Psalms 95:1-10

Context

Psalm 95¹

95:1 Come! Let’s sing for joy to the Lord!

Let’s shout out praises to our protector who delivers us!²

95:2 Let’s enter his presence³ with thanksgiving!

Let’s shout out to him in celebration!⁴

95:3 For the Lord is a great God,

a great king who is superior to⁵ all gods.

95:4 The depths of the earth are in his hand,⁶

and the mountain peaks belong to him.

95:5 The sea is his, for he made it.

His hands formed the dry land.

95:6 Come! Let’s bow down and worship!⁷

Let’s kneel before the Lord, our creator!

95:7 For he is our God;

we are the people of his pasture,

the sheep he owns.⁸

Today, if only you would obey him!⁹

95:8 He says,¹⁰ “Do not be stubborn like they were at Meribah,¹¹

like they were that day at Massah¹² in the wilderness,¹³

95:9 where your ancestors challenged my authority,¹⁴

and tried my patience, even though they had seen my work.

95:10 For forty years I was continually disgusted¹⁵ with that generation,

and I said, ‘These people desire to go astray;¹⁶

they do not obey my commands.’¹⁷

[95:1] ¹sn Psalm 95. The psalmist summons Israel to praise God as the creator of the world and the nation’s protector, but he also reminds the people not to rebel against God.

[95:1] ²tn Heb “to the rocky summit of our deliverance.”

[95:2] ³tn Heb “meet his face.”

[95:2] ⁴tn Heb “with songs of joy.”

[95:3] ⁵tn Heb “above.”

[95:4] ⁶tn The phrase “in his hand” means within the sphere of his authority.

[95:6] ⁷tn Heb “kneel down.”

[95:7] ⁸tn Heb “of his hand.”

[95:7] ⁹tn Heb “if only you would listen to his voice.” The Hebrew particle אִם (’im, “if”) and following prefixed verbal form here express a wish (cf. Ps 81:8). Note that the apodosis (the “then” clause of the conditional sentence) is suppressed.

[95:8] ¹⁰tn The words “he says” are supplied in the translation to clarify that the following words are spoken by the Lord (see vv. 9-11).

[95:8] ¹¹sn The name Meribah means “strife.” Two separate but similar incidents at Meribah are recorded in the Pentateuch (Exod 17:1-7; Num 20:1-13, see also Pss 81:7; 106:32). In both cases the Israelites complained about lack of water and the Lord miraculously provided for them.

[95:8] ¹²sn The name Massah means “testing.” This was another name (along with Meribah) given to the place where Israel complained following the Red Sea Crossing (see Exod 17:1-7, as well as Deut 6:16; 9:22; 33:8).

[95:8] ¹³tn Heb “do not harden your heart[s] as [at] Meribah, as [in] the day of Massah in the wilderness.”

[95:9] ¹⁴tn Heb “where your fathers tested me.”

[95:10] ¹⁵tn The prefixed verbal form is either a preterite or an imperfect. If the latter, it emphasizes the ongoing nature of the condition in the past. The translation reflects this interpretation of the verbal form.

[95:10] ¹⁶tn Heb “a people, wanderers of heart [are] they.”

[95:10] ¹⁷tn Heb “and they do not know my ways.” In this context the Lord’s “ways” are his commands, viewed as a pathway from which his people, likened to wayward sheep (see v. 7), wander.