Psalms 95

Chapter context

What is happening in Psalms 95?

prayerpraiselamentkingship

Psalms 95 belongs to the middle movement of the book, especially the section often described as Book IV. Psalms is the Bible’s great book of sung prayer, teaching the full range of faithful speech from anguish and repentance to jubilation and doxology. Read this chapter with the wider themes of prayer, praise, and lament in view so the individual verses keep their proper weight.

¹ O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. ² Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. ³ For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. ⁴ In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also. ⁵ The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land. ⁶ O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker. ⁷ For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice, ⁸ Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: ⁹ When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work. ¹⁰ Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways: ¹¹ Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.

Study helps

Glossary

Bow Tribe v. 6: The bow was in use in early times both in war and in the chase ( Gen. 21:20 ; 27:3 ; 48:22 ). The tribe of Benjamin were famous for the use of the bow ( 1 Chr. 8:40 ; 12:2 ; 2 Chr. 14:8 ; 17:17 ); so also were the Elamites.
Massah Place v. 8: Biblical campsite. Modern identification: Wadi Rufaiyil.
Meribah Place v. 8: Biblical campsite. Modern identification: Wadi Rufaiyil.