USB ~ Psalms 29

The Lord of Majesty Acclaimed as King of the World

1 A psalm of David. Give to the LORD, you sons of God,† give to the LORD glory and might;

2 Give to the LORD the glory due his name. Bow down before the LORD’s holy splendor! a

3 The voice of the LORD† is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD, over the mighty waters.

4 The voice of the LORD is power; the voice of the LORD is splendor. b

5 The voice of the LORD cracks the cedars; the LORD splinters the cedars of Lebanon,

6 Makes Lebanon leap like a calf, and Sirion† like a young bull.

7 The voice of the LORD strikes with fiery flame;

8 the voice of the LORD shakes the desert; the LORD shakes the desert of Kadesh.

9 †The voice of the LORD makes the deer dance and strips the forests bare. All in his Temple say, “Glory!”

III

10 The LORD sits enthroned above the flood!† c The LORD reigns as king forever!

11 May the LORD give might to his people;† may the LORD bless his people with peace! d

Footnotes

†. Psalm 29 The hymn invites the members of the heavenly court to acknowledge God’s supremacy by ascribing glory and might to God alone (Ps 29:1-2a, 9b). Divine glory and might are dramatically visible in the storm (Ps 29:3-9a). The storm apparently comes from the Mediterranean onto the coast of Syria-Palestine and then moves inland. In Ps 29:10 the divine beings acclaim God’s eternal kingship. The Psalm concludes with a prayer that God will impart the power just displayed to the Israelite king and through the king to Israel.

†. 29:1 Sons of God: members of the heavenly court who served Israel’s God in a variety of capacities.

†. 29:3 The voice of the LORD: the sevenfold repetition of the phrase imitates the sound of crashing thunder and may allude to God’s primordial slaying of Leviathan, the seven-headed sea monster of Canaanite mythology.

†. 29:6 Sirion: the Phoenician name for Mount Hermon, cf. Dt 3:9.

†. 29:9b-10 Having witnessed God’s supreme power (Ps 29:3-9a), the gods acknowledge the glory that befits the king of the divine and human world.

†. 29:10 The flood: God defeated the primordial waters and made them part of the universe, cf. Ps 89:10-13; 93:3-4.

†. 29:11 His people: God’s people, Israel.

29:2 Ps 68:35; 96:7-9.
29:4 Ps 46:7; 77:18-19; Jb 37:4; Is 30:30.
29:10 Bar 3:3.
29:11 Ps 68:36.