Worthy.Bible » Parallel » 1 Chronicles » Chapter 16 » Verse 23-33

1 Chronicles 16:23-33 King James Version (KJV)

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23 Sing unto the LORD, all the earth; show forth from day to day his salvation.

24 Declare his glory among the heathen; his marvelous works among all nations.

25 For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised: he also is to be feared above all gods.

26 For all the gods of the people are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.

27 Glory and honor are in his presence; strength and gladness are in his place.

28 Give unto the LORD, ye kindred of the people, give unto the LORD glory and strength.

29 Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.

30 Fear before him, all the earth: the world also shall be stable, that it be not moved.

31 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice: and let men say among the nations, The LORD reigneth.

32 Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof: let the fields rejoice, and all that is therein.

33 Then shall the trees of the wood sing out at the presence of the LORD, because he cometh to judge the earth.

1 Chronicles 16:23-33 King James Version with Strong's Concordance (STRONG)

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23 Sing H7891 unto the LORD, H3068 all the earth; H776 shew forth H1319 from day H3117 to day H3117 his salvation. H3444

24 Declare H5608 his glory H3519 among the heathen; H1471 his marvellous works H6381 among all nations. H5971

25 For great H1419 is the LORD, H3068 and greatly H3966 to be praised: H1984 he also is to be feared H3372 above all gods. H430

26 For all the gods H430 of the people H5971 are idols: H457 but the LORD H3068 made H6213 the heavens. H8064

27 Glory H1935 and honour H1926 are in his presence; H6440 strength H5797 and gladness H2304 are in his place. H4725

28 Give H3051 unto the LORD, H3068 ye kindreds H4940 of the people, H5971 give H3051 unto the LORD H3068 glory H3519 and strength. H5797

29 Give H3051 unto the LORD H3068 the glory H3519 due unto his name: H8034 bring H5375 an offering, H4503 and come H935 before H6440 him: worship H7812 the LORD H3068 in the beauty H1927 of holiness. H6944

30 Fear H2342 before H6440 him, all the earth: H776 the world H8398 also shall be stable, H3559 that it be not moved. H4131

31 Let the heavens H8064 be glad, H8055 and let the earth H776 rejoice: H1523 and let men say H559 among the nations, H1471 The LORD H3068 reigneth. H4427

32 Let the sea H3220 roar, H7481 and the fulness H4393 thereof: let the fields H7704 rejoice, H5970 and all that is therein.

33 Then shall the trees H6086 of the wood H3293 sing out H7442 at the presence H6440 of the LORD, H3068 because he cometh H935 to judge H8199 the earth. H776

1 Chronicles 16:23-33 American Standard (ASV)

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23 Sing unto Jehovah, all the earth; Show forth his salvation from day to day.

24 Declare his glory among the nations, His marvellous works among all the peoples.

25 For great is Jehovah, and greatly to be praised: He also is to be feared above all gods.

26 For all the gods of the peoples are idols: But Jehovah made the heavens.

27 Honor and majesty are before him: Strength and gladness are in his place.

28 Ascribe unto Jehovah, ye kindreds of the peoples, Ascribe unto Jehovah glory and strength;

29 Ascribe unto Jehovah the glory due unto his name: Bring an offering, and come before him: Worship Jehovah in holy array.

30 Tremble before him, all the earth: The world also is established that it cannot be moved.

31 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; And let them say among the nations, Jehovah reigneth.

32 Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; Let the field exult, and all that is therein;

33 Then shall the trees of the wood sing for joy before Jehovah; For he cometh to judge the earth.

1 Chronicles 16:23-33 Young's Literal Translation (YLT)

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23 Sing to Jehovah, all the earth, Proclaim from day unto day His salvation.

24 Rehearse among nations His glory, Among all the peoples His wonders.

25 For great `is' Jehovah, and praised greatly, And fearful He `is' above all gods.

26 For all gods of the peoples `are' nought, And Jehovah the heavens hath made.

27 Honour and majesty `are' before Him, Strength and joy `are' in His place.

28 Ascribe to Jehovah, ye families of peoples, Ascribe to Jehovah honour and strength.

29 Ascribe to Jehovah the honour of His name, Lift up a present, and come before Him. Bow yourselves to Jehovah, In the beauty of holiness.

30 Be pained before Him, all the earth:

31 Also, established is the world, It is not moved! The heavens rejoice, and the earth is glad, And they say among nations: Jehovah hath reigned.

32 Roar doth the sea, and its fulness, Exult doth the field, and all that `is' in it,

33 Then sing do trees of the forest, From the presence of Jehovah, For He hath come to judge the earth!

1 Chronicles 16:23-33 Darby English Bible (DARBY)

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23 Sing unto Jehovah, all the earth; Publish his salvation from day to day.

