Psalm 66:2

Psalm 66 is a song of thanksgiving sung by God’s people together. Its first seven verses call the whole world to praise and give the reasons: God’s awesome works, and above all the day he led Israel through the waters. The rest of the psalm (Psalm 66:8–20) moves from the nation’s praise to the trials God brought his people through, and then to one worshipper’s own vows and thanks. The psalm names no occasion. It may have been sung after a great national deliverance, perhaps in the years after the exile.

The call goes out to “all ye lands”. In Hebrew this is kol-hā’ārets, “all the earth”, built on ʼerets, the word for earth or land, and verse 4 uses the same phrase, which the KJV renders there “All the earth”. It takes in every people, nation and inhabitant of the world. Israel’s worship centred on the God who had made his covenant with them at Sinai, and here their own song summons the nations to praise him, because he rules them all. The prophets carry the same hope. The servant of the LORD is given as a light to the Gentiles (Isaiah 49:6), and Paul gathers Scriptures showing the Gentiles glorifying God for his mercy (Romans 15:9–11). Psalm 100 opens with the same command to make a joyful noise to the LORD (Psalm 100:1). From the beginning, God’s purpose of salvation reached past Israel to all mankind.

Verse 2 says what the shout is about. “Sing forth” is zâmar, to sing praise or make music in praise of God, whether with instruments and dancing or with the voice alone, to a set tune or one made up on the spot. The singing has a subject, “the honour of his name”. The word for name, shêm, stands in Scripture for who God has made himself known to be: his character, his authority and his reputation. Honour is kâbôwd, glory, honour and splendour. To sing the honour of his name is to declare aloud who God is and what he has done, so that his worth is known to ourselves, to those who worship beside us and to the world. Psalm 29 calls for the glory due to his name (Psalm 29:2), and Psalm 96 for singing to the LORD and blessing his name (Psalm 96:2).

The second line, “make his praise glorious”, takes up the same word kâbôwd. The Hebrew is simu kavod, literally “set glory” or “place glory” on his praise. The two lines say one thing twice, and the second makes it stronger: the praise itself is to be weighty and splendid, fit for the God it honours. Praise of that kind comes from the whole person, mind, heart and voice, offered sincerely and with care, both when the church gathers and in a life of thanks and obedience. Paul ties the church’s singing to the word of Christ dwelling richly in his people (Colossians 3:16). God formed Israel for this very purpose: “they shall shew forth my praise” (Isaiah 43:21), and Psalm 145 joins his greatness to the praise he is due (Psalm 145:3).

Verse 3 gives the worshipper words to speak to God himself. “Say” is ʼâmar, the ordinary verb for saying or telling, here a command, and what is to be said is an exclamation: “How terrible art thou in thy works!”

“Terrible” comes from yârêʼ, to fear or to revere. In the KJV’s English it means awe-inspiring: so great, holy and powerful that it fills people with reverence, wonder and trembling. God is awesome in what he does, and his works call for that response. The word for works, maʻăseh, means deeds, work and workmanship. It covers what God made at creation and what he has done since in saving and judging, the Exodus first among them, as the following verses show.

These works come “through the greatness of thy power”. Greatness is rôb, abundance or vastness, and power here is ʻôz, strength or might. What God does springs from a strength without measure, and that is why it cannot be resisted.

The psalm says plainly that it will: “All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee; they shall sing to thy name.” The verse speaks of the future with certainty, as a prophecy of what God has decreed. To worship, shachah, is to bow down, to lie prostrate, to do obeisance before a superior. It is the posture of humble submission, and it carries the heart’s reverence with it. The verb for singing is zâmar again, as in verse 2, and the song is sung “to thy name”, the same word shem. When God passed before Moses he proclaimed his name, and with it his mercy, grace and justice (Exodus 34:5–7), and Psalm 8 marvels at how excellent that name is (Psalm 8:1). The nations’ song is about who God has shown himself to be.

