Praise Yahweh! Sing to Yahweh a new song, his praise in the assembly of the saints.
Parallel Translations
-
Praise Yahweh! Sing to Yahweh a new song, his praise in the assembly of the saints.
-
Praise ye the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints.
-
Hallelujah. Sing unto the LORD a new song, and His praise in the assembly of the saints.
Cross-references (15)
Passages linked to Psalms 149:1 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 33:3 Sing to him a new song. Play skillfully with a shout of joy!
- Revelation 5:9 They sang a new song, saying, “You are worthy to take the book and to open its seals: for you were killed, and bought us for God with your blood out of every tribe, language, people, and nation,
- Psalms 148:1 Praise Yah! Praise Yahweh from the heavens! Praise him in the heights!
- Hebrews 2:12 saying, “I will declare your name to my brothers. Among the congregation I will sing your praise.”
- Psalms 98:1 Sing to Yahweh a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.
- Isaiah 42:10 Sing to Yahweh a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is therein, the islands and their inhabitants.
- Psalms 22:22 I will declare your name to my brothers. Among the assembly, I will praise you.
- Psalms 22:25 My praise of you comes in the great assembly. I will pay my vows before those who fear him.
- Psalms 68:26 “Bless God in the congregations, even the Lord in the assembly of Israel!”
- Psalms 89:5 The heavens will praise your wonders, Yahweh, your faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones.
- Psalms 116:18 I will pay my vows to Yahweh, yes, in the presence of all his people,
- Psalms 144:9 I will sing a new song to you, God. On a ten-stringed lyre, I will sing praises to you.
- Psalms 96:1 Sing to Yahweh a new song! Sing to Yahweh, all the earth.
- Psalms 111:1 Praise Yah! I will give thanks to Yahweh with my whole heart, in the council of the upright, and in the congregation.
- Psalms 35:18 I will give you thanks in the great assembly. I will praise you among many people.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (25 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 1. Sing to Jehovah a new song. This exordium…
1. Sing to Jehovah a new song. This exordium proves what I have just said, that the exhortation now given is addressed only to God’s people; for the singular goodness which is particularly extended to them affords more ample matter of praise. The probable conjecture is, that the Psalm was composed at the time when the people were begun to rejoice, or after they had returned to their native country from the Babylonish captivity. We will see from the context that a promise is given of recovery from their ruined condition. The object, I think, of the Psalmist, is to encourage them to expect the full and complete deliverance, some prelude of which had been suddenly and unexpectedly given in the permission to return. As the Church was not fully restored at once, but was with difficulty and only after a long period brought to a state of vigor, comfort such as this was much needed. The Spirit of God would also furnish a remedy for evils which were afterwards to break out; for the Church had scarcely begun to respire when it was again harassed with various evils, and oppressed by the cruel tyranny of Antiochus, which was followed up by a dreadful dispersion. The Psalmist had good reason therefore for animating the godly to look forward for the full accomplishment of the mercy of God, that they might be persuaded of divine protection until such time as the Messiah should arise who would gather all Israel. He calls this a new song, as we have noticed elsewhere, to distinguish it from those with which the saints commonly and daily praised God, for praise is their continued exercise. It follows that he speaks of some rare and unusual benefit, demanding signal and particular thanksgiving. And I am disposed to think that whoever may have been the author of the Psalm, he alludes to that passage in Isaiah, (Isaiah 42:10,) “Sing unto the Lord a new song,” when he speaks of the future restoration of the Church, and the eternal kingdom of Christ. In the second clause of the verse there is a promise implied. For though he proceeds to exhort the Lord’s people to sing God’s praises together, he hints along with this that the Church would coalesce again into one body, so as to celebrate God’s praises in the solemn assembly. We know that so scattered were the Israelites, that the sacred songs ceased to be sung, as elsewhere they complain of being called upon to sing —
“How shall we sing the songs of the Lord in a strange land?” (Psalm 137:4.)
Read full note →
He bids them prepare therefore after this sad dispersion for holding their sacred assemblies again.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain For his rare and manifold benefits bestowed on his…
For his rare and manifold benefits bestowed on his Church.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 149:1 Praise ye the LORD. Sing unto the…
Psa 149:1 Praise ye the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new song, [and] his praise in the congregation of saints.
Ver. 1. Praise ye the Lord] See Psa 148:1.
Read full note →
Sing unto the Lord a new song] A New Testament song, of a new argument, and for new benefits by the coming of Christ, whereof this psalm is prophetic. Old things are past, all things are become new, 2Co 5:16; new commandments, new promises, new sacraments, new grace, new praises, new privileges.
In the congregation of saints] His beneficiaries, whose joint praises must come before him as the sound of many waters; this is heaven upon earth.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain A new song, for these new mercies conferred upon…
A new song, for these new mercies conferred upon us, denied to former times.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain We have here,
We have here,
I. The calls given to God's Israel to praise. All his works were, in the foregoing psalm, excited to praise him; but here his saints in a particular manner are required to bless him. Observe then, 1. Who are called upon to praise God. Israel in general, the body of the church (Psa 149:2), the children of Zion particularly, the inhabitants of that holy hill, who are nearer to God than other Israelites; those that have the word and ordinances of God near to them, that are not required to travel far to them, are justly expected to do more in praising God than others. All true Christians may call themselves the children of Zion, for in faith and hope we have come unto Mount Zion, Heb 12:22. The saints must praise God, saints in profession, saints in power, for this is the intention of their sanctification; they are devoted to the glory of God, and renewed by the grace of God, that they may be unto him for a name and a praise. 2. What must be the principle of this praise, and that is holy joy in God: Let Israel rejoice, and the children of Zion be joyful, and the saints be joyful in glory. Our praises of God should flow from a heart filled with delight and triumph in God's attributes, and our relation to him. Much of the power of godliness in the heart consists in making God our chief joy and solacing ourselves in him; and our faith in Christ is described by our rejoicing in him. We then give honour to God when we take pleasure in him. We must be joyful in glory, that is, in him as our glory, and in the interest we have in him; and let us look upon it as our glory to be of those that rejoice in God. 3. What must be the expressions of this praise. We must by all proper ways show forth the praises of God: Sing to the Lord. We must entertain ourselves, and proclaim his name, by singing praises to him (Psa 149:3), singing aloud (Psa 149:5), for we should sing psalms with all our heart, as those that are not only not ashamed of it, but are enlarged in it. We must sing a new song, newly composed upon every special occasion, sing with new affections, which make the song new, though the words have been used before, and keep them from growing threadbare. Let God be praised in the dance with timbrel and harp, according to the usage of the Old Testament church very early (Exo 15:20), where we find God praised with timbrels and dances. Those who from this urge the use of music in religious worship must by the same rule introduce dancing, for they went together, as in David's dancing before the ark, and Jdg 21:21. But, whereas many scriptures in the New Testament keep up singing as a gospel-ordinance, none provide for the keeping up of music and dancing; the gospel-canon for psalmody is to sing with the spirit and with the understanding. 4. What opportunities must be taken for praising God, none must be let slip, but particularly, (1.) We must praise God in public, in the solemn assembly (Psa 149:1), in the congregation of saints. The more the better; it is the more like heaven. Thus God's name must be owned before the world; thus the service must have a solemnity put upon it, and we must mutually excite one another to it. The principle, end, and design of our coming together in religious assemblies is that we may join together in praising God. Other parts of the service must be in order to this. (2.) We must praise him in private. Let the saints be so transported with their joy in God as to sing aloud upon their beds, when they awake in the night, full of the praises of God, as David, Psa 119:62. When God's Israel are brought to a quiet settlement, let them enjoy that, with thankfulness to God; much more may true believers, that have entered into God's rest, and find repose in Jesus Christ, sing aloud for joy of that. Upon their sick-beds, their death-beds, let them sing the praises of their God.
