Psalm 29 A Psalm of David

 ¹Give unto the Lord, O you mighty ones,

Give unto the Lord glory and strength.

²Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name;

Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

³The voice of the Lord is over the waters;

The God of glory thunders;

The Lord is over many waters.

⁴The voice of the Lord is powerful;

The voice of the Lord is full of majesty.

⁵The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars,

Yes, the Lord splinters the cedars of Lebanon.

⁶He makes them also skip like a calf,

Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild ox.

⁷The voice of the Lord divides the flames of fire.

⁸The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;

The Lord shakes the Wilderness of Kadesh.

⁹The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth,

And strips the forests bare;

And in His temple everyone says, “Glory!”

¹⁰The Lord sat enthroned at the Flood,

And the Lord sits as King forever.

¹¹The Lord will give strength to His people;

The Lord will bless His people with peace.

Commentary

Vs. 1-2 ¹Give unto the Lord, O you mighty ones,

Give unto the Lord glory and strength.

²Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name;

Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

 This psalm opens with a call to worship, but more than worship, it is a call to us all to magnify and glorify the Lord! For He alone is Glorious, and He alone is Strong, for only His Glory and His Strength remains forever, all others “glory” and “strength” is soon enough returned to the dust. Therefore, “Give unto the Lord, O you mighty ones, Give unto the Lord glory and strength.” All you mighty ones who are exalted in the heavens, and all you mighty ones down here on earth, for everyone and everything that is exalted and revered to give unto the Lord glory and strength (Psalm 2:10-12; 148:7-12). For He alone is Glorious, and He alone is Strong, and only His Glory and Strength remains forever. Therefore, give unto the Lord the glory due His Name, for it is by His Name, and His Name alone that we are saved by Him (Acts 4:12). Let us all then whom He has created, and whom He has redeemed, worship the Lord alone in the beauty of holiness!

Vs. 3-9 ³The voice of the Lord is over the waters;

The God of glory thunders;

The Lord is over many waters.

⁴The voice of the Lord is powerful;

The voice of the Lord is full of majesty.

⁵The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars,

Yes, the Lord splinters the cedars of Lebanon.

⁶He makes them also skip like a calf,

Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild ox.

⁷The voice of the Lord divides the flames of fire.

⁸The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;

The Lord shakes the Wilderness of Kadesh.

⁹The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth,

And strips the forests bare;

And in His temple everyone says, “Glory!”

 Having exalted the Person of the Lord, now the voice of the Lord seven times (a perfect number) is declared to us. For the Lord is never silent, His voice can be heard in all of His Works in creation. And here we told of it in power of the storm, where the voice of the Lord is heard over the waters, where the God of glory thunders. For the Lord is over many waters, and never just in our immediate vicinity (vs. 3). “The voice of the Lord is powerful; The voice of the Lord is full of majesty” (vs. 4). It can be heard in thunder, and it can be heard in the wind. Therefore, by it He strikes fear and reverence into all the hearts of the sons of men. Now the voice of the Lord is not only heard, but it is also seen in power, for it is the voice of the Lord that breaks the cedars, Yes, the Lord splinters the cedars of Lebanon. The largest ancient trees of the middle east, for He makes them skip like a calf, Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild ox (vs. 6). Therefore, they all bend and sway and move as He will have them do, at His Voice, at His Command! The voice of the Lord divides the flames of fire (vs. 7), He parts them or imparts them as He wills. Which is reference to His splitting the lightening bolts.

“The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;

The Lord shakes the Wilderness of Kadesh.” (vs. 8)

From the oceans to the coastlands, to now the inland wildernesses, the voice of Lord moves uninhibited mightily across the land, even to the remotest uninhabited places in the wilderness where His Voice shakes them!

“The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth,

And strips the forests bare;

And in His temple everyone says, “Glory!” (Vs. 9)

 Because of the power of the voice of the Lord even the deer in the forest fears and is suddenly caused to give birth. Indeed, the voice of the Lord strips the forests bare, leaving what was once large and majestic and mighty now looking striped, gaunt and pathetic. Therefore, in recalling the voice of the Lord everyone in His temple says, “Glory!”

Vs. 10 “The Lord sat enthroned at the Flood,

And the Lord sits as King forever.”

In recalling the mighty voice of the Lord then let us never forget that Lord sat enthroned at the flood, He was exalted above all creation. For the Lord sits as King forever.

Vs. 11 “The Lord will give strength to His people;

The Lord will bless His people with peace.”

Since the Lord sits as King forever, He will give strength to His people, He will bless us with peace! We need not then fear the natural elements which He directs, nor any of those of this world, the “mighty ones” whom He also watches over. For He raises up one and brings down another according to His own Will (Job 12:21; Psalm 107:40; Isaiah 34:12; 40:23).

Scripture Quotations

New King James (1982): Thomas Nelson.