attracted an abundance of scholarly attention. Some believe that the psalm is a “YHWH Kingship Psalm” (cf. Ps 47, 96–99) that was recited at an enthronement festival at the autumn new year. Others suggest that the psalm can be dated linguistically to the 12-10th centuries BCE, and others believe that it was once part of a larger unit comprising psalms 92-94 (see Tate). Yet, while all of these hypotheses are possible, there is not enough evidence and they must be treated as conjecture. Indeed, because it is only five verses long, Psalm 93 and its use in ancient Israel will probably never be fully understood.

VI. Works Used
(see “Commentaries” page)
Gerstenberger, Erhard. Psalms Part 2 and Lamentations (Forms of Old Testament
Tate, Marvin. Psalms 51-100 (Word Biblical Commentary vol. 20; Fort Worth, 1990).
Literature; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001).
Photo copied from http://www.atoygarden.com/images/products/RainbowWrap300.jpg

Hebrew-English Text
I. Summary
The psalmist praises God and encourages others to do the same. He then dooms the wicked and eulogizes the righteous.

II. Photo
The psalmist extols the righteous: “The righteous bloom like a date-palm; they thrive like a cedar in Lebanon!” (v. 13)

III. Select Verses    
1: A psalm. A song; for the sabbath day.
2-3: It is good to praise the LORD, to sing hymns to Your name, O Most High, To proclaim Your steadfast love at daybreak, Your faithfulness each night
7-8: A brutish man cannot know, a fool cannot understand this:  though the wicked sprout like grass, though all evildoers blossom, it is only that they may be destroyed forever.
13-16: The righteous bloom like a date-palm; they thrive like a cedar in Lebanon;  planted in the house of the LORD, they flourish in the courts of our God.  In old age they still produce fruit; they are full of sap and freshness,  attesting that the LORD is upright, my rock, in whom there is no wrong.

IV. Outline
1. Superscription
2-3. Lesson: It is good to praise God
4. Orchestral invitation
5. Rational: God brings joy
6. Hymnic praise: God’s deeds and thoughts are great
7-8. Lesson: Wicked people are ruined
9-10. Hymnic praise: God is above his enemies
11-12. Thanks and Trust
13-16. Lesson: The righteous prosper

V. Comment
No comment today. Stay tuned.

VI. Works Used
(see “Commentaries” page)
Gerstenberger, Erhard. Psalms Part 2 and Lamentations (Forms of Old Testament Literature; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001).
Photo copied from http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3600/3356989767_ae91e0d4a6_z.jpg

Hebrew-English Text
I. Summary
The psalmist describes a person who puts his trust in God and blesses him with divine protection.

II. Photo
God protects the believer: “He will cover you with His pinions; you will find refuge under His wings; His fidelity is an encircling shield.” (v. 4)

III. Select Verses    
1: O you who dwell in the shelter of the Most High and abide in the protection of Shaddai
4-8: He will cover you with His pinions; you will find refuge under His wings; His fidelity is an encircling shield.  You need not fear the terror by night, or the arrow that flies by day,  the plague that stalks in the darkness, or the scourge that ravages at noon.  A thousand may fall at your left side, ten thousand at your right, but it shall not reach you.  You will see it with your eyes, you will witness the punishment of the wicked.
11-13: For He will order His angels to guard you wherever you go.   They will carry you in their hands lest you hurt your foot on a stone.  You will tread on cubs and vipers; you will trample lions and asps.
14-16: “Because he is devoted to Me I will deliver him; I will keep him safe, for he knows My name.  When he calls on Me, I will answer him; I will be with him in distress; I will rescue him and make him honored;  I will let him live to a ripe old age, and show him My salvation.”

IV. Outline

1-4. Introduction
    1-2. Address/Description of a believer
    3-4. Rationale: God will protect the believer
5-. Blessing
    5-8. Blessing: safety, the fall of enemies
    9. Rationale: belief/trust
    10. Blessing: lack of harm
    11-12. Method: God’s angels will protect
    13. Blessing: overcoming wild animals
14-16. Oracle: God’s blessing and rationale

V. Comment
Like a number of other psalms that appear late in the Psalter, Psalm 91 lacks a superscription (but the Septuagint has a Davidic heading). The psalmist describes a trusting believer, blesses him with divine protection, and ends with an oracle of blessing. Verses 11-13 are particularly interesting to those interested in biblical angelogy: “For He will order His angels to guard you wherever you go.  They will carry you in their hands lest you hurt your foot on a stone. You will tread on cubs and vipers; you will trample lions and asps.” While scholars such as Gerstenberger suggest that the belief in the protection of angels is a late biblical concept, there are a number of “early” passages that present this conception:

