Psalms 92
What Happens in This Chapter
This psalm praises the LORD with music and thanks, morning and night, for his deeds and his deep thoughts. It says the senseless and the foolish do not grasp that the wicked, though they sprout and thrive like grass, are headed for lasting ruin, while the LORD stays exalted forever. The speaker says God has raised his strength and that he sees his enemies fall. The closing lines compare those who are right with God to palm and cedar trees planted at God's house, still bearing fruit in old age, showing that the LORD is upright.
It is good to give thanks to the LORD, and to sing praises to your name, Most High God.
1IT IS A GOOD THING TO GIVE THANKS UNTO THE LORD, AND TO SING PRAISES UNTO THY NAME, O MOST HIGH:
"Most High" translates the Hebrew title Elyon, one of the oldest names for God in the Bible, used of a god who rules above all others.
2It is good to tell about your faithful love in the morning, and about how you keep your promises every night.
2To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night,
Morning and night were the two fixed times of the daily offerings at the temple, so "morning and night" also means "at every appointed time of worship," not just "all day long."
3It is good to do this with the ten-stringed instrument and with the lyre, and with the deep, steady sound of the harp.
3Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery; upon the harp with a solemn sound.
These are small hand-held stringed instruments, not the large orchestral harp. The Hebrew names the ten-stringed instrument, the nevel and the kinnor, plucked instruments the size of a lap. The King James "solemn sound" renders a Hebrew word (higgaion) that means a low, resonant, murmuring tone; it does not mean gloomy or serious.
4LORD, you have made me glad by what you have done. I shout for joy because of the works of your hands.
4For thou, LORD, hast made me glad through thy work: I will triumph in the works of thy hands.
5LORD, how great your works are! Your thoughts are very deep.
5O LORD, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep.
6A man without sense does not know this, and a fool does not understand it:
6A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this.
The King James "brutish" does not mean cruel. It means beast-like, a person who takes in what is in front of him without ever reasoning about it, as an animal does.
7that even though evil people sprout up like grass, and everyone who does wrong grows and thrives, they will be destroyed forever.
7When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed for ever:
In this climate grass shoots up fast after rain and dies within weeks. The comparison is about speed and short life, not about being common.
8But you, LORD, are lifted high above all, forever.
8But thou, LORD, art most high for evermore.
9Look, LORD, your enemies, look, your enemies will die. Everyone who does wrong will be scattered.
9For, lo, thine enemies, O LORD, for, lo, thine enemies shall perish; all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.
The doubled line ("your enemies, your enemies") is a deliberate poetic device, found also in much older Canaanite poetry from the same region. It is emphasis, not a copying error.
10But you have lifted my horn high, like the horn of a wild ox. Fine, fresh oil has been poured on me.
10But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn: I shall be anointed with fresh oil.
A horn is the standard Hebrew image for strength and standing, taken from a bull or ram whose horns are its power; to have your horn "lifted high" is to be given strength and honor publicly. The King James "unicorn" is a mistranslation: the Hebrew re'em is the wild ox or aurochs, a huge horned animal, now extinct, once hunted in the region.
11My eyes see my enemies brought down, and my ears hear the cries of the wicked men who attack me.
11Mine eye also shall see my desire on mine enemies, and mine ears shall hear my desire of the wicked that rise up against me.
The Hebrew here says only "my eye has looked on my enemies" and "my ears have heard"; what exactly is seen and heard is not stated. The King James supplies "my desire" and modern versions supply "downfall" and "cries", both are guesses at the same gap in the text.
12People who do what is right will thrive like a palm tree. They will grow tall like a cedar tree in Lebanon.
12The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
Both trees were chosen for length of life. The date palm bears fruit for decades and stays green through drought; the cedars of Lebanon were the great timber trees of the ancient Near East, enormous, long-lived, and prized enough to be shipped abroad for palaces and temples.
13Planted in the house of the LORD, they will thrive in the courtyards of our God.
13Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God.
"The house of the LORD" is the temple in Jerusalem, and the "courts" are its open walled courtyards, where worshipers gathered. The picture is of trees planted inside those courtyards, permanently rooted in the place where God is worshiped.
14They will still bear fruit when they are old. They will stay full of life and green,
14They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing;
The King James "fat" means full of sap or juice, the way a healthy tree is, not overweight. The Hebrew word describes a plant still green and swollen with moisture in old age.
15showing that the LORD is honest and fair. He is my rock, and there is nothing crooked in him.
15To shew that the LORD is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.
"Rock" here means a crag or rocky stronghold, high ground you retreat to when attacked, not a stone you might pick up. It was a common way of describing a reliable protector.
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