People also ask whether “all the earth” means every single person. The phrase promises worshippers from every nation, people and tribe, so that every corner of the earth gives God the worship he is due. It speaks of the barriers between nations coming down, and it leaves the salvation of each person to the gospel’s call. John saw that multitude, “of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues”, standing before the throne and the Lamb (Revelation 7:9–10), and he heard every creature in heaven and on earth giving praise (Revelation 5:13).

The rest of Scripture holds the same hope. God is the King of all the earth (Psalm 47:7), and Zechariah looks for the day when the LORD shall be “king over all the earth” (Zechariah 14:9). Isaiah sees the nations flowing to the house of the LORD (Isaiah 2:2–4), and Psalm 22 says that all the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the LORD (Psalm 22:27). In Revelation 15 the redeemed sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb, and all nations come and worship before God.

Verse 5 turns from calling to showing. “Come and see the works of God” asks people to come and look for themselves. Philip used the same words when he brought Nathanael to Jesus (John 1:46), and Psalm 46 gives a like invitation to behold the works of the LORD (Psalm 46:8). God makes himself known through deeds that people can see, and Israel was taught again and again to remember the mighty acts he did before their eyes (Deuteronomy 4:34).

This verse shares the English word “works” with verse 3, though the Hebrew here is a different word, miphʻâl, a performance or accomplishment. Beside it stands “doing”, ʻălîylâh, an act, deed or exploit, often a notable deed that shows power or brings judgment. “Terrible” is yârêʼ again, the same word as in verse 3. Scripture uses it of the great deeds God did for Israel (Deuteronomy 10:21) and of his very name (Deuteronomy 28:58). It is the reverent fear of the LORD on which Proverbs builds (Proverbs 1:7), and the song Moses sang at the Red Sea praises God for the same awesome deeds (Exodus 15:11).

His deeds are “toward the children of men”. The phrase joins bên, son, and ʼâdâm, man, and means all human beings. People ask whether this invitation was only for ancient Israel. The phrase “children of men”, together with the call to “all ye lands” in verse 1, shows that God’s works are meant to be seen and owned by every people. Paul says that God’s eternal power and Godhead are clearly seen in the things he has made (Romans 1:20).

The first line remembers the night God parted the Red Sea for Israel as they came out of Egypt (Exodus 14:21–22), told in full in Exodus 14 and celebrated in the song of Moses in Exodus 15. This was the founding act of Israel’s deliverance from slavery. “He turned” is hâphak, to change completely, to overturn. “The sea” is yâm, the sea or any large body of water, and in this setting it is the Red Sea, a barrier Israel could not cross with Pharaoh’s army behind them. “Dry land” is yabbâshâh, dry ground: firm, dry earth that a whole nation could walk over safely.

The second line, “they went through the flood on foot”, uses a word for river or stream, nâhâr. Believers differ on what it refers to. Some take the river as the sea of the first line again, the second line of the verse repeating the first in Hebrew fashion. Others take it to be the Jordan, which Israel crossed on dry ground under Joshua as they entered the promised land (Joshua 3:15–17, the whole account in Joshua 3). On either reading God held the waters back for his people, and they crossed on foot because he made the way. Isaiah names the LORD as the one who made a path through the mighty waters (Isaiah 43:16).

“There did we rejoice in him.” The word “there” points back to the very place of the crossing, and “we” puts the singers among the people who crossed, though they lived generations later. God’s people remember his past deeds as their own story, as Psalm 77 does when it resolves to remember his works of old (Psalm 77:11–12). The verb sâmach means to rejoice or be glad, to feel and show great joy, and Scripture uses it for every kind of gladness. Here the words “in him” settle where the joy rests: in God himself, who did the saving.