• Gen. 24:7b – He will send His angel before you, and you will get a wife for my son from there.
• Gen. 24:40 – He replied to me, ‘The LORD, whose ways I have followed, will send His angel with you and make your errand successful; and you will get a wife for my son from my kindred, from my father’s house.
• Ex. 14:19a  – The angel of God, who had been going ahead of the Israelite army, now moved and followed behind them.
• Ex. 23:20 –  I am sending an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have made ready.
• Ex. 23:23  – When My angel goes before you and brings you to the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I annihilate them,
• Ex. 32:34a – Go now, lead the people where I told you. See, My angel shall go before you.
• 1Kings 19:5-8 –  He lay down and fell asleep under a broom bush. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, “Arise and eat.”   He looked about; and there, beside his head, was a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water! He ate and drank, and lay down again.   The angel of the LORD came a second time and touched him and said, “Arise and eat, or the journey will be too much for you.”  He arose and ate and drank; and with the strength from that meal he walked forty days and forty nights as far as the mountain of God at Horeb.
• 2Kings 19:35  – That night an angel of the LORD went out and struck down one hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp, and the following morning they were all dead corpses.

VI. Works Used
(see “Commentaries” page)
Gerstenberger, Erhard. Psalms Part 2 and Lamentations (Forms of Old Testament Literature; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001).
Photo copied from http://img.allposters.com/6/LRG/9/935/AQNX000Z.jpg

Hebrew-English Text
I. Summary
The psalmist contrasts God’s eternal nature with man’s ephemerality and asks God for a joyous, succesful life.

II. Photo
The psalmist meditates on human life: “The span of our life is seventy years, or, given the strength, eighty years; but the best of them are trouble and sorrow.” (v. 10)

III. Select Verses    
3-4: You return man to dust; You decreed, “Return you mortals!” For in Your sight a thousand years are like yesterday that has past, like a watch of the night.
7: So we are consumed by Your anger, terror-struck by Your fury.
10: The span of our life is seventy years, or, given the strength, eighty years; but the best of them are trouble and sorrow. They pass by speedily, and we are in darkness.
15: Give us joy for as long as You have afflicted us, for the years we have suffered misfortune.

IV. Outline

1a. Superscription
1-12. Didactic Address/Petition
    1b-2. Invocation; Affirmation of confidence; Lesson: God is eternal
    3-6. Lesson: God is eternal, but man dies
    7-11. Lesson: Man lives in fear of God
    12. Petition for knowledge
13-17. Petition for a joyous, successful life

V. Comment
Psalm 90, which is the only Psalm attributed to Moses, is concerned with a theological problem: God lives forever but man lives a short, painful life. The psalm ends with a petition for happiness and success.

Because Psalm 90 begins the fourth book of psalms, it is important to discuss the impact of the Dead Sea Scrolls on our understanding of the fourth and fifth books of the psalter. One scroll in particular, 11QPsalmsA (11Q5 or “The Great Psalms Scroll”), has led James Sanders to suggest that there were once two or more editions of the Book of Psalms, a theory that is now referred to by scholars as the “Qumran Psalms Hypothesis.” This following are the main points of Sanders’s argument:

• By the time of the composition of the Dead Sea Scrolls (2nd c. BCE to 1st c. CE), the order and content of books I-III of the psalter were relatively stable. This can be seen by a 90+% agreement in the order and content of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bibles in our possession.
• When it comes to books IV and V, however, there was a great deal of fluidity. This can be seen by a 61% disagreement in the order of the psalms of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the psalms of the Masoretic Text. Furthermore, the Dead Sea Scrolls contain 13 “apocryphal” psalms and omit a number of psalms found in the Masoretic Text.
• Sanders concludes that there was a historical split in the composition of the Book of Psalms. While psalms 1-89 were accepted by everyone in antiquity as a unit, at least two psalters developed afterwards. One can be found in our Bibles, and a second can be found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, especially in 11Q5, 11Q6, and 4Q87. This “Qumran Psalter” has a completely different order, 13 “apocryphal” psalms, and a number of “omissions” relative to the Masoretic Text.

VI. Works Used

(see “Commentaries” page)
Gerstenberger, Erhard. Psalms Part 2 and Lamentations (Forms of Old Testament Literature; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001).
Flint, Peter. W. “Psalms, Book of” in Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls Vol. 2 (New York: Oxford, 2000).
Photo copied from http://www.sciencephoto.com/image/261584/530wm/M2450535-Depressed_old_man-SPL.jpg

Hebrew-English Text
I. Summary
The psalmist praises God for being unique, mighty, and righteous. The covenant of David is recalled and the psalmist asks God why he spurned his people.

II. Photo
The psalmist is in shock: “You have repudiated the covenant with Your servant; You have dragged his dignity in the dust!” (v. 40)

III. Select Verses    
9-11: O LORD, God of hosts, who is mighty like You, O LORD? Your faithfulness surrounds You;  You rule the swelling of the sea; when its waves surge, You still them.  You crushed Rahab; he was like a corpse; with Your powerful arm You scattered Your enemies.
21-23: I have found David, My servant; anointed him with My sacred oil.  My hand shall be constantly with him, and My arm shall strengthen him.  No enemy shall oppress him, no vile man afflict him.
30: I will establish his line forever, his throne, as long as the heavens last.
31-34: If his sons forsake My Teaching and do not live by My rules;  if they violate My laws, and do not observe My commands,  I will punish their transgression with the rod, their iniquity with plagues.  But I will not take away My steadfast love from him; I will not betray My faithfulness.
39-42: Yet You have rejected, spurned, and become enraged at Your anointed.  You have repudiated the covenant with Your servant; You have dragged his dignity in the dust. You have breached all his defenses, shattered his strongholds.  All who pass by plunder him; he has become the butt of his neighbors.