Read full note →
II. The cause given to God's Israel for praise. Consider, 1. God's doings for them. They have reason to rejoice inn God, to devote themselves to his honour and employ themselves in his service; for it is he that made them. He gave us our being as men, and we have reason to praise him for that, for it is a noble and excellent being. He gave Israel their being as a people, as a church, made them what they were, so very different from other nations. Let that people therefore praise him, for he formed them for himself, on purpose that they might show forth his praise, Isa 43:21. Let Israel rejoice in his Makers (so it is in the original); for God said, Let us make man; and in this, some think, is the mystery of the Trinity. 2. God's dominion over them. This follows upon the former: if he made them, he is their King; he that gave being no doubt may give law; and this ought to be the matter of our joy and praise that we are under the conduct and protection of such a wise and powerful King. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! for behold thy king comes, the king Messiah, whom God has set upon his holy hill of Zion; let all the children of Zion be joyful in him, and go forth to meet him with their hosannas, Zac 9:9. 3. God's delight in them. he is a king that rules by love, and therefore to be praised; for the Lord takes pleasure in his people, in their services, in their prosperity, in communion with them, and in the communications of his favour to them. He that is infinitely happy in the enjoyment of himself, and to whose felicity no accession can be made, yet graciously condescends to take pleasure in his people, Psa 147:11. 4. God's designs concerning them. Besides the present complacency he has in them, he has prepared for their future glory: He will beautify the meek, the humble, and lowly, and contrite in heart, that tremble at his word and submit to it, that are patient under their afflictions and show all meekness towards all men. These men vilify and asperse, but God will justify them, and wipe off their reproach; nay, he will beautify them; they shall appear not only clear, but comely, before all the world, with the comeliness that he puts upon them. He will beautify them with salvation, with temporal salvations (when God works remarkable deliverances for his people those that had been among the pots become as the wings of a dove covered with silver, Psa 68:13), but especially with eternal salvation. The righteous shall be beautified in that day when they shine forth as the sun. In the hopes of this, let them now, in the darkest day, sing a new song.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Praise ye the Lord,.... Or "hallelujah"; the title of…
Praise ye the Lord,.... Or "hallelujah"; the title of the psalm, according to many;
sing unto the Lord a new song; for a new mercy received, a new victory obtained, or a new salvation wrought; more particularly the new song of redeeming grace through Jesus Christ, the song of the Lamb, in distinction from the old song of Moses and the children of Israel at the Red sea, on account of their deliverance, which was typical of salvation by Christ, the oldest, being the first song we read of; but this is a new one, which none but the redeemed of the Lamb can sing; a song suited to Gospel times, in which all things are new, a new church state, new ordinances, a new covenant, and a new and living way to the holiest of all; a song proper for renewed persons to sing, who have new favours continually to bless and praise the Lord for;
Read full note →
and his praise in the congregation of saints: such who are partakers of the blessings of divine goodness; are separated and distinguished from others by the grace of God; are sanctified and brought into a Gospel church state; and who gather and assemble together to worship God, and attend upon him in his word and ordinances, and in such assemblies the praises of God are to be sung; which being done socially, the saints are assisting to one another in this service; and it is done with greater solemnity, and is more to the public honour and glory of God; thus Gospel churches are called upon to sing the praises of God among themselves, Eph 5:19; and have Christ for an example going before them, Psa 22:22.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain An exhortation to praise God for his love to…
An exhortation to praise God for his love to his people, ver. 1-5. And for enabling them to overcome their enemies, ver. 6- 9.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain All the congregation are invited to praise God for…
PSALM CXLIX
All the congregation are invited to praise God for his
Read full note →
mercies, 1-3.
Their great privileges, 4, 5.
Their victories, 6-9.
NOTES ON PSALM CXLIX
This seems to be an epinikion, or song of triumph, after some glorious victory; probably in the time of the Maccabees. It has been also understood as predicting the success of the Gospel in the nations of the earth. According to the Syriac, it concerns the new temple, by which the Christian Church is meant. It has no title in the Hebrew, nor in any of the Versions, and no author's name.
Verse 1. Sing unto the Lord a new song] That is, as we have often had occasion to remark, an excellent song, the best we can possibly pronounce. So the word חדש chadash is often understood; and so the word novus, "new," was often used among the Latin writers: -
Pollio amat nostram, quamvis sit rustica, musam.
Pollio et ipse facit NOVA CARMINA.
VIRG. Ecl. iii., ver. 84.
Pollio loves my lines, although rude:
Pollio himself makes excellent odes.
Tamely and inexpressively translated by Dryden: -
"Pollio my rural verse vouchsafes to read.
My Pollio writes himself." O what a falling off is here!
Servius, in his comment on nova, says, magna, miranda. Nova means great, admirable.
So on novum nectar, Ecl. v., ver. 71, he says, id est, magna dulcedo; "nectar of EXCELLENT flavour."
Congregation of saints.] The Israelites, who were, by profession and by injunction, a holy people.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Psa 149:1-3. Sing unto the Lord a new song…
Psa 149:1-3. Sing unto the Lord a new song — For these new mercies conferred upon us, denied to former times. Let Israel rejoice in him that made him — That made them not only his creatures, but, which is unspeakably greater, his people; or, that advanced them to, and adorned them with, singular privileges, as the word עשׁה, here used, is understood 1Sa 12:6, and elsewhere. Let the children of Zion be joyful in their king — In Jehovah, who condescends, in a peculiar sense, to become their king, and, in the exercise of his kingly power, delivers, protects, and governs them as his subjects. Let them praise his name in the dance, &c. — According to the usage of that time and dispensation: see notes on Exo 15:20-21; 2Sa 6:14. True Christians are now the people to whom belong the names and characters of saints, Israel, and children of Zion. They sing this holy song as the psalmist hath enjoined them to do. They sing it as new men, with new affections and dispositions, and in its evangelical sense, celebrating new victories, and victories of a new kind, and new and greater mercies, even a spiritual salvation and an eternal redemption. “They rejoice with hearts and voices,” if not also with “instruments, and every other token of joy, in him who made them, who created them anew in righteousness and true holiness: they are joyful in their king, who hath himself overcome, and is now leading them on to final conquest and triumph, to honour and immortality.”
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Praise ye the Lord - Margin, Hallelujah. See the…
Praise ye the Lord - Margin, Hallelujah. See the notes at Psa 146:1.
Sing unto the Lord a new song - As if there was a new and a special occasion for praise. This would be so if the psalm was composed on the return from the exile; on the rebuilding of the city; and on the re-dedication of the temple. On the meaning of the language, see Psa 33:3, note; Rev 5:9, note; Rev 14:3, note; see also Psa 96:1; Isa 42:10.
Read full note →
And his praise in the congregation of saints - In the assembly of the people of God. See Psa 148:14, note; Psa 111:1, note.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain Psalms 149
Psalms 149
1 Praise ye the Lord.
Read full note →
Sing unto the Lord a new song,
And his praise in the congregation of saints.
2 Let Israel rejoice in him that made him:
Let the children of Zion be joyful in their king.
3 Let them praise his name in the dance:
Let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp.
4 For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people:
He will beautify the meek with salvation.
5 Let the saints be joyful in glory:
Let them sing aloud upon their beds.
6 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth,
And a twoedged sword in their hand;
7 To execute vengeance upon the heathen,
And punishments upon the people;
8 To bind their kings with chains,
And their nobles with fetters of iron;
9 To execute upon them the judgment written:
This honor have all his saints.
Praise ye the Lord.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Contents and Composition.—The first part of the Psalm contains an exhortation to the Church of Israel to praise Jehovah, its Creator and King, in a new song, since it is well-pleasing to Him that His saints should thus honor Him (Psa_149:1-5). This passes over in the second part, into a triumphant expression of joy at the means afforded, at that time, for the execution of the Divine judgments upon the heathen and their princes (Psa_149:6-9).