Verse 7 moves from what God did to what he is always doing. “He ruleth” is mâshal, to rule, and he rules “by his power”, gᵉbûwrâh, might or mighty deeds. Scripture uses that word for the strength of people, of nations and even of a horse, and here it is the might of God, which has no end: he rules “for ever”. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom (Psalm 145:13), and his throne is established in the heavens over all (Psalm 103:19). The God who parted the sea once is on his throne still.

“His eyes behold the nations.” The eyes, ʻayin, are spoken of in human terms so that we can grasp how closely God attends to the world. “Behold” is tsâphâh, to watch closely, to peer into the distance, to keep watch like a guard. The nations, gôwy (plural goyim), are all the peoples of the earth, Israel’s neighbours included. Proverbs says the eyes of the LORD are in every place, watching the evil and the good (Proverbs 15:3).

People ask whether his watching means judgment or care, and it means both. He sees every deed of the nations, the rebellion this verse goes on to name among them, and so all are accountable to him. He also sees the suffering of the world he made and works out his purposes among the nations, having appointed their times and the bounds of their dwelling (Acts 17:26–27).

“Let not the rebellious exalt themselves.” The rebellious, çârar, are the stubborn, those who turn aside from the right way and deliberately defy God. To exalt themselves, rûwm, is to lift themselves up. The form of the sentence can be heard as a warning or as a prayer, and it carries both. Since God rules for ever and sees everything, anyone who lifts himself up against him will come down. The rebellious may be foreign enemies who oppressed Israel or the disobedient within Israel itself, and the warning stands over both. Selah follows, and the call to the nations ends on this note.

The call for all the lands to praise God comes to its fulfilment in Jesus Christ. By his death he broke down the wall between Jew and Gentile and made one new people reconciled to God (Ephesians 2:14–16). He sent his disciples to “teach all nations” (Matthew 28:19), and in heaven the redeemed sing that he has redeemed them to God by his blood “out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation” (Revelation 5:9–10). They are washed in “the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:14), and the Lamb that was slain is worthy to receive power, honour, glory and blessing (Revelation 5:12).

In Christ the honour of God’s name is seen in full, for he is “the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person” (Hebrews 1:3). Through him we offer “the sacrifice of praise to God continually” (Hebrews 13:15), and so the praise of verse 2 is made glorious.

God’s most awesome work toward the children of men is the cross and the empty tomb. At the cross God made Christ, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, so that we might be made righteous in him (2 Corinthians 5:21), and Christ is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). By the resurrection God raised him from the dead so that we might walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4). To “come and see the works of God” is now to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6).

Jesus showed the same command over the waters as the God of verse 6 when he stilled the storm with a word (Mark 4:39) and walked on the sea (Matthew 14:25). By his death and rising he passed through death itself and opened “a new and living way” to God (Hebrews 10:19–20), for he is the way to the Father (John 14:6).

He also rules by his power for ever. After his resurrection he said, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28:18). All things were made by him and hold together in him (Colossians 1:16–17). He disarmed principalities and powers and triumphed over them (Colossians 2:15), and he is the one God has ordained to judge the living and the dead (Acts 10:42). John saw him ride out as King of kings to conquer every enemy (Revelation 19:11–16), and heard the kingdoms of this world proclaimed his kingdom for ever (Revelation 11:15). He is the Lamb who saves and the Lion of the tribe of Judah who prevails (Revelation 5:5). So the warning to the rebellious is also an invitation, for whoever believes on the Son has everlasting life (John 3:36).

These verses give us a God whose praise is too large for one nation. He is the God of every land, and the day is coming when all the earth bows to him and sings to his name. His claim on that praise rests on what he has done in history, in the sea turned to dry ground and the people brought through on foot, and so faith in him has solid ground under it. The psalm sets old deeds in the mouths of later singers, who say “there did we rejoice in him” as if they had crossed themselves, and God’s people still tell his works that way. He rules for ever and watches every nation, which is comfort to those who trust him and warning to those who rise against him. The shout of verse 1 belongs to everyone who has seen his works, and in Christ that now includes people from every land.