Psalms 29: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

This psalm calls on heavenly beings to give the LORD glory and strength, and to worship him. Most of it describes "the voice of the LORD" as a storm that moves over the waters, snaps the cedars of Lebanon, shakes the wilderness of Kadesh, and strips the forests, while in his temple everyone cries, "Glory!" It closes by saying the LORD sits as King forever over the flood, and that he gives his people strength and blesses them with peace.

Claim by Claim

1. 29:1
   • The hearers addressed are heavenly beings, sons of God (rendered by the King James as "ye mighty").
   • They are commanded to ascribe to the LORD.
   • They are commanded to ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
2. 29:2
   • They are commanded to ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name.
   • They are commanded to worship the LORD in holy splendor.
3. 29:3
   • The voice of the LORD is over the waters.
   • The God of glory thunders.
   • The LORD is over many waters.
4. 29:4
   • The voice of the LORD comes with power.
   • The voice of the LORD comes with majesty.
5. 29:5
   • The voice of the LORD breaks cedars.
   • The LORD shatters the cedars of Lebanon.
6. 29:6
   • He makes them skip like a calf.
   • He makes Lebanon and Sirion skip like a young wild ox.
7. 29:7
   • The voice of the LORD hews out flames of fire.
8. 29:8
   • The voice of the LORD makes the wilderness writhe.
   • The LORD makes the wilderness of Kadesh writhe.
9. 29:9
   • The voice of the LORD makes the deer give birth, or twists the oaks; the wording carries both senses.
   • The voice of the LORD strips the forests bare.
   • In his temple everyone says, "Glory."
10. 29:10
    • The LORD sits enthroned over the flood.
    • The LORD sits enthroned as king forever.
11. 29:11
    • The LORD will give strength to his people.
    • The LORD will bless his people with peace.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

29:1

"Give" here translates a Hebrew verb meaning to ascribe or credit something to someone, to acknowledge publicly that the glory and strength are his. It is not about handing over a gift. The KJV's "O ye mighty" translates a Hebrew phrase literally meaning "sons of gods" or "sons of the mighty": members of the divine court, the heavenly attendants pictured elsewhere as surrounding God's throne. Also note the typography: "LORD" printed in capitals stands for the personal name of Israel's God, four Hebrew consonants usually written YHWH, which Jewish readers did not pronounce aloud; "God" or "Lord" in ordinary type translates different Hebrew words.

29:2

"His name" in Hebrew usage stands for the person himself and his reputation (the glory due his name is the glory due him. "The beauty of holiness" (KJV) renders a phrase that is genuinely disputed: it may mean the splendor of God's own holiness, or holy attire) the sacred garments worshipers or priests wore for the occasion.

29:3

The Hebrew word for "voice" is also the ordinary word for thunder, so the phrase repeated through this psalm carries both senses at once. "The waters" and "many waters" refer to the sea and, in older Near Eastern imagery, to the vast primeval waters over which God is pictured as ruling.

29:4

"Majesty" means the grand way a king looks and sounds. It makes people go quiet when he comes in.

29:5

Lebanon is the mountain range along the coast north of Israel, famous in the ancient world for its cedar forests. Cedar was the tallest, strongest and most expensive timber known to the region, shipped abroad for palaces and temples, the image is of the storm snapping the least breakable thing there is.

29:6

Sirion was the Sidonian (Phoenician) name for Mount Hermon, the snow-capped peak at the northern end of the range. The mountains themselves are pictured skipping like startled animals. The KJV's "unicorn" is not a mythical horse: the Hebrew word re'em means the wild ox or aurochs, a huge horned bovine, now extinct, that stood for untamable strength.

29:7

The Hebrew reads literally that the voice of the LORD "hews out" or "cleaves" flames of fire. The reference is to lightning splitting out of the storm cloud.

29:8

Kadesh is most likely Kadesh-barnea, the desert region south of Israel where the Israelites camped for years during the wilderness wanderings; some take it instead as Kadesh on the Orontes river far to the north, which would pair with Lebanon and Hermon in the previous verse. Either way the point is a wilderness at the far edge of the map.

29:9

This line is ambiguous in Hebrew. The same consonants can be read as "makes the deer give birth" (the storm terrifying pregnant animals into early labor) or "makes the oaks whirl" (twisting the great trees), which pairs more naturally with stripping the forests bare. Translators divide over it. "Temple" translates a word meaning either a temple or a royal palace, so the setting may be the sanctuary in Jerusalem or God's throne room in heaven.

29:10

"Sits" here means sits enthroned, in the posture of a reigning king. The word translated "flood" is a rare Hebrew term used almost everywhere else in the Bible for the flood of Noah, not any ordinary river or rainfall, but the cosmic waters.

29:11

"Peace" translates shalom, which means far more than the absence of fighting: soundness, safety, health and general well-being.