24 Declare his glory among the nations, His wondrous works among all peoples.

25 For Jehovah is great, and exceedingly to be praised; And he is terrible above all gods.

26 For all the gods of the peoples are idols; But Jehovah made the heavens.

27 Majesty and splendour are before him; Strength and gladness in his place.

28 Give unto Jehovah, ye families of peoples, Give unto Jehovah glory and strength!

29 Give unto Jehovah the glory of his name! Bring an oblation, and come before him: Worship Jehovah in holy splendour.

30 Tremble before him, all the earth: The world also is established, it shall not be moved.

31 Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; And let them say among the nations, Jehovah reigneth!

32 Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; Let the field exult, and all that is therein.

33 Then shall the trees of the forest sing out at the presence of Jehovah, For he cometh to judge the earth.

1 Chronicles 16:23-33 World English Bible (WEB)

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23 Sing to Yahweh, all the earth; Show forth his salvation from day to day.

24 Declare his glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples.

25 For great is Yahweh, and greatly to be praised: He also is to be feared above all gods.

26 For all the gods of the peoples are idols: But Yahweh made the heavens.

27 Honor and majesty are before him: Strength and gladness are in his place.

28 Ascribe to Yahweh, you relatives of the peoples, Ascribe to Yahweh glory and strength;

29 Ascribe to Yahweh the glory due to his name: Bring an offering, and come before him: Worship Yahweh in holy array.

30 Tremble before him, all the earth: The world also is established that it can't be moved.

31 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; Let them say among the nations, Yahweh reigns.

32 Let the sea roar, and the fullness of it; Let the field exult, and all that is therein;

33 Then shall the trees of the wood sing for joy before Yahweh; For he comes to judge the earth.

1 Chronicles 16:23-33 Bible in Basic English (BBE)

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23 Make songs to the Lord, all the earth; give the good news of his salvation day by day.

24 Make clear his glory to the nations, and his wonders to all the peoples.

25 For the Lord is great, and greatly to be praised; and he is more to be feared than all other gods.

26 For all the gods of the nations are false gods; but the Lord made the heavens.

27 Honour and glory are before him: strength and joy are in his holy place.

28 Give to the Lord, O you families of the peoples, give to the Lord glory and strength.

29 Give to the Lord the glory of his name; take with you an offering and come before him; give worship to the Lord in holy robes.

30 Be in fear before him, all the earth: the world is ordered so that it may not be moved.

31 Let the heavens have joy and let the earth be glad; let them say among the nations, The Lord is King.

32 Let the sea be thundering with all its waters; let the field be glad, and everything which is in it;

33 Then let all the trees of the wood be sounding with joy before the Lord, for he is come to be the judge of the earth.

Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on 1 Chronicles 16

Commentary on 1 Chronicles 16 Matthew Henry Commentary

John Gill   Keil & Delitzsch   Robert Jamieson: Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible  

Chapter 16

This chapter concludes that great affair of the settlement of the ark in the royal city, and with it the settlement of the public worship of God during the reign of David. Here is,

  • I. The solemnity with which the ark was fixed (v. 1-6).
  • II. The psalm David gave to be sung on this occasion (v. 7-36).
  • III. The settling of the stated public worship of God in order thenceforward (v. 37-43).

1Ch 16:1-6

It was a glorious day when the ark of God was safely lodged in the tent David had pitched for it. That good man had his heart much upon it, could not sleep contentedly till it was done, Ps. 132:4, 5.

  • I. The circumstances of the ark were now,
    • 1. Better than what they had been. It had been obscure in a country town, in the fields of the wood; now it was removed to a public place, to the royal city, where all might resort to it. It had been neglected, as a despised broken vessel; now it was attended with veneration, and God was enquired of by it. It had borrowed a room in a private house, which it enjoyed by courtesy; now it had a habitation of its own entirely to itself, was set in the midst of it, and not crowded into a corner. Note, Though God's word and ordinances may be clouded and eclipsed for a time, they shall at length shine out of obscurity. Yet,
    • 2. They were much short of what was intended in the next reign, when the temple was to be built. This was but a tent, a poor mean dwelling; yet this was the tabernacle, the temple which David in his psalms often speaks of with so much affection. David, who pitched a tent for the ark and continued steadfast to it, did far better than Solomon, who built a temple for it and yet in his latter end turned his back upon it. The church's poorest times were its purest.
  • II. Now David was easy in his mind, the ark was fixed, and fixed near him. Now see how he takes care,
    • 1. That God shall have the glory of it. Two ways he gives him honour upon this occasion:-
      • (1.) By sacrifices (v. 1), burnt-offerings in adoration of his perfections, peace-offerings in acknowledgment of his favours.
      • (2.) By songs: he appointed Levites to record this story in a song for the benefit of others, or to celebrate it themselves by thanking and praising the God of Israel, v. 4. All our rejoicings must express themselves in thanksgivings to him from whom all our comforts are received.
    • 2. That the people shall have the joy of it. They shall fare the better for this day's solemnity; for he gives them all what is worth coming for, not only a royal treat in honour of the day (v. 3), in which David showed himself generous to his subjects, as he had found God gracious to him (those whose hearts are enlarged with holy joy should show it by being open-handed); but (which is far better) he gives them also a blessing in the name of the Lord, as a father, as a prophet, v. 2. He prayed to God for them, and commended them to his grace. In the name of the Word of the Lord (so the Targum), the essential eternal Word, who is Jehovah, and through whom all blessings come to us.

