The Eastern Cross/Bible/Psalms/Psalm 96
The Book of Psalms · the Psalter
Psalm 97 in the KJV and most English Bibles
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For David, when his land is established. The Lord reigns, let the earth exult, Let many islands rejoice.
Τῷ Δαυὶδ, ὅτε ἡ γῆ αὐτοῦ καθίσταται. Ὁ Κύριος ἐβασίλευσεν, ἀγαλλιάσθω ἡ γῆ, εὐφρανθήτωσαν νῆσοι πολλαί.
..."The Lord is King, let the earth be glad: yea, let the multitude of the isles be joyous". It is so indeed, because the word of God hath been preached not in the continent alone, but also in those isles which lie in mid sea: even these are full of Christians, full of the servants of God. For the sea doth not retard…
Cloud and darkness are round about him; Righteousness and judgment are the establishment of his throne.
Νεφέλη καὶ γνόφος κύκλῳ αὐτοῦ, δικαιοσύνη καὶ κρίμα κατόρθωσις τοῦ θρόνου αὐτοῦ.
"Clouds and darkness are round about Him: righteousness and judgment are the direction of His seat"....The Lord Himself saith: "For judgment I am come into this world; that they which see not might see, and that they which see might be made blind." [John 9:39] They who seem unto themselves to see, who think themselves…
Fire shall go before him, And burn up his enemies round about.
Πῦρ ἐναντίον αὐτοῦ προπορεύσεται, καὶ φλογιεῖ κύκλῳ τοὺς ἐχθροὺς αὐτοῦ.
"There shall go a fire before Him, and burn up His enemies on every side". We remember having read in the Gospel, He shall say, "Depart into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." [Matthew 25:41] I do not think it is said of that fire. Why do I not? Because he speaketh of some fire, which shall go…
His lightnings appeared to the world; The earth saw, and trembled.
Ἔφαναν αἱ ἀστραπαὶ αὐτοῦ τῇ οἰκουμένῃ, εἶδε καὶ ἐσαλεύθη ἡ γῆ·
"His lightnings gave shine unto the world". This is great joy. Do we not see? Is it not clear? His lightnings have shined unto the whole world: His enemies have been set on fire, and burnt. All that gainsaid has been burnt, and "His lightnings have given shine unto the world." How have they shone? That the world might…
The mountains melted like wax at the presence of the Lord, At the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.
τὰ ὄρη ὡσεὶ κηρὸς ἐτάκησαν ἀπὸ προσώπου Κυρίου, ἀπὸ προσώπου Κυρίου πάσης τῆς γῆς.
"The hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord". Who are the hills? The proud. Every high thing raising itself against God, at the deeds of Christ and of the Christians, trembled, yielded, and when I say, what has been already said, "melted," a better word cannot be found. "The hills melted like wax at the…
The heavens have declared his righteousness, And all the people have seen his glory.
Ἀνήγγειλαν αἱ οὐρανοὶ τὴν δικαιοσύνην αὐτοῦ, καὶ εἴδοσαν πάντες οἱ λαοὶ τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ.
"The heavens have declared His righteousness: and all the people have seen His glory". What heavens have declared? "The heavens declare the glory of God." Who are the heavens? Those who have become His seat; for as God sits in the heavens, so does He sit in the Apostles, so does He sit in the preachers of the Gospel.…
Let all that worship graven images be ashamed, Who boast of their idols; Worship him, all ye his angels.
Αἰσχυνθήτωσαν πάντες οἱ προσκυνοῦντες τοῖς γλυπτοῖς, οἱ ἐγκαυχώμενοι ἐν τοῖς εἰδώλοις αὐτῶν· προσκυνήσατε αὐτῷ πάντες ἄγγελοι αὐτοῦ.
"Confounded be all they that worship carved images". Hath not this come to pass? Have they not been confounded? Are they not daily confounded? For carved images are images wrought by the hand. Why are all who worship carved images confounded? Because all people have seen His glory. All nations now confess the glory of…
Zion heard and rejoiced; And the daughters of Judea exulted, Because of thy judgments, O Lord.
Ἤκουσε καὶ εὐφράνθη Σιὼν, καὶ ἠγαλλιάσαντο αἱ θυγατέρες τῆς Ἰουδαίας, ἕνεκεν τῶν κριμάτων σου Κύριε.
"Sion heard of it, and rejoiced". What did Sion hear? That all His Angels worship Him....For the Church was not as yet among the Gentiles; in Judæa the Jews had some of them believed, and the very Jews who believed thought that they only belonged to Christ: the Apostles were sent to the Gentiles, Cornelius was…
For thou art Lord most high over all the earth; Thou art greatly exalted above all gods.
Ὅτι σὺ εἶ Κύριος ὁ ὕψιστος ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν, σφόδρα ὑπερυψώθης ὑπὲρ πάντας τοὺς θεούς.
See if this be not the reason for the joy of the daughters of Judah. "For Thou, Lord, art most high over all the earth". Not in Judaea alone, but over Jerusalem; not over Sion only, but over all the earth. To this whole earth the judgments of God prevailed, so that it assembled its nations from every quarter:…
Ye that love the Lord, hate evil; The Lord preserves the souls of his saints; He shall deliver them from the hand of sinners.
Οἱ ἀγαπῶντες τὸν Κύριον, μισεῖτε πονηρόν· φυλάσσει Κύριος τὰς ψυχὰς τῶν ὁσίων αὐτοῦ, ἐκ χειρὸς ἁμαρτωλῶν ῥύσεται αὐτούς.
What then do we all, who have assembled before Him, before Him who is exalted far above all gods? He hath given us a brief commandment, "O ye that love the Lord, see that ye hate the thing which is evil!". Christ doth not deserve that with Him thou shouldest love avarice. Thou lovest Him: thou shouldest hate what He…
Light is sprung up for the righteous, And gladness for the upright in heart.
Φῶς ἀνέτειλε τῷ δικαίῳ, καὶ τοῖς εὐθέσι τῇ καρδίᾳ εὐφροσύνη.
But perhaps you will say, I lose this light. "There is sprung up a light for the righteous". What light do you fear you may lose? Do you fear you may be in darkness? Fear not you may lose light; nay, fear lest while you are guarding against the loss of this light, you may lose that true light. For we see to whom that…
Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous; And give thanks for a remembrance of his holiness.
Εὐφράνθητε δίκαιοι ἐν τῷ Κυρίῳ, καὶ ἐξομολογεῖσθε τῇ μνήμῃ τῆς ἁγιωσύνης αὐτοῦ.
"Be glad, you righteous". Perhaps already the faithful hearing the word, "Be glad," are thinking of banquets, preparing cups, waiting for the season of roses; because it is said, "Be glad, you righteous!" See what follows, "Be glad in the Lord." You are waiting for the season of spring, that you may be glad: you have…
Every note is a real passage, quoted word for word from a published English translation, with its source. Nothing here is summarised or written by us. Some verses have many notes and some have none, because the Fathers wrote more on some passages than others.
All of these translations are in the public domain. The passages were matched to their verses by the Historical Christian Commentaries project, which also hosts the full texts we link to. The Fathers are a treasury of the Church's mind, and they are best read alongside the life of the Church: if a passage raises a question, bring it to your priest.