Psalms 95:1-8

Psalm 95 ¹ 

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 presence ³  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 to ⁵  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 Massah ¹²  in the wilderness, ¹³ 

Psalms 97:1

Psalm 97 ¹⁴ 

97:1 The Lord reigns!

Let the earth be happy!

Let the many coastlands rejoice!

Psalms 99:1

Psalm 99 ¹⁵ 

99:1 The Lord reigns!

The nations tremble. ¹⁶ 

He sits enthroned above the winged angels; ¹⁷ 

the earth shakes. ¹⁸ 

Psalms 119:120

119:120 My body ¹⁹  trembles ²⁰  because I fear you; ²¹ 

I am afraid of your judgments.

Philippians 2:12

Lights in the World

2:12 So then, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, continue working out your salvation with awe and reverence, ²² 

Hebrews 4:1-2

God’s Promised Rest

4:1 Therefore we must be wary ²³  that, while the promise of entering his rest remains open, none of you may seem to have come short of it. 4:2 For we had good news proclaimed to us just as they did. But the message they heard did them no good, since they did not join in ²⁴  with those who heard it in faith. ²⁵ 

Hebrews 12:25

12:25 Take care not to refuse the one who is speaking! For if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much less shall we, if we reject the one who warns from heaven?

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

[95:2]  ³ tn Heb “meet his face.”

[95:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “with songs of joy.”

[95:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “above.”

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

[95:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “kneel down.”

[95:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “of his hand.”

[95:7]  ⁹ tn 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]  ¹⁰ tn 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]  ¹¹ sn 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]  ¹² sn 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]  ¹³ tn Heb “do not harden your heart[s] as [at] Meribah, as [in] the day of Massah in the wilderness.”

[97:1]  ¹⁴ sn Psalm 97. The psalmist depicts the Lord as the sovereign, just king of the world who comes in power to vindicate his people.

[99:1]  ¹⁵ sn Psalm 99. The psalmist celebrates the Lord’s just rule and recalls how he revealed himself to Israel’s leaders.

[99:1]  ¹⁶ tn The prefixed verbal forms in v. 1 are understood here as indicating the nations’ characteristic response to the reality of the Lord’s kingship. Another option is to take them as jussives: “let the nations tremble…let the earth shake!”

[99:1]  ¹⁷ sn Winged angels (Heb “cherubs”). Cherubs, as depicted in the OT, possess both human and animal (lion, ox, and eagle) characteristics (see Ezek 1:10; 10:14, 21; 41:18). They are pictured as winged creatures (Exod 25:20; 37:9; 1 Kgs 6:24-27; Ezek 10:8, 19) and serve as the very throne of God when the ark of the covenant is in view (Ps 99:1; see Num 7:89; 1 Sam 4:4; 2 Sam 6:2; 2 Kgs 19:15). The picture of the Lord seated on the cherubs suggests they might be used by him as a vehicle, a function they carry out in Ezek 1:22-28 (the “living creatures” mentioned here are identified as cherubs in Ezek 10:20). In Ps 18:10 the image of a cherub serves to personify the wind.

[99:1]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew verb נוּט (nut) occurs only here in the OT, but the meaning can be determined on the basis of the parallelism with רָגַז (ragaz, “tremble”) and evidence from the cognate languages (see H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena [SBLDS], 121).

[119:120]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “my flesh.”

[119:120]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew verb סָמַר (samar, “to tremble”) occurs only here and in Job 4:15.

[119:120]  ²¹ tn Heb “from fear of you.” The pronominal suffix on the noun is an objective genitive.

[2:12]  ²² tn Grk “with fear and trembling.” The Greek words φόβος and τρόμος both imply fear in a negative sense (L&N 25.251 and 16.6 respectively) while the former can also refer to respect and awe for deity (L&N 53.59). Paul’s use of the terms in other contexts refers to “awe and reverence in the presence of God” (P. T. O’Brien, Philippians [NIGTC], 284; see discussion on 282-84). The translation “awe and reverence” was chosen to portray the attitude the believer should have toward God as they consider their behavior in light of God working through Jesus Christ (2:6-11) and in the believer’s life (2:13) to accomplish their salvation.

[4:1]  ²³ tn Grk “let us fear.”

[4:2]  ²⁴ tn Or “they were not united.”

[4:2]  ²⁵ tc A few mss (א and a few versional witnesses) have the nominative singular participle συγκεκερασμένος (sunkekerasmeno", “since it [the message] was not combined with faith by those who heard it”), a reading that refers back to the ὁ λόγος (Jo logo", “the message”). There are a few other variants here (e.g., συγκεκεραμμένοι [sunkekerammenoi] in 104, συγκεκεραμένους [sunkekeramenou"] in 1881 Ï), but the accusative plural participle συγκεκερασμένους (sunkekerasmenou"), found in Ì^13vid,46 A B C D* Ψ 0243 0278 33 81 1739 2464 pc, has by far the best external credentials. This participle agrees with the previous ἐκείνους (ekeinou", “those”), a more difficult construction grammatically than the nominative singular. Thus, both on external and internal grounds, συγκεκερασμένους is preferred.