1Ch 16:7-36

We have here the thanksgiving psalm which David, by the Spirit, composed, and delivered to the chief musician, to be sung upon occasion of the public entry the ark made into the tent prepared for it. Some think he appointed this hymn to be daily used in the temple service, as duly as the day came; whatever other psalms they sung, they must not omit this. David had penned many psalms before this, some in the time of his trouble by Saul. This was composed before, but was now first delivered into the hand of Asaph, for the use of the church. It is gathered out of several psalms (from the beginning to v. 23 is taken from Ps. 105:1, etc.; and then v. 23 to v. 34 is the whole 96th psalm, with little variation; v. 34 is taken from Ps. 136:1 and divers others; and then the last two verses are taken from the close of Ps. 106), which some think warrants us to do likewise, and make up hymns out of David's psalms, a part of one and a part of another put together so as may be most proper to express and excite the devotion of Christians. These psalms will be best expounded in their proper places (if the Lord will); here we take them as they are put together, with a design to thank the Lord (v. 7), a great duty, to which we need to be excited and in which we need to be assisted.

  • 1. Let God be glorified in our praises; let his honour be the centre in which all the lines meet. Let us glorify him by our thanksgivings (Give thanks to the Lord), by our prayers (Call on his name, v. 8), by our songs (Sing psalms unto him), by our discourse-Talk of all his wondrous works, v. 9. Let us glorify him as a great God, and greatly to be praised (v. 25), as supreme God (above all gods), as sole God, for all others are idols, v. 26. Let us glorify him as most bright and blessed in himself (Glory and honour are in his presence, v. 27), as creator (The Lord made the heavens), as the ruler of the whole creation (His judgments are in all the earth, v. 14), and as ours-He is the Lord our God. Thus must we give unto the Lord the glory due to his name (v. 28, 29), and own it, and much more, his due.
  • 2. Let other be edified and instructed: Make known his deeds among the people (v. 8), declare his glory among the heathen (v. 24), that those who are strangers to him may be led into acquaintance with him, allegiance to him, and the adoration of him. Thus must we serve the interests of his kingdom among men, that all the earth may fear before him, v. 30.
  • 3. Let us be ourselves encouraged to triumph and trust in God. Those that give glory to God's name are allowed to glory in it (v. 10), to value themselves upon their relation to God and venture themselves upon his promise to them. Let the heart of those rejoice that seek the Lord, much more of those that have found him. Seek him, and his strength, and his face: that is, seek him by the ark of his strength, in which he manifests himself.
  • 4. Let the everlasting covenant be the great matter of our joy and praise (v. 15): Be mindful of his covenant. In the parallel place it is, He will be ever mindful of it, Ps. 105:8. Seeing God never will forget it, we never must. The covenant is said to be commanded, because God has obliged us to obey the conditions of it, and because he has both authority to make the promise and ability to make it good. This covenant was ancient, yet never to be forgotten. It was made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who were long since dead (v. 16-18), yet still sure to the spiritual seed, and the promises of it pleadable.
  • 5. Let God's former mercies to his people of old, to our ancestors and our predecessors in profession, be commemorated by us now with thankfulness to his praise. Let it be remembered how God protected the patriarchs in their unsettled condition. When they came strangers to Canaan and were sojourners in it, when they were few and might easily have been swallowed up, when they were continually upon the remove and so exposed, when there were many that bore them ill-will and sought to do them mischief, yet no man was suffered to do them wrong-not the Canaanites, Philistines, Egyptians. Kings were reproved and plagued for their sakes. Pharaoh was so, and Abimelech. They were the anointed of the Lord, sanctified by his grace, sanctified by his glory, and had received the unction of the Spirit. They were his prophets, instructed in the things of God themselves and commissioned to instruct others (and prophets are said to be anointed, 1 Ki. 19:16; Isa. 61:1); therefore, if any touch them, they touch the apple of God's eye; if any harm them, it is at their peril, v. 19-22.
  • 6. Let the great salvation of the Lord be especially the subject of our praises (v. 23): Show forth from day to day his salvation, that is (says bishop Patrick), his promised salvation by Christ. We have reason to celebrate that from day to day; for we daily receive the benefits of it, and it is a subject that can never be exhausted.
  • 7. Let God be praised by a due and constant attendance upon him in the ordinances he has appointed: Bring an offering, then the fruit of the ground, now the fruit of the lips, of the heart (Heb. 13:15), and worship him in the beauty of holiness, in the holy places and in a holy manner, v. 29. Holiness is the beauty of the Lord, the beauty of all sanctified souls and all religious performances.
  • 8. Let God's universal monarchy be the fear and joy of all people. Let us reverence it: Fear before him, all the earth. And let us rejoice in it: Let the heavens be glad and rejoice, because the Lord reigns, and by his providence establishes the world, so that, though it be moved, it cannot be removed, nor the measures broken which Infinite Wisdom has taken in the government of it, v. 30, 31.
  • 9. Let the prospect of the judgment to come inspire us with an awful pleasure, Let earth and sea, fields and woods, though in the great day of the Lord they will all be consumed, yet rejoice that he will come, doth come, to judge the earth, v. 32, 33.
  • 10. In the midst of our praises we must not forget to pray for the succour and relief of those saints and servants of God that are in distress (v. 35): Save us, gather us, deliver us from the heathen, those of us that are scattered and oppressed. When we are rejoicing in God's favours to us we must remember our afflicted brethren, and pray for their salvation and deliverance as our own. We are members one of another; and therefore when we mean, "Lord, save them,' it is not improper to say, "Lord, save us.'
  • Lastly, Let us make God the Alpha and Omega of our praises. David begins with (v. 8), Give thanks to the Lord; he concludes (v. 36), Blessed be the Lord. And whereas in the place whence this doxology is taken (Ps. 106:48) it is added, Let all the people say, Amen, Hallelujah, here we find they did according to that directory: All the people said, Amen, and praised the Lord. When the Levites had finished this psalm or prayer and praise, then, and not till then, the people that attended signified their consent and concurrence by saying, Amen, And so they praised the Lord, much affected no doubt with this newly instituted way of devotion, which had been hitherto used in the schools of the prophets only, 1 Sa. 10:5. And, if this way of praising God please the Lord better than an ox or a bullock that has horns and hoofs, the humble shall see it and be glad, Ps. 69:31, 32.