Psa_149:6 has nothing to do with Neh_4:11. For that passage relates to defence during the erection of the walls; this, to the subjection of the nations in fulfilment of the Divine judgment. It is neither self-contradictory nor irreligious that a people should feel themselves called to this work, and regard themselves as an instrument in the hand of the Almighty, and should accordingly have in mind the destruction of their enemies as enemies of God, at the same time with the praise and glory of God, and utter both in the same breath. On the other hand, Old Testament and New Testament conceptions must not be confounded together, as must always happen when Israel and Zion are brought directly into comparison with the Christian Dispensation and Church. In relation to the resulting abuse of this passage, Bake has already instanced the fact, that Scioppius, in a book written, as he said, not with ink, but with blood, employed this Psalm to excite the Roman Catholic Princes to the Thirty Years’ Religious War which rent Germany. Delitzsch also alludes to Thomas Münzer, who stirred up the Peasant War by the use of this very Psalm. There is no reference in the passage to the spiritual weapons of our warfare (2Co_10:4); nor to the Sword of the Spirit, which Israel, in the time of the Messiah, should draw, and with it take the noblest revenge upon their heathen conquerors (Hengst., after older expositors, also Stier). It is the spirit of the later Judaism that is displayed here (2Ma_15:27). And yet there is no reason for assigning the composition historically to the Maccabæan period (Hitzig), or to assume that the Psalm is a prophecy of the same (many older commentators). It is impossible to assign the exact period with certainty; we can only recognize a strong affinity with the preceding Psalm. It is very questionable whether there is a reference to the military procession to the Temple (Neh_12:31 f.) at the dedication of the newly-restored walls (Hengstenberg). The “new song,” however, alludes to renewed experience of mercy, and that in the history of God’s people; for they are summoned as such to the solemn praise of the Lord. This, together with the whole tone of joyous and elevated feeling, decides against a time of oppression, when thoughts of vengeance and triumph would be excited (Hupfeld). But it is very suitable to the renovation of the people in the period of Ezra and Nehemiah. [So the English expositors, Alexander, Perowne, Wordsworth, and generally. Wordsworth, like Hengstenberg, takes the spiritual view of the sword, fetters, etc., and draws the following contrast between the second Psalm and this, the second from the end of the Psalter: “Doubtless this latter Psalm refers to the former, and is to be explained by it. The bands of God’s laws were broken asunder, and His cords were cast away by kings of the earth and rulers of the heathen, and the people at the Passover when Christ was crucified, and they are so treated by all anti-Christian imitators of such rebellion. But these bands and cords are voluntarily assumed by kings and nations of heathendom, influenced by the grace of the Holy Ghost, given to the world at Pentecost.” There is a great deal of beauty in this comparison, but the actual feelings of those who first sung the Psalm are probably better represented in the words of Perowne, which express the opinion more generally held: “The old days of the nation, and the old martial spirit are revived. God is their king (Psa_149:2) and they are His soldiers, going forth to wage His battles, with His praises in their mouths and a two-edged sword in their hands. A spirit, which now seems sanguinary and revengeful, had, it is not too much to say, its proper function under the Old Testament, and was not only natural, but necessary, if that small nation was to maintain itself against the powerful tribes by which it was hemmed in on all sides.—”J. F. M.]
Psa_149:4-8.
Psa_149:4. Beautifies. The help which God vouchsafes to His oppressed people against their oppressors is not merely manifested to the world as deliverance and salvation generally, but serves also as an ornament and honor to that people themselves, so that, coming forth arrayed in it, they gain for it recognition and praise (Isa_55:5; Isa_60:7; Isa_60:9; Isa_60:13; Isa_61:3; Isa_61:11; Isa_62:7; comp. Psa_103:5; Isa_49:18). [Translate: He beautifies the oppressed with salvation. J. F. M.] Their being joyful upon their beds (Psa_149:5) is probably not a silent praise in their hearts during the night, comp. Psa_4:5 (Hupfeld), as contrasted with the loud rejoicing just mentioned. It stands in contrast to the previous lamentation (Hos_7:14) and weeping (Psa_6:7) in longings after a better time, Isa_26:8 (Hengstenberg, Del.). Psa_149:8 recalls the hopes expressed in Isa_45:14; Isa_49:7; Isa_49:23; Isa_60:3; comp. Jer_52:24 f.
Psa_149:9.—The judgment written is regarded by most as that written in the “Book of the Law” (Chald., Kimchi); by some expositors in the sense of a command, with special reference to the judgment ordered to be executed upon the Canaanites (Deu_32:41 f.), which is then taken as a type of the divine judgments generally (Geier, Amyrald, Stier). A better view is that of those who view it as a divine declaration and promise of the vengeance which God will in His own time inflict upon the enemies of His people, with special reference to Deu_32:40 f. (Hengstenberg). But the best view is that which goes beyond the Pentateuch, and not merely adds Isa_45:14; Eze_25:14 (Del.), and kindred passages, such as Ezek. 38:39; Zechariah 14 (Kimchi), but understands in the expression of Psa_149:9 a. the judgments registered in the Sacred Books generally, and thereby legitimized for Israel, with reference to prisoners of war and vanquished nations, including statements concerning actual events, Num_31:8;Deu_20:13; 1Sa_15:3; 1Sa_15:32-33; 1Sa_16:8 f.; 1Ki_20:42 (Hitz.). These written rules of justice (Geier, et al.) are not at the same time contrasted to the promptings of carnal passion (Calvin). Some explain the words to refer to a decision firmly established in the divine counsel, which is here described as having been written down, the Psalmist being supposed to transfer to the counsels of God the custom followed in courts of justice of committing the decisions to writing, Isa_10:1 (Grotius, Clericus, Venema, Hupfeld). But this is unnatural. [It is the view preferred by Perowne, who refers also to Isa_65:6.—J. F. M.]
The last clause does not mean that God is glory for the saints (Venema, Hupfeld) either as Author of their glory or as Object of their glorifying. Nor does it mean that this honor falls to the lot of all the saints (Sept., J. H. Michaelis), but that this, namely, the subjection of the world in fulfilment of the divine judgments, is to all saints the glory, i.e. the praise and honor of God.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The Church is to restrain its praise of God as little as His wonderful deeds towards His Church come to an end.—God gives to His Church one victory after another, and therefore she must ever praise Him with new songs. God will preserve against all her foes the Church which He has founded; but she must yield herself up to His control.
Starke: The old song of the law, which could only condemn, is abolished by Christ: with the gospel He has put a new song into thy mouth. Praise Him then with renewed lips and heart.—Those who still remain in the old birth cannot have the new song.—Earthly victors know how to boast of and delight in their victories; much greater reason have the children of God to do the same.—What more lofty or glorious could be said of a believer than that God takes pleasure in him? If thou wouldst exchange that for the whole world, what would it help thee? Thou must nevertheless die.—Rejoice, O believing soul, in thy glory with God. The earthly glory of an emperor, king or prince dies with him. But salvation and glory follow thee in heaven.—If the heart is full of the knowledge of God and Christ, the lips will overflow with it, and no idle words will be heard.—The true means of the conversion of unbelievers are not outward force, but the testimony of the divine word in spirit and in power.—Wage a good warfare against thyself above all; take vengeance and inflict punishment upon the heathenish desires of thy heart; strike down with the sword of the Spirit what contends against God and His honor.—Many a heart is dissatisfied in view of the glory of God’s children, doubting whether it has a share; but thou hearest here what may delight thee. All the saints shall be partakers of the same.—If Christ’s victory is ours, so are also His honor and glory; for we are His saints and the sharers of His mercy. If thou dost stand in the faith, thou art one of these.
Diedrich: Let believers be joyful and confident in God; but let them expect all conflict in the world.—God’s people are the royal nation over all nations.—Taube: The new salvation gives a new heart, and a new heart gives a new song.—The time will come when all who once would not, from the heart, bow the knee before the Lord, must bow it with anguish. And the Lion will rend those who would not follow the Lamb.
[Matt. Henry: We must sing a new song, newly composed on every special occasion; sing with new affections, which make the song new, though the words may have been used before, and keeping them from growing threadbare.—When God’s Israel is brought to a quiet settlement, let them enjoy that with thankfulness to God; much more may true believers, that are entered into God’s rest, and find repose in Jesus Christ, sing aloud for joy of that. Upon their sick beds, upon their death-beds, let them sing the praises of their God.— Bp. Horne: From heaven Christ shall return to beautify the meek with salvation and to place on the heads of His true disciples, the lowly, patient and peaceable ones, a bright and incorruptible crown. Therefore are the saints joyful in glory; they sing aloud in a state of perfect ease and security, resting from their labors, but not from their hallelujahs.—Scott: Christ shall clothe the meek with the robes of righteousness, adorn them with the graces of His Spirit, renew them to the beauty of holiness, and cause them to bear His image, reflect His glory, and rejoice in His felicity forever.—Barnes: It should lead us to shout Hallelujah! that we are permitted to be employed in any way, however humble, in carrying out the divine plans, or in accomplishing those great designs which He contemplates towards our race.—J. F. M.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 1. A new song—Suited to the new era of…
1. A new song—Suited to the new era of the nation’s history, and the new joys and hopes awakened. This call for a “new song,” which occurs five times in the Psalms, always indicates some marked occasion for joy and thanksgiving—epochal points in the history of the individual or of the nation.
In the congregation—For now, after seventy years’ dispersion, the holy convocation of the covenant people is again witnessed.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 1. Praise ye the Lord] The liturgical Hallelujah. See…
1. Praise ye the Lord] The liturgical Hallelujah. See on Psa_104:35.
Sing unto Jehovah a new song] In acknowledgment of new mercies. Cp. Psa_33:3; Psa_96:1, note.
