(23-33) See Psalms 96. This psalm, in the Psalter, consists of five strophes or stanzas of six lines each — an artistic arrangement which has been violated here. The subject is the extension of Jehovah’s kingdom over all the world, a thought familiar to the readers of the Book of Isaiah, where most of the ideas and phrases of the psalm may be found.
(23) Sing unto the Lord, all the earth. — The second line of the psalm. The spirited opening of the psalm is purposely weakened, by omission of the first and third lines, in order to make it fit in here. Strophe I. is thus compressed into four lines (1 Chronicles 16:23-24).
All the earth. — All the land (of Israel).
Shew forth. — Heb., tell the (good) news of.
His salvation. — Deliverance (from exile).
(24) Heathen. — Nations (1 Chronicles 16:31).
(25-27) Strophe II. of the psalm. Jehovah is the Creator; other gods are nonentities.
(25) He also. — And he. The conjunction is not in Psalms 96, and is a prosaic addition of the compiler. (Comp. 1 Chronicles 16:20.)
(26) People. — Peoples.
Idols (’ĕlîlîm). — A favourite expression in Isaiah.
(27) Strength and gladness are in his place. — Psalms 96:6 : “Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.” The psalmist’s idea of the heavenly temple seems to have been understood of the earthly; and then his phrase was altered as unsuitable.
Gladness (hedwâh). — A late word, occurring again in Nehemiah 8:10 only. “Beauty” (tiph’èreth) is ancient.
His place — i.e., the tent of the Ark on Mount Zion. (Comp. 1 Chronicles 15:1; 1 Chronicles 15:3.)
(28, 29) Strophe III. of the psalm, mutilated. A call to all nations to come and worship in the Temple of Jehovah.
(28) Kindreds of the people. — Clans (races) of the peoples.
(29) So far each verse of this ode has symmetrically consisted of two clauses. The present verse has three — another mark of awkward compilation.
Come before him. — Psalms 96, “into his courts,” that is, the Temple courts: an expression modified here to suit another application.
Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. — Rather, bow ye down to Jehovah, in holy vestments. This line ought to be the first of the next couplet.
(30) Fear (plural). — Literally, Writhe ye.
Before him. — The preposition is a compound form common in the Chronicles; in the psalm it is simple.
The world also shall be stable. — A line, which precedes this in the psalm, is omitted here, to the detriment of the sense. That line — “Say ye among the nations, Jehovah is king” — begins the fourth strophe of the original hymn, but is here strangely transferred to 1 Chronicles 16:31.
(31) Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice. — In the Hebrew, the initial letters of these words form an acrostic of the sacred Name of Jehovah; and those of the first half of 1 Chronicles 16:32 make up Iahu, another form of the Name.
And let men say. — An adaptation of Psalms 96:10 : “Say ye among the nations.”
(32) Let the fields rejoice. — Here begins the fifth strophe of the original psalm.
Fields. — Heb., the field, or open country. Psalms 96 has an archaic spelling of the word (sâdai), which is here modernised (sâdèh).
Rejoice. — Exult (not the same word as in 1 Chronicles 16:31).
(33) At the presence of. — The compound preposition of 1 Chronicles 16:30. The climax of the psalm — “He shall judge the world in righteousness, and peoples in his faithfulness” — is here omitted; and this long and heterogeneous composition terminates with verses borrowed from a third source.