To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee - Margin, my “tongue,” or my “soul.” DeWette renders it, “my heart.” The Aramaic Paraphrase: “that the honorable of the world may praise thee.” The Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate: “my glory.” The reference is, undoubtedly, to what the psalmist regarded as most glorious, honorable, exalted, in himself. There is no evidence that he referred to his “tongue” or his “heart” particularly, but the expression seems to be equivalent to “my highest powers” - all the powers and faculties of my nature. The “tongue” would indeed be the instrument of uttering praise, but still the reference is rather to the exalted powers of the soul than to the instrument. Let all that is capable of praise within me, all my powers, be employed in celebrating the goodness of God.
And not be silent - Be employed in praise.
O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever - Compare the notes at Isaiah 38:20. This verse states the purpose which the psalmist now saw that God intended to accomplish by his dealings with him in the varied scenes of his past life; and his own purpose now as he entered his new abode. “The purpose of God,” in all these various dealings - in the prosperity which had been bestowed on him Psalms 30:6-7; in the reverses and trials by sickness or otherwise which had come upon him Psalms 30:3, Psalms 30:7; and in the deliverance which God had granted him in answer to his prayers Psalms 30:2-3, Psalms 30:10-11 - was, that he should learn to praise the Lord. “His own purpose” now, as he entered his new habitation and dedicated it to God, was, to praise God with his highest powers forever: to consecrate all that he had to his gracious preserver; to make his house, not a habitation of gaiety and sin, but an abode of serious piety - a home where the happiness sought would be that which is found in the influence of religion. It is scarcely necessary to add that every new dwelling should be entered by a family with feelings similar to these; that the first act of the head of a family on entering a new habitation - whether it be a palace or a cottage - should be solemnly to consecrate it to God, and to resolve that it shall be a house where His praises shall be celebrated, and where the influence of religion shall be invoked to guide and sanctify all the members of the household.