Read full note →
his praise in the assembly of the beloved] Cp. Psa_22:22; Psa_22:25; Psa_107:32. The P.B.V., let the congregation of saints praise him, follows the LXX (Vulg.) and Jer. in adopting a possible but less probable construction, lit. let his praise be &c. The title the beloved or godly (see Appendix, Note I.) is used at the beginning, middle and end of this Psalm to denote Israel, which had had fresh experience of Jehovah’s lovingkindness. Cp. Psa_145:10; Psa_147:14.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (1) A new song.—See Psa_33:3.
(1) A new song.—See Psa_33:3.
The congregation.—Apparently the psalm puts us in the Maccabæan age, when the chasîdîm was become a regular title for the patriotic party.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain A "Hallelujah Psalm," combining the praise of God for…
A "Hallelujah Psalm," combining the praise of God for mercies already received with anticipations of future vengeance, through God"s help, on heathen enemies that are still bent on persecuting God"s "loving ones." The tone is that of Psalm 109, though the expressions used are less fierce. Metrically, the psalm seems to divide itself into three stanzas of three verses each (vers. 1-3, 4-6, 7-9).
Praise ye the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song. A "new song" on account of a new deliverance. (comp. Psa_33:3) The deliverance may have been one of those under Nehemiah. (Neh_4:7-23 Neh_6:2-16) And his praise in the congregation of saints. The psalm would seem to have been composed for a special thanksgiving service.
Read full note →
Vers. 1-9. God"s pleasure in us, and ours in him.
The more particularly inviting passage is found in the fourth verse; but those before and after are also suggestive. Taking them first, and that last, we have
I THE CONSTANCY OF OCCASION FOR PRAISING GOD. (Ver. 1) The new song" of the psalmist is surely not a fresh composition, though we may well be thankful for the new hymnologist, and consider him a very valuable gift of God to the Church; but it is rather the song which rises fresh from the heart at the consciousness of some fresh mercy received at the hand of God, whether uttered in a familiar or an original strain. And if our hearts are as full of thanksgiving as our lives are crowded with blessings, we shall be always ready to sing "a new song" unto our God. "Moments come fast, but mercies are more free and fleet than they." They who are quick to see loving-kindnesses will not be long before they find a fresh reason for lilting up the heart in praise.
II PUBLIC WORSHIP. Private and public worship are the complement of one another; neither is complete without the other. We praise God "in the congregation of saints" all the more happily and heartily because we bless him for his goodness in the home. We worship him more reverently in the home because we sing his praise with his people in the sanctuary.
III GOD"S CLAIM ON US AS OUR CREATOR AND OUR RULER. (Ver. 2) We cannot too often or too earnestly recall the great fact that our God called us into being, gave us our very selves, made us all that we are, with all our immeasurable capacities and possibilities. He also is the indisputable Sovereign to whom we bring our loyal allegiance, in whom, as our righteous and gracious Ruler, we rejoice.
IV THE TRIUMPH OF THE TRUTH. (Vers. 6-9) The psalmist saw in his vision the people of God mingling the praises of their lips with brave and strong blows from their hand dealt against their enemies and the Lord"s. We see in our vision another and better warfare. We see the ministers and missionaries of the gospel assailing error and superstition with "the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God;" doing battle earnestly and devotedly with all forms of sin and wrong, their one weapon being the revealed truth of God. And we see, not kings in chains and soldiers slaughtered on battle-fields, but heathen temples in decay, the ashes of old idols that have been "utterly abolished," peoples clothed and in their right mind, nations walking in the fear and love of God.
V GOD"S GOOD PLEASURE IN US, AND OUR HOPE IN HIM. (Ver. 4)
1. His heritage in us.
(1) God is deeply interested in all his children, is concerned for their wellbeing, is seeking those that are afar off, is prepared to welcome them home; but while they are rebellious, obdurate, indifferent, he regards them with a Divine regret and even displeasure.
(2) He is looking with deepest interest on those who are inquiring their way home to him. (see Mar_10:21)
(3) He receives the repenting and believing one with every sign of parental joy. (see Lu 15)
(4) He is accepting the service, loving though imperfect, which his returned children are rendering him.
(5) He looks with tenderness and joy on all earnest endeavors to grow in wisdom and worth, to extend his kingdom, to bless and save others. His people are his heritage, and in their service he finds a Divine pleasure.
2. Our heritage in him. The proud and the contentious find little satisfaction anywhere; but "the meek," who are willing to learn and to receive, are adorned or crowned with "salvation." To them are given the peace, the joy, and the hope, which the gospel of Christ confers on the humble-hearted.
HOMILIES BY R. TUCK Ver. 1. The ever-repeated call for a new song.
"A new song (as in Psa_33:3 Psa_96:1 Psa_144:9) is the old song of praise, made new by newness of heart and newness of air." "New as expressive of all the new hopes and joys of a new era; a new spring of the nation; a new youth of the Church, bursting forth into a new life.
I A NEW SONG IS WANTED BECAUSE THERE ARE ALWAYS NEW OCCASIONS. A song was sung by Israel, under the lead of Moses and Miriam, when the people were safely on the further shore of the Red Sea. It was well to keep that song in remembrance, and it was wisely repeated when the great deliverance was recalled. But there came occasions in the national history when that song was unsuitable, and a new song on the old lines had to be made. Illustrate by the song of Deborah; the songs of David on bringing up the ark; of Solomon on dedicating the temple; of the exiles on return from captivity; of the Maccabees on recovering the holy city; of Mary on receiving the visit of the angel. So in a single life there are recurring occasions when the heart is inspired to make a new song.
II A NEW SONG MAY BE THE OLD SONG PUT IN A NEW FORM. Perhaps it would be true to say that there really is no new song; for man there can never be anything more than the oh! song put into a new form. For man"s song is always a loving and grateful recognition of God"s goodness. And yet how much importance attaches to the fact that the old song does get set in ever-varying forms! The old song would lose interest, would become formal; its old form would become too strait, unsuitable, repressive of feeling. The song of Moses will not always satisfy. It will need to have much more put into it, and then it will appear as the "song of Moses and the Lamb.
III AN OLD SONG IS NEW WHEN A NEW SPIRIT IS PUT INTO IT. And that is the spirit of a man"s individuality. Everything is new to me that is actually mine a genuine expression of myself. It may be as old as the hills; it is new to me; it is the output of my feeling, the creation of my experience. It is like nothing else, for on it rests the stamp of my individuality. R.T.
HOMILIES BY C. SHORT Vers. 1-5. The voice of praise.
"Breathes the spirit of intense joy and eager hope in the period which succeeded the return from Babylon. The poet saw in their return so signal a proof of the Divine favor, that he regarded it as a pledge of a glorious future yet in store for the nation. But language like that of vers. 6-9 is no warrant for the exhibition of a similar spirit in the Christian Church.
I A NEW ERA IN THE LIFE OF THE NATION OR INDIVIDUAL FURNISHES NEW MATERIAL FOR PRAISE. (Ver. 1) Escape from a miserable captivity and the return home was a new national experience, if they had not lost the spirit of freedom. How many eras in our individual life correspond to this? A long sickness recovered from, or a long habit of sin escaped from.
II SOCIAL WORSHIP IS MOST CONGENIAL TO THE SPIRIT OF PRAISE, (Ver. 1) The people were summoned to rejoice in the congregation. Enthusiasm of any kind more easily inspired in a multitude than in an individual, and more easily propagated.
III WE ARE TO REJOICE IN OUR CREATOR AND KING AS OUR REDEEMER. (Vers. 2, 3) Such a King will not leave them subject to alien rule, but redeem them.
1. For God rejoices in his near relation to his people. (Ver. 4) Takes pleasure in his fellowship with them and in their welfare.
2. He delights to array them in honor and glory. To put beauty and glory upon the outcast and afflicted.
IV THE JOY OF THE REDEEMED WILL UTTER ITSELF IN PRIVATE AS WELL AS IN PUBLIC. (Ver. 5) "Upon their beds." In their most restful moments they will exult in God"s favor now, and in hope for the future. S.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain We are almost at the last Psalm, and still…
We are almost at the last Psalm, and still among the Hallelujahs. This is "a new song", evidently intended for the new creation, and the men who are of new heart. It is such a song as may be sung at the coming of the Lord, when the new dispensation shall bring overthrow to the wicked and honour to all the saints. The tone is exceedingly jubilant and exultant. All through one hears the beat of the feet of dancing maidens, keeping time to the timbrel and harp.
