Psalms 99

The LORD rules as king. Let the nations shake with fear. He sits on his throne above the winged creatures. Let the earth shake.

1The LORD reigneth; let the people tremble: he sitteth between the cherubims; let the earth be moved.

Note"The LORD" in capitals stands in for the personal name of Israel's God, four Hebrew consonants usually written YHWH. Ancient Jewish readers said "Lord" aloud instead of pronouncing it, and English Bibles have kept that substitution ever since. The "winged creatures" (KJV "cherubims") are the two gold figures whose outstretched wings covered the lid of the ark of the covenant in the sanctuary; the space above and between them was pictured as the seat of an invisible throne. They are not the plump babies of later European art. KJV "let the people tremble" means the peoples, the foreign nations, not the congregation. And "let the earth be moved" does not mean displaced or removed: the Hebrew verb is a shaking or quaking, the ground itself shuddering.

2The LORD is great in Zion. He is lifted high above all peoples.

2The LORD is great in Zion; and he is high above all the people.

NoteZion was originally the fortified ridge David captured in Jerusalem; by the time this psalm was written the name covers the temple hill and, by extension, the city as a whole.

3Let them praise your great and awesome name, for it is holy.

3Let them praise thy great and terrible name; for it is holy.

NoteKJV "terrible" has shifted sense since 1611. It meant awe-inducing, the sort of thing that makes people go quiet, not awful or of poor quality. "Holy" in Hebrew carries the idea of being set apart, belonging to a separate order from ordinary things, rather than the modern sense of morally good.

4The King is strong, and he loves justice. You have set fairness in place. You have done what is just and right among the people of Jacob.

4The king’s strength also loveth judgment; thou dost establish equity, thou executest judgment and righteousness in Jacob.

NoteThe Hebrew of the first line is compressed and can be read two ways: "the strength of the king loves justice," that is, a mighty king who loves justice, or "the king is strong, and he loves justice", his strength consists in his love of justice. Translators divide over it. KJV "judgment" here means justice, the right settling of cases, not condemnation. "Equity" means even-handed fairness, treating parties without favor. "Jacob" is used as a name for the whole nation descended from him, as "Israel" is elsewhere.

5Lift up the LORD our God with praise, and worship at his footstool, for he is holy.

5Exalt ye the LORD our God, and worship at his footstool; for he is holy.

NoteA footstool belongs to the picture of a throne begun in verse 1: if God is enthroned above the winged creatures, the ark itself, or the sanctuary, or the earth, is the stool beneath his feet. Worshipers came to that spot rather than to the throne itself. KJV "exalt" means to lift up or raise high, here in speech and praise, declaring someone's greatness publicly.

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

6Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among them that call upon his name; they called upon the LORD, and he answered them.

NoteMoses led Israel out of Egypt and received the law; Aaron was his brother and the first head of the priesthood; Samuel was the last of the leaders called judges and the prophet who anointed Israel's first kings. All three are remembered as men who spoke to God on behalf of the nation and got an answer. Strictly, only Aaron was a priest by descent; the psalm groups Moses and Samuel with him because they too performed priestly acts and interceded.

7He spoke to them from the tall column of cloud. They kept the rules he told them and the commands he gave them.

7He spake unto them in the cloudy pillar: they kept his testimonies, and the ordinance that he gave them.

NoteThe "pillar of cloud" is the tall column of cloud that, in the exodus stories, went ahead of Israel in the wilderness and stood at the entrance of the tent of meeting when God spoke with Moses. KJV "testimonies" and "ordinance" are both terms for the binding terms of the covenant, the stipulations laid down and the fixed rulings given with them, not for witness statements in court or for a religious ceremony.

8You answered them, LORD our God. You were a God who forgave them, yet you also punished them for the wrong things they did.

8Thou answeredst them, O LORD our God: thou wast a God that forgavest them, though thou tookest vengeance of their inventions.

NoteKJV "inventions" does not mean clever devices. In 1611 the word could mean simply what people came up with and did, their practices or schemes, and here it means their wrongdoing. "Tookest vengeance of" is old legal-sounding English for exacting a penalty from someone, closer to "punished" than to a personal grudge.

9Lift up the LORD our God with praise, and worship at his holy mountain, for the LORD our God is holy.

9Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at his holy hill; for the LORD our God is holy.

NoteThe "holy hill" is the temple mount in Jerusalem, the same Zion named in verse 2. Repeating the call of verse 5 with "hill" in place of "footstool" rounds the psalm off, and "for he is holy" closes each of its three sections.