1Ch 16:37-43

The worship of God is not only to be the work of a solemn day now and then, brought in to grace a triumph; but it ought to be the work of every day. David therefore settles it here for a constancy, puts it into a method, which he obliged those that officiated to observe in their respective posts. In the tabernacle of Moses, and afterwards in the temple of Solomon, the ark and the altar were together; but, ever since Eli's time, they had been separated, and still continued so till the temple was built. I cannot conceive what reason there was why David, who knew the law and was zealous for it, did not either bring the ark to Gibeon, where the tabernacle and the altar were, or bring them to Mount Zion, where the ark was. Perhaps the curtains and hangings of Moses's tabernacle were so worn with time and weather that they were not fit to be removed, nor fit to be a shelter for the ark; and yet he would not make all new, but only a tent for the ark, because the time was at hand when the temple should be built. Whatever was the reason, all David's time they were asunder, but he took care that neither of them should be neglected.

  • 1. At Jerusalem, where the ark was, Asaph and his brethren were appointed to attend, to minister before the ark continually, with songs of praise, as every day's work required, v. 37. No sacrifices were offered there, nor incense burnt, because the altars were not there: but David's prayers were directed as incense, and the lifting up of his hands as the evening sacrifice (Ps. 141:2), so early did spiritual worship take place of ceremonial.
  • 2. Yet the ceremonial worship, being of divine institution, must by no means be omitted; and therefore at Gibeon were the altars where the priests attended, for their work was to sacrifice and burn incense, which they did continually, morning and evening, according to the law of Moses, v. 39, 40. These must be kept up because, however in their own nature they were inferior to the moral services of prayer and praise, yet, as they were types of the mediation of Christ, they had a great deal of honour put upon them, and the observance of them was of great consequence. Here Zadok attended, to preside in the service of the altar; as (it is probable) Abiathar settled at Jerusalem, to attend the ark, because he had the breast-plate of judgment, which must be consulted before the ark: this is the reason why we read in David's time both Zadok and Abiathar were the priests (2 Sa. 8:17; 20:25), one where the altar was and the other where the ark was. At Gibeon, where the altars were, David also appointed singers to give thanks to the Lord, and the burden of all their songs must be, For his mercy endureth for ever, v. 41. They did it with musical instruments of God, such instruments as were appointed and appropriated to this service, not such as they used on other occasions. Between common mirth and holy joy there is a vast difference, and the limits and distances between them must be carefully observed and kept up. Matters being thus settled, and the affairs of religion put into a happy channel,
    • (1.) The people were satisfied, and went home pleased.
    • (2.) David returned to bless his house, resolving to keep up family worship still, which public worship must not supersede.