Ver. 1. Praise ye the LORD. Specially you, ye chosen people, whom he has made to be his saints. You have praised him aforetime, praise him yet again; yea, for ever praise him. With renewed zeal and fresh delight lift up your song unto Jehovah.
Read full note →
Sing unto the LORD a new song. Sing, for it is the fittest method for expressing reverent praise. Sing a hymn newly composed, for you have now a new knowledge of God. He is ever new in his manifestations; his mercies are new every morning; his deliverances are new in every night of sorrow; let your gratitude and thanksgivings be new also. It is well to repeat the old; it is more useful to invent the new. Novelty goes well with heartiness. Our singing should be "unto the Lord"; the songs we sing should be of him and to him, "for of him, and to him, and through him are all things." Among our novelties there should be new songs: alas! men are fonder of making new complaints than new Psalms. Our new songs should be devised in Jehovah's honour; indeed all our newest thoughts should run towards him. Never can we find a nobler subject for a song than the Lord, nor one more full of fresh matter for a new song, nor one which we are personally so much bound to sing as a new song "unto the Lord."
And his praise in the congregation of saints. Saints are precious, and a congregation of saints is a treasure house of jewels. God is in the midst of saints, and because of this we may well long to be among them. They are so full of his praise that we feel at home among them when we are ourselves full of praise. The sanctuary is the house of praise as well as the house of prayer. All saints praise God: they would not be saints if they did not. Their praise is sincere, suitable, seasonable, and acceptable. Personal praise is sweet unto God, but congregated praise has a multiplicity of sweetnesses in it. When holy ones meet, they adore The Holy One. Saints do not gather to amuse themselves with music, nor to extol one another, but to sing his praise whose saints they are. A congregation of saints is heaven upon earth: should not Jehovah, the Lord of saints, have all the praise that can come from such an assembly? Yet at times even saintly conclaves need to be stirred up to thanksgiving; for saints may be sad and apprehensive, and then their spirits require to be raised to a higher key, and stimulated to happier worship.
Whole Psalm. The foregoing Psalm was a hymn of praise to the Creator; this is a hymn to the Redeemer. Matthew Henry.
Whole Psalm. The New Testament spiritual church cannot pray as the Old Testament national church here prays. Under the illusion that it must be used as a prayer without any spiritual transmutation, Ps 149:1-9 has become the watchword of the most horrible errors. It was by means of this Psalm that Caspar Scloppius, in his Classicum Belli Sacri, which, as Bakius says, is written, not with ink, but with blood, inflamed the Roman Catholic princes to the Thirty Years' Religious War. And in the Protestant church Thomas Muntzer stirred up the War of the Peasants by means of this Psalm. We see that the Christian cannot make such a Psalm directly his own, without disavowing the apostolic warning, "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal" (2Co 10:4). The praying Christian must therefore transpose the letter of this Psalm into the spirit of the New Covenant. Franz Delitzsch.
Ver. 1. A new song; for this Psalm is a song of renovation. If Israel when restored and renewed had new cause for rejoicing, much more should the New Covenant Israel feel constrained to strike the new note of triumph. Infidels blaspheme, the ungrateful murmur, the thoughtless are silent, the mournful weep, all acting according to their old nature; but new men take up a new mode, which is the divinely inspired song of peace, charity, and joy in the Lord. Johannes Paulus Palanterius.
Ver. 1. A new song. The old man hath an old song, the new man a new song. The Old Testament is an old song, the New Testament is a new song... Whoso loveth earthly things singeth an old song: let him that desireth to sing a new song love the things of eternity. Love itself is new and eternal; therefore is it ever new, because it never groweth old. Augustine.
Ver. 1. Saints. A title not to be restricted to the godly of the first times, but common to all that are saved in all after times also, as Eph 4:12. This name putteth mere morality and formal profession out of countenance, as the sun doth a glow worm. Saintship is a matter of Divine workmanship, and therefore it is far more remarkable than human excellence. We should keep up the name of "saints", that the reality of the true religion be not lowered by avoiding this title; for in these times it is to be feared that the name is out of use, because holiness itself is out of fashion. Thomas Goodwin.
Ver. 1. Praise ye the lord.
1. The one work of a life.
2. The work of the truly living of all degrees.
3. Their work in many and various forms.
4. A work for which there is abundant cause, reason, and argument.
Ver. 1.
1. A wonderful giftto be a saint.
2. A wonderful peoplewho are saints.
3. A wonderful assemblya congregation of saints.
4. A wonderful Godthe object of their song.
Ver. 1-2. The new song of the saints.
1. The saints are God's children by the new birth.
2. The new birth has given them a new heart.
3. The new heart utters itself in a new song. C.A.D.
Ver. 1, 5.
1. We must praise God in public, "in the congregation of the saints": the more the better; it is like to heaven.
2. We must praise him in private. "Let the saints" be so transported with their joy in God as to "sing aloud upon their beds", when they awake in the night, as David; Ps 119:62. Matthew Henry.
Psalms 149:2*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Sing unto the Lord a new song.
Psa_149:1-9
Sing unto the Lord a new song.
Read full note →
The song of the saints
1. The elect, regenerate, or true believers have a song of their own for mercies proper to them, beside the praise which they have to give for the Lords work round about them, and therefore they have a proper reason to praise God for their own particular.
2. The song of the redeemed elect and converted is a new song which shall never wax old, nor be cut off, an everlasting song.
3. It is Gods ordinance that the worshippers of the Lord should have assemblies and meetings wherein publicly and jointly they may glorify the Lord in proclaiming cheerfully His praise. (D. Dickson.)
Cumulative praise
Mr. Moody says: There is much more said in the Bible about praise than about prayer. The Psalms are nothing but praise, and as David got nearer the end of the journey he seems to have thought of little else. So it is with Christians--the nearer they get to heaven, the more they praise God. Everything that God has created except the heart of man praises Him. I knew a man who always used to praise God under any circumstances. One day he came in with a severe cut on his finger, and said, Praise God, I didnt cut it off. Let us also praise God that our misfortunes are no worse.
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain Psalms 149
Psalms 149
IN the preceding psalm Israels restoration was connected with the recognition by all creatures and especially by the kings of the earth and their people, of Jehovahs glory. This psalm presents the converse thought, that the restored Israel becomes the executor of judgments on those who will not join in the praise which rings from Israel that it may be caught up by all. The two psalms are thus closely connected. The circumstances of the Restoration accord with the tone of both, as of the other members of this closing group.
Read full note →
The happy recipients of new mercy are, as in Psalms 96 and 98, summoned to break into new songs. Winter silences the birds; but spring, the new "life reorient out of dust," is welcomed with music from every budding tree.
Chiefly should Gods praise sound out from "the congregation of His favoured ones," the long-scattered captives who owe it to His favour that they are a congregation once more. The jubilant psalmist delights in that name for Israel, and uses it thrice in his song. He loves to set forth the various names, which each suggest some sweet strong thought of what God is to the nation and the nation to God-His favoured ones, Israel, the children of Zion, His people, the afflicted. He heaps together synonyms expressive of rapturous joy-rejoice, be glad, exult. He calls for expressions of triumphant mirth in which limbs, instruments, and voices unite. He would have the exuberant gladness well over into the hours of repose and the night be made musical with ringing shouts of joy. "Praise is better than sleep," and the beds which had often been privy to silent tears may well be witnesses of exultation that cannot be dumb.
The psalmist touches very lightly on the reason for this outburst of praise, because he takes it for granted that so great and recent mercy needed little mention. One verse (Psa_149:4) suffices to recall it. The very absorption of the heart in its bliss may make it silent about the bliss. The bride needs not to tell what makes her glad. Restored Israel requires little reminder of its occasion for joy. But the brief mention of it is very beautiful. It makes prominent, not so much the outward fact, as the Divine pleasure in His people, of which the fact was effect and indication. Their affliction had been the token that Gods complacency did not rest on them; their deliverance is the proof that the sunlight of His face shines on them once more. His chastisements rightly borne are ever precursors of deliverance, which adorns the meek afflicted, giving "beauty for ashes." The qualification for receiving Jehovahs help is meekness, and the effect of that help on the lowly soul is to deck it with strange loveliness. Therefore Gods favoured ones may well exult in glory-i.e., on account of the glory with which they are invested by His salvation.