IV. Outline

1.Superscription
2. Invocation; Vow of praise
3. Rationale
4-5. Oracle: Eternal covenant with David
6-19. Hymn
    6. Praise
    7-9. Rationale
        7-9. YHWH is sui generis
        10-11. Defeating the sea and its monsters
        12-13. Creating the world
        14. Might
        15. Righteousness
    16-19. Beatitude
20-38. Retrospective oracle: the David Story
    20-26. Choosing, protecting, and committing to David
    27-30. A father-son relationship
    31-37a. An everlasting covenant
    37b-38. Witnesses
39-46. Accusation/Complaint
    39-40. Violating the covenant
    41-44. Falling before enemies
    45-46. Lost splendor
    47. Unbearable length
48-52. Petition/Complaint
    48a. Petition
    48b-49. Rationale
    49. Petition: God has forgotten his covenant
    50-52. Complaint: Falling before enemies
53. Conclusion to Psalm Book 3: Blessing

V. Comment
Psalm 82 is a lengthy petition/complaint which begins with a hymn. It is not clear if the psalm was originally two distinct units that were combined or if the psalm was composed at one time. The psalm ends with a blessing, which is actually a standard ending for a book of Psalms (Book 3). As for the date of this psalm, Gerstenberger writes: “A historical situation cannot be fixed with certain for the text… often connected with the fall of Jerusalem in 587 BCE… the final composition of psalm 89 did happen well after the Babylonian conquest.”

VI. Works Used
(see “Commentaries” page)
Gerstenberger, Erhard. Psalms Part 2 and Lamentations (Forms of Old Testament Literature).
Photo copied from http://www.houstonchristianlawyer.co/library/images/stock-images/bad-faith/tearing-contract-2.jpg

Hebrew-English Text
I. Summary
The psalmist laments his fate and accuses God of abandoning him.

II. Photo
The psalmist is haunted by death: “I am a helpless man abandoned among the dead, like bodies lying in the grave of whom you are mindful no more, and who are cut off from your care.” (vv. 5-6)

III. Select Verses    
7-9: You have put me at the bottom of the Pit, in the darkest places, in the depths. Your fury lies heavy upon me; You afflict me with all Your breakers. Selah.  You make my companions shun me; You make me abhorrent to them; I am shut in and do not go out.
11-13: Do You work wonders for the dead? Do the shades rise to praise You? Selah. Is Your faithful care recounted in the grave, Your constancy in the place of perdition? Are Your wonders made known in the netherworld, Your beneficent deeds in the land of oblivion?
14-19: As for me, I cry out to You, O LORD; each morning my prayer greets You. Why, O LORD, do You reject me, do You hide Your face from me? From my youth I have been afflicted and near death; I suffer Your terrors wherever I turn. Your fury overwhelms me; Your terrors destroy me. They swirl about me like water all day long; they encircle me on every side. You have put friend and neighbor far from me and my companions out of my sight.

IV. Outline
1. Superscription
2. Invocation, description of prayer
3. Initial petition
4-6. Complaint
7-10a. Accusation
10b. Description of prayer
11-13. Rhetorical accusation
14. Description of prayer
15-19. Accusation/complaint

V. Comment
Psalm 88, which is perhaps the most hostile psalm in the Psalter, is a complaint/accusation towards God. The psalmist is particularly bothered by the nothingness of death: “I am at the brink of Sheol… I am a helpless man abandoned among the dead, like bodies lying in the grave of whom You are mindful no more, and who are cut off from Your care…. Do You work wonders for the dead? Do the shades rise to praise You? … Is Your faithful care recounted in the grave, Your constancy in the place of perdition? Are Your wonders made known in the netherworld, Your beneficent deeds in the land of oblivion?”

As Gerstenberger notes, Psalm 88 is the only petition/complaint that lacks any elements of praise or hope: “The impression of ‘normality’ disappears when we look at the three successive and increasingly violent complaint segments, hardly interrupted by very short descriptions of praying. At the end, we are stunned by an abrupt and – so it seems – nonliturgical closing line that leaves no room whatsoever for affirmations of confidence, regular petitions and imprecations, vows, or well-wishes.”

VI. Works Used
(see “Commentaries” page)
Gerstenberger, Erhard S. “Psalms Part 1 with an Introduction to Cultic Poetry” Forms of Old Testament Literature (Michigan: Eerdmans, 1988).
Tate, Marvin. “Psalms 51-100” Word Biblical Commentary vol. 20 (Waco, Texas: Wordbooks, 1990).
Photo copied from http://www.mierzejewski.net/site_media/picture/p1000355.jpg