The stern close of the psalm strikes a note which many ears feel to be discordant, and which must be freely acknowledged to stand on the same lower level as the imprecatory psalms, while, even more distinctly than these, it is entirely free from any sentiment of personal vengeance. The picture of Gods people going forth to battle, chanting His praises and swinging two-edged swords, shocks Christian sentiment. It is not to be explained away as meaning the spiritual conquest of the world with spiritual weapons. The psalmist meant actual warfare and real iron fetters. But, while the form of his anticipations belongs to the past and is entirely set aside by the better light of Christianity, their substance is true forever. Those who have been adorned with Jehovahs salvation have the subjugation of the world to Gods rule committed to them. "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal." There are stronger fetters than those of iron, even "the cords of love" and "the bands of a man."
"The judgment written," which is to be executed by the militant Israel on the nations does not seem to have reference either to the commandment to exterminate the Canaanites or to the punishments threatened in many places of Scripture. It is better to take it as denoting a judgment "fixed, settledwritten thus by God Himself" (Perowne). Psa_149:9 b may be rendered (as Hupfeld does) "Honour [or, majesty] is He to all His favoured ones," in the sense that God manifests His majesty to them, or that He is the object of their honouring; but the usual rendering is more in accordance with the context and its high-strung martial ardour. "This"-namely, the whole of the crusade just described-is laid upon all Jehovahs favoured ones, by the fact of their participation in His salvation. They are redeemed from bondage that they may be Gods warriors. The honour and obligation are universal.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain This Psalm, like the others of the series of…
INTRODUCTION
This Psalm, like the others of the series of which it forms a part, bears evident traces both in style and language, and in the feelings which it expresses, of belonging to the post-exile literature. It was probably composed soon after the return from the captivity in Babylon. “It breathes,” says Perowne, “the spirit of intense joy and eager hope which must have been in the very nature of things characteristic of the period which succeeded the return from the Babylonish captivity. Men of strong faith and religious enthusiasm and fervent loyalty must have felt that in the very fact of the restoration of the people to their own land was to be seen so signal a proof of the Divine favour, that it could not but be regarded as a pledge of a glorious future yet in store for the nation. The burning sense of wrong, the purpose of a terrible revenge, which was the feeling uppermost when they had first escaped from their oppressors (as in Psalms 137), was soon changed into the hope of a series of magnificent victories over all the nations of the world, and the setting up of a universal dominion. It is such a hope which is expressed here. The old days of the nation and the old martial spirit are revived. God is their King (Psa_149:2), and they are His soldiers, going forth to wage His battles, with His praises in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hands. A spirit which now seems sanguinary and revengeful had, it is not too much to say, its proper function under the Old Testament, and was not only natural but necessary, if that small nation was to maintain itself against the powerful tribes by which it was hemmed in on all sides. But it ought to require no proof that language like that of Psa_149:6-9 of this Psalm is no warrant for the exhibition of a similar spirit in the Christian Church.”
Read full note →
THE JUBILANT PEOPLE OF GOD
(Psa_149:1-5)
The summons to praise in this Psalm is addressed to the people of God. He is to be praised “in the congregation of saints. Let Israel rejoice in Him,” &c. The tone of the Psalm is intensely joyous. Let us notice—
I. The reasons of their rejoicing.
1. The mercies received by them from God. That they had received recent and great mercies from God is implied in the summons to “sing unto Him a new song.” The new song was for some new and special occasion for praise. Probably the mercies to be thus celebrated were the return from captivity, and the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem and of the Temple. And these blessings had awakened new hopes which were also to find expression in the new song. In the life of the people of God new mercies are ever calling for new songs. His goodness should enkindle the gratitude and joy of His people.
2. The relationships sustained by them to God.
(1.) They are His subjects. “Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.” Barnes: “In God as their King. (a.) That they have a King, or that there is One to rule over them. (b.) That they have such a King; One so wise, so powerful, so good. (c.) That He administers His government with so much efficiency, impartiality, equity, wisdom, goodness.” Perowne: “Such a King will not leave them under foreign rule; He will break the yoke of every oppressor from their neck.” Let the Christian rejoice that he is a subject of the Lord Jesus.
(2.) They are His saints. “The congregation of saints. Let Israel rejoice in Him that made him. Jehovah taketh pleasure in His people. Let the saints be joyful in glory.” They are His people and His saints because He has made them what they are. He selected and called the Israelites to their high spiritual privileges; He made them His own covenant-people. Christians are now made by Him. “All that they have and are is to be traced to Him, as really as the universe of matter is to be traced to His power. Their condition is not one of development, or one which is the result of their own wisdom, grace, or power;” but of His grace and power.
(3.) They are His delight. “Jehovah taketh pleasure in His people.” He regards them with complacency. He taketh pleasure (a) in their progress and prosperity; (b) in their worship and service; (c) in their future destiny. He has provided heaven for them, and He is preparing them for heaven. “So shall we ever be with the Lord.”
3. The adorning wrought in them by God. “He beautifieth the meek with salvation.” The primary significance of these words is well expressed by Moll: “The help which God vouchsafes to His oppressed people against their oppressors is not merely manifested to the world as deliverance and salvation generally, but serves also as an ornament and honour to that people themselves, so that, coming forth arrayed in it, they gain for it recognition and praise (Isa_55:5; Isa_60:7; Isa_60:9; Isa_60:13; Isa_61:3; Isa_62:7).” God’s spiritual salvation is a beautifying of the human character and life. The lowly and meek He clothes with Divine grace. “The beauty of the Lord our God is upon them.” “Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, they are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord.” For all these reasons let the people of God rejoice in Him.
II. The character of their rejoicing.
1. It is religious. They are called to “sing unto Jehovah;” to “rejoice in Him;” and to “praise His Name.” Their exultation is not sinful or selfish, but holy and in honour of God.
2. It is constant. Both by day and “in the congregation of saints,” and also by night and “upon their beds.” They are to cultivate an abiding spirit of pious gladness; to “rejoice evermore.”
3. It is intense. The number of times and the various forms of expression employed by the Psalmist in calling upon them to rejoice, and the various modes in which he calls upon them to express their joy, show that the joy is deep and full, active and abounding.
III. The expression of their rejoicing.
The poet calls upon Israel to express their joy—
1. With “a new song.” The exultant soul naturally speaks the language of poetry in the tones of music. New mercies demanded “a new song.” They required “a new song” also to express “all the new hopes and joys of a new era, a new spring of the nation, a new youth of the Church bursting forth into a new life.”
“Thus far His arm hath led us on;
Thus far we make His mercy known:
And while we tread this desert land,
New mercies shall new songs demand.”
2. With music and dancing. “Let them praise His Name in the dance; let them sing praises unto Him with the timbrel and harp.” “The dance,” says Dr. Hayman, “is spoken of in Holy Scripture universally as symbolical of some rejoicing, and is often coupled for the sake of contrast with mourning, as in Ecc_3:4, ‘a time to mourn and a time to dance’ (comp. Psa_30:11; Mat_11:17). In the earlier period it is found combined with some song or refrain (Exo_15:20; Exo_32:18-19; 1Sa_21:11); and with the tambourine (A. V., ‘timbrel’), moreespecially in those impulsive outbursts of popular feeling which cannot find sufficient vent in the voice or in gesture singly.… Women among the Hebrews made the dance their especial means of expressing their feelings.” But, as Barnes remarks, “there is much in the Hebrew mode of worship which cannot be transferred to the forms of Christian worship without an obvious incongruity and disadvantage; and because a thing has been done, and is not in itself wrong, we should not infer that it should always be done, or that it would be always best.” Yet whatever is seemly and suitable in music may be employed as an aid in the expression of religious joy.
3. Both in public and in private. “In the congregation of saints,” and “upon their beds.” In the public assemblies for religious worship we should extol our King and our God. And in the quiet of the night our holy joy may rise to Him in songs of praise. The godly man praises God both in the chamber and in the church.
Let Christians see their privilege, and cultivate and exhibit a spirit of religions thankfulness and joy. “Rejoice in the Lord alway: again I say, Rejoice.”
THE PEOPLE AND PLEASURE OF THE LORD
(Psa_149:4)
“For the Lord taketh pleasure in His people.”
I. The people.
1. They have a special relation to God.
2. They are regenerated and sanctified by His Spirit.
3. They are conformed to His image.
4. They are zealous for His glory.
II. The pleasure.
I. In their persons.
2. In their welfare.
3. In their services.
4. In their graces.
5. In their fellowship.
(1.) Are we the Lord’s people?
(2.) Do we realise our privilege as the objects of the Divine delight?
(3.) Do we delight in God?—George Brooks.
“THE BEAUTIES OF HOLINESS”
(Psa_149:4)
“He beautifieth the meek with salvation.”
“Salvation” is a word which is used by men to represent very different things. The lowest conception of it is that miserably selfish one of deliverance from punishment and the realisation of happiness. The highest is perhaps this, the attainment of spiritual beauty, becoming like Christ, finding our heaven in God. Salvation beautifies human character and life. I fear we are not sufficiently alive to the importance of beauty in the culture of character. God has made the soul receptive of the beautiful, capable of appreciating it, and profiting by it; and “He hath made everything beautiful in its time,” to minister to man’s thirst for beauty. The beautiful in character is for many reasons the highest beauty. This God promises to the meek. How many blessings come to the meek which the proud never receive! “The meek will He guide in judgment, and the meek will He teach His way.” “The meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.” “The Lord lifteth up the meek” “The High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity dwelleth with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” “Thus saith the Lord, To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit,” “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” “Jehovah beautifieth the meek with salvation.”
Meekness in itself is beautiful. Who does not love the modest violet? “The ornament of a meek and quiet spirit is in the sight of God of great price.” Our Lord Jesus is “meek and lowly in heart.” Haughtiness repels; meekness attracts.
Meekness is further beautified with salvation. Salvation is the transforming of our morally disfigured natures into glorious and unfading beauty.
I. Salvation promotes physical beauty.
Sin is moral ugliness; and it tends to produce physical ugliness. The sins of the drunkard, and glutton, and sensualist, banish refinement, purity, and beauty from the features, and make them coarse, vulgar, and brutal. Every debauch thickens the lips, dims the fire of the eye, effaces something of the spiritual from the countenance, and stamps it with something animal or even brutal. Now, as salvation promotes temperance, chastity, and spirituality, it also promotes physical beauty. Purity of heart will gradually and silently mould even coarse features into refinement and comeliness. Again, evil passions deform their victims I once saw three portraits of one man, taken at different periods of his life. There was that of youth—fair, beautiful, and apparently ingenuous; there was that of young manhood, still fair and beautiful, but with more of maturity and less of ingenuousness; there was that of the man still young in years, but old in passion, old in sin; and now the features are hard, cynical, bitter, repulsive, reminding one of his own words—
“To be thus—
Grey-hair’d with anguish, like these blasted pines,
Wrecks’ of a single winter, barkless, branchless,
A blighted trunk upon a cursed root,
Which but supplies a feeling to decay—
And to be thus, eternally but thus,
Having been otherwise!”
But while evil passions darken and scar the features, salvation, which curbs and conquers evil passion, and imparts calmness and peace and love, gives repose and sweetness and beauty of countenance. If truth and purity, spirituality and meekness, peace and love are ours, they will inform the features with a spiritual and divine beauty.
II. Salvation is spiritual beauty.
“Beauty is the robe of holiness: the more holiness, the more beauty.”
1. The beauty of salvation resembles the beauty of God Himself. Moses prayed, “Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us.” Meekness and patience, truth and righteousness, purity and love,—these constitute the infinite loveliness of the ever-blessed God; and these are the beauties with which He adorns the meek. All human beauty is but a reflection of “the beauty of the Lord our God.” Every grace that adorns human character is a ray from the splendours of the loveliness of the Infinite.
2. This beauty is varied. The beauty of creation is varied. Each of the seasons has its own peculiar charm. There are the beauties of the sea and shore, the beauties of wild mountain districts, and the beauties of quiet, fertile, pastoral scenes. So spiritual beauty is varied. In Mary we have the beauty of a receptive, meditative, deep, deathless love; in Martha that of an active, careful, ministering, and equally deathless love; in Job we have the beauty of trust in God sorely tested and sublimely triumphant; in Paul the beauty of a self-surrender and earnestness which has never been surpassed by man, &c.
The totality of beauty is found only in Jesus Christ He is the “Altogether Lovely.”
3. This beauty is immortal. The beauty of flowers soon perishes. The beauty of “the human face divine” is short-lived even at the longest. As our great dramatist says—
“Beauty is but a vain and doubtful good,
A shining gloss that fadeth suddenly;
A flower that dieth when first it ’gins to bud;
A brittle glass that’s broken presently;
A doubtful good, a gloss, a glass, a flower,
Lost, faded, broken, dead within an hour.”
But spiritual beauty is a pure good, and it never perishes. “Truth, love, and holiness are Divine, and always young and beautiful. The beauties with which they invest the soul have nothing temporal about them; they are the beauties of eternity.” The beauties of salvation are unfading.
4. This beauty is ever-increasing. The meek, rejoicing in perpetual youth, will increase in loveliness through all eternity. The redeemed soul will become invested with more and more of the Divine beauty for evermore.
Let us seek to be beautified with salvation. We have not sufficiently thought of salvation as an adornment, a thing of light and loveliness. We have not sufficiently sought to add sweetness to strength, and tenderness to integrity of character. Too often the thought of our safety has filled our mind to the exclusion of the nobler solicitude to be beautiful with Divine grace and radiance. Yet we are being saved only “so as by fire” if we are not growing in amiability and loveliness. Oh, seek to be “beautified with salvation”!
THE MILITANT PEOPLE OF GOD
(Psa_149:6-9)
In interpreting this portion of the Psalm we shall do well to heed the words of Delitzsch: “The dream that it was possible to use such a prayer as this, without a spiritual transubstantiation of the words, has made them the signal for some of the greatest crimes with which the Church has ever been stained. It was by means of this Psalm that Casper Sciopius in his ‘Clarion of the Sacred War’ (Classicum Belli Sacri), a work written, it has been said, not with ink, but with blood, roused and inflamed the Roman Catholic Princes to the Thirty Years’ War. It was by means of this Psalm that, in the Protestant community, Thomas Münzer fanned the flames of the War of the Peasants. We see from these and other instances that when in her interpretation of such a Psalm the Church forgets the words of the Apostle, ‘the weapons of our warfare are not carnal’ (2Co_10:4), she falls back upon the ground of the Old Testament, beyond which she has long since advanced,—ground which even the Jews themselves do not venture to maintain, because they cannot altogether withdraw themselves from the influence of the light which has dawned in Christianity, and which condemns the vindictive spirit. The Church of the Old Testament, which, as the people of Jehovah, was at the same time called to wage a holy war, had a right to express its hope of the universal conquest and dominion promised to it, in such terms as those of this Psalm; but, since Jerusalem and the seat of the Old Testament worship have perished, the national form of the Church has also for ever been broken in pieces. The Church of Christ is built up among and out of the nations; but neither is the Church a nation, nor will ever again one nation be the Church, κατʼ ἐξόχην. Therefore the Christian must transpose the letter of this Psalm into the spirit of the New Testament.”
We may use these verses as suggesting certain features of the spiritual warfare of the Church of Christ.
I. The true spirit of the Church militant.
The people of God in this world are a combatant people. They have enemies which they must war against. They have to contend against evil
(1) in themselves. “The flesh lusteth against the spirit,” &c. “I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection,” &c. Starke: “Wage a good warfare against thyself above all; take vengeance and inflict punishment upon the heathenish desires of thy heart; strike down with the sword of the Spirit what contends against God and His honour.” They have to contend against evil
(2) in the world. Satan is active in human society. Wicked men are arrayed against the cause of God. Sinful principles and practices are mighty upon earth. Against these Christians have to do battle. They have to conquer the world to Christ by the power of His grace and truth. The spirit in which they should wage this warfare is indicated in the text: With “the high praises of God in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand.” Let them go into the conflict with songs; let their spirit be that of triumphant trust in God. The victories of truth and grace are never won either by cowards or by the self-confident, but by those whose strength is in God, and whose courage is inspired by Him. Not with craven fears, but with confident hopes, let the soldiers of Christ war their warfare.
II. The trusty weapon of the Church militant
“A two-edged sword in their hand.” The grand weapon in Christian warfare is “the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” “The Word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword.” The only weapon which can slay error is truth. The only power which can convert men to God is His own power in the Gospel. “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God,” &c. Many and glorious victories have already been won by this weapon, and yet wider and more brilliant triumphs will be achieved by it in the future.
III. The Divine warrant of the Clhurch militant.
“To execute upon them the judgment writtell.” Various interpretations have been given to these words; some of which we need not mention here. The correct view, we think, will be found in this brief quotation from Perowne: “Others understand by ‘a judgment written’ one in accordance with the Divine will as written in Scripture, as opposed to selfish aims and passions (so Calvin). But perhaps it is better to take it as denoting a judgment fixed, settled—as committed to writing, so as to denote its permanent, unalterable character—written thus by God Himself. As in Isa_65:6, God says, ‘Behold, it in written before Me,’ &c.” Christians have a Divine commission for their holy warfare. That warfare accords with the purposes and plans of God.” As Thou hast sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.” “Go ye, make disciples of all the nations,” &c. “Go ye into all the world, and preach,” &c. And He who thus sends them forth, promises to be with them, and to conduct them to complete victory.
IV. The grand design of the Church militant.
“This honour have all His saints.” More correctly, “It is a11 houour for all His saints.” “That is,” says Perowne, “the subjection of the world described in the previous verses. But perhaps it is better to take the pronoun as referring to God: ‘He is a glory to all,’ &c.: i.e., either
(1) His glory and majesty are reflected in His people; or
(2) He is the autllor and fountain of their glory; or
(3) He is the glorious object of their praise.” The latter seems to us the true interpretation. The glory of the victory of the Church in the subjection of all the world to God will be entirely His in the eyes of all His people. All the praise and honour they will ascribe to Him. The glory of God is the grand end of the work and warfare of the Church. God shall “be all in all.” “It should lead us to shout ‘Hallelujah,’ that we are permitted to be employed in any way, however humble, in carrying out the Divine plans, or in accomplishing those great designs which He contemplates toward our race” “Praise ye Jehovah.”
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain I. The saints are in this Psalm described as…
Psa 149:9
I. The saints are in this Psalm described as meek-hearted.
Read full note →
The way to the highest glory is to be very quiet and humble.
"The Lord hath pleasure in His people; He will beautify the meek with salvation."
II. The next verses go on to describe more exactly the beauty and brightness of the saints’ marvellous salvation. They are to be filled with all joy and glory, but how? Not, as the honoured ones of this world, with a great noise and show of outward things; but they shall rejoice and "sing aloud upon their beds." It seems to say that one great privilege of the saints, one of the principal ways in which Almighty God prepares them for the great works which He has for them to do, is the putting good thoughts and good words into their minds in quiet and secret, when they are alone and unemployed, or lying awake upon their beds.
III. In the remainder of the Psalm we have a picture of the great war which is for ever going on between our Lord Christ and His saints on the one hand and this present evil world on the other. As warriors go out to battle with music and songs of encouragement, so the saints go out into the world with the high praises of God in their mouth. Besides, they have His two-edged sword in their hands. St. Paul tells us what this sword is; it is "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:" therefore it is represented as coming out of Christ’s mouth. Not by outward wars and fightings, but by its inward and searching power in men’s hearts, did the sword of Christ, borne by His saints, accomplish those great triumphs which are spoken of in the end of the Psalm.
J. Keble, Sermons for the Christian Year: Saints’ Days and Other Festivals, p. 444.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain The yielding of the nations.
The yielding of the nations.
"When Thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness." (Isa 26:9.) But what a tale that tells for man, that the kingdom of God and of Christ, the one perfect rule for which the earth groans must be introduced after such a manner! Yet it is a "judgment written," as the psalm before us declares. Divine love must needs execute it: the "iron rod" is in the Shepherd’s hand, and will smite for the salvation of His people, and to "destroy those that destroy the earth." (Rev 11:18.)
Read full note →
This is now what is briefly glanced at, the yielding of the nations to their Creator and King only when their pride is smitten in the dust, and the power they have abused is taken from them. Israel will have their part as instruments in God’s hand in that day, as of old when they took possession of their land, the iniquity of the Amorites being at last full. The dew of Hermon (Israel’s "great white throne") will revive the mountains of Zion (Psa 133:3); and they will no more, as in the former time, be disobedient to their God.
This must then be the prelude to rest upon earth; the "trumpets of jubilee" sound for the destruction of Jericho; although then; as before, there will be a remnant saved out of it.
1. The call for praise sounds once more: a "new song" is to be upon the lips of Israel. He is to rejoice in Him that made him; and the children of Zion are to be glad in their King. Zion is, as we know, to be the place of His throne, and that throne He is now taking.
2. But they are to praise Him also as their Saviour. He is taking pleasure in His people; and having brought them into the humbled condition necessary for their exaltation, He will beautify the meek with salvation. This is assuredly more than a deliverance from their national foes. though it will include this. And thus they will learn to exult in the Name they have forgotten; and the joy of the Lord will be to them a strength they have never yet possessed. "He that is feeble among them in that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of Jehovah before them." (Zec 12:8.)
3. Now they exult in glory; they sing aloud upon their beds. The quiet of their thoughts at the time God has ordained for us to help us to reality shall only make them more ecstatic in their praises. They will have the high praises of the Mighty in their mouth, and in their hand a two-edged sword: for the nations are now to meet the retribution, for long ages of wrong-doing. Their kings, without power to stand, will fall into the hands of these avengers, to be bound and fettered: for it is the judgment written that is now executed, and this is the honor committed to all His saints.
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain A song of praise to God who gives the…
A song of praise to God who gives the victory, including vengeance on the enemies of Israel.
4. Salvation] RM 'victory.'
Read full note →
5. Upon their beds] even in the night-season.
9. The judgment] probably referring to the prophecies and Pss. concerning the destruction of the heathen: cp. Psa_18:30-43; Psa_83:10-13; Isa_45:14. This honour, etc.] better, 'This' (the overthrow of their enemies) 'shall be an honour for all his saints.'
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain Hallelujah to the God of Victory.
Hallelujah to the God of Victory.
A song of praise exhorting particularly the chosen people, the true believers, to praise God for favors of the past, as well as for future victories, which His promise assures them.
Read full note →
v. 1. Praise ye the Lord, this being the constant occupation of the faithful, their moat delightful pastime. Sing unto the Lord a new song, one composed under the pressure of new, youthful energy, as the congregation enters upon a new era of growth and prosperity, and His praise in the congregation of saints, in the midst of those who have remained faithful to the true God and are impelled to make known the faith of their hearts in open avowal to Him.
v. 2. Let Israel, the congregation of believers, rejoice in Him that made him, who has once more renewed His covenant with His children and established them as His people; let the children of Zion, the members of the Church, be joyful in their King, in Christ, the Messiah, Ruler of the Kingdom of Grace.
v. 3. Let them praise His name in the dance, in ecstatic marching and rhythmic leaping, as we read of Miriam and of David, Exo 15:20-21; 2Sa 6:14; let them sing praises unto Him with the timbrel, a small kettle-drum, and harp, or zither, their accompanied with the most joyful instrumental music.
v. 4. For the Lord taketh pleasure in His people, accepting their offerings and thereby declaring Himself well pleased with them; He will beautify the meek with salvation, adorning those who come to Him with sorrowful, repentant hearts, with faith, hope, joy, and peace.
v. 5. Let the saints be joyful in glory, on account of the honor granted them by virtue of their adoption as children of God; let them sing aloud upon their beds, the change from mourning and lamentation being so great that the day is too short to express the happiness possessing their hearts, for which reason they continue their hymns of praise even after they have retired for the night.
v. 6. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, literally, in their throat, to indicate the bubbling over of the joy of their hearts in hymns glorifying Jehovah, and a two-edged sword in their hand, signifying their willingness to defend the truth of their belief against the whole world, true soldiers of the Cross,
v. 7. to execute vengeance upon the heathen, at that time a part of Israel’s duty, and punishments upon the people; the fleshly warfare having now been replaced by the warfare of the Word, attended by the victories of the Gospel;
v. 8. to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron;
v. 9. to execute upon them the judgment written, the proclamation of the Gospel continuing to have the effect of taking captive the hearts of even mighty and learned ones of this world and convincing them of the truth of the Gospel, Isa 53:12; Isa 49:23; Rev 3:8-9. This honor have all His saints, the glory of being a soldier of the Cross not being confined to the regularly ordained pastors and missionaries, but being the privilege of all Christians, as they are inspired with missionary energy flowing from the Word and go forth to win the Lord’s battles. Praise ye the Lord! Cf 2Co 2:14-17.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
Parallelism is common in Hebrew poetry. (See: Poetry and Parallelism)
Read full note →
General Information:
The psalmist is speaking to all of God's people, so you should use the plural command form if your language has one. (See: Pronouns)
a new song
Possible meanings are 1) "a song you have never sung before" or 2) a song no one has ever sung before.
sing his praise
"praise him with songs"
translationWords
praise
Yahweh
assembly
faithful
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Ps 149 This hymn of praise celebrates the Lord’s…
Ps 149 This hymn of praise celebrates the Lord’s victory. He is the Maker of Israel (149:1-2) and the victorious King who shares his glory with his faithful ones (149:3-9).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.