Psalms 69:34

Psa 69:34 Let the heaven and earth praise him, the seas, and every thing that moveth therein.

Ver. 34. Let the heaven and earth praise him] As they do in their kind; and have good cause so to do for their restoration by Christ, Rom 8:21.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Psa_69:34

Let the heaven and earth praise Him, the seas, and everything that moveth therein.

The creation praising God

I. On account of what He is in Himself. God is good; intrinsically excellent. His nature is composed of all possible perfections. God is love, wisdom, intelligence, goodness, truth, righteousness, mercy.

II. On account of what He is in His relations.

1. To all, He stands in the relation of Creator, Sustainer, and Benefactor.

2. To us, whom He has redeemed, by the sacrificial death of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, He stands in the relation of a Father and Saviour.

III. On account of what He has accomplished. The works of God excel the works of all others. They are, Creation--He made all things; Providence--He cares for and governs all things; Redemption--it was God that raised apostate humanity from the ruins of the fall. No works can compete with these. And on their account God will be praised throughout eternity, by an intelligent and redeemed universe.

IV. On account of His wonderful gifts. Life, reason, mind, subjects for thought, Jesus Christ, the Holy Bible, the ministry of reconciliation, the Holy Spirit, the comforts and consolations of religion, and a hope--resting firmly and securely upon the atonement of Calvary--of heaven, when this temporary introductory life shall have passed away.

V. On account of His grand discoveries. Man builds a rightful claim to the admiration, praise, and gratitude of mankind, by the discoveries he makes, and the facts he brings to light. What has God made known? That there is an eternal world; that men are immortal; that noble and abundant provisions have been made for our happiness during the ever-revolving cycles of an eternity to come; the way in which we, and all mankind, may be prepared for the full and unending fruition of the bliss He has prepared for us. (Isaac Evans.)

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Psa_70:1-5

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Psa 69:34-36. Let the heaven and earth praise him — Let angels and men, the visible and invisible world, and all creatures contained therein, join together to celebrate him with their highest praises; for “the mercies of God in Christ are such, that they cannot worthily be praised by any thing less than a universal chorus of the whole old and new creation; and what should such a chorus celebrate but those mercies by which all things have been made, preserved, and redeemed.” — Horne. For God will save Zion — The city of Zion, or Jerusalem; and his church and people, which are frequently expressed by that title, and the salvation and edification of which were the consequence of the sufferings and resurrection of Christ. He will save Zion, the holy mountain, where his ordinances are administered, and his service performed. He will save all that are sanctified and set apart for him, all that employ themselves in his worship, and all those over whom the once suffering, but now exalted, Saviour reigns, for he is the king set upon the holy hill of Zion. He will do great things for the gospel-church; in which let all, who wish well to it, rejoice. For, 1st, It shall be peopled and inhabited. There shall be added to it such as shall be saved. The cities of Judah shall be built — Which is to be understood figuratively, as well as literally; particular churches shall be formed, and incorporated according to the gospel model, that there may be a remnant to dwell there, and have it in possession — To enjoy the privileges conferred upon it, and to pay the tributes and services required from it. 2d, It shall be perpetuated and inherited. Christianity was not to be res unius ætatis, an affair of one age; no, the seed of his servants shall inherit it — God will secure and raise up for himself a seed to serve him, and they shall inherit the privileges of their fathers. The land of promise shall never be lost for want of heirs; for God can out of stones raise up children to Abraham, and will do it rather than the entail shall be cut off. David shall never want a man to stand before him. The Redeemer shall see his seed, and prolong his days in them, till the mystery of God shall be finished and Christ’s mystical body be completed.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

35. (Psa 69:34). Let heaven and earth praise him, seas and everything creeping in them, i.e. moving with an animal or vital motion. In the particular mercy experienced by himself he sees a pledge of gifts deserving and demanding universal praise.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

69:34-36 The psalmist prays for Zion, offering a new petition from a new circumstance. He applies the prayer (69:1-33) to the desperate condition of Judah (see 51:18-19).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The call on the universe for praise is well sustained by the prediction of the perpetual and extended blessings which shall come upon the covenant-people of God. Though, as usual, the imagery is taken from terms used of Palestine, the whole tenor of the context indicates that the spiritual privileges and blessings of the Church are meant.

Next: Psalms Chapter 71

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 34. Let the heaven and earth praise him] The psalmist has the fullest confidence that God will turn their captivity, and therefore calls upon all creatures to magnify him for his mercy.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

34. Let the heavens and the earth praise him. From this we may conclude with the greater certainty, that, as I have touched upon above, David in the whole of this psalm spake in the name of the whole Church; for he now transfers to the Church what he had spoken in particular concerning himself. In calling upon the elements, which are destitute of thought or understanding, to praise God, he speaks hyperbolically, and by this manner of expression, he would teach us that we are not animated with sufficient earnestness of heart in celebrating the praises of God, the infinitude of which overpasses the whole world, unless we rise above our own understandings. But what above all kindled this ardor in the heart of David was his concern for the preservation of the Church. Moreover, there is no doubt that by the Spirit of prophecy he comprehended the whole of that period during which God would have the kingdom and priesthood continued among the ancient people of Israel. Yet he begins at the restoration of a new state of things, which by his means was suddenly brought about upon the death of Saul, when a melancholy devastation threatened at once the utter destruction of the worship of God, and the desolation of the whole country. He says, in the first place, that Zion shall be saved, because God would defend the place where he had chosen to be called upon, and would not suffer the worship which he himself had appointed to be abolished. In the next place, from the ark of the covenant and the sanctuary, he represents the divine blessing as extending to the whole land; for religion was the foundation upon which the happiness of the people rested. He farther teaches, that this change to the better would not be of short continuance; but that the people would be always preserved safe through the constant and enduring protection of God: And they shall dwell there, and possess it by inheritance. He therefore intimates, that the promise which God had so often made in the law, That they should inherit that land forever, was truly confirmed by the commencement of his reign. He contrasts tranquil and settled abode with a mere temporary residence; as if he had said, Now that the sacred throne is erected, the time is come in which the children of Abraham will enjoy the rest which has been promised to them, without fear of being removed from it.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

34. All creation is summoned to join in a chorus of praise to God for the redemption of Zion, for it is an event of universal significance. Cp. Isa_44:23.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Let the heaven and earth praise him,.... As those, by a prosopopoeia, are often called upon to do, to express the greatness of the favour enjoyed, and to excite those that are possessed of it to greater joy and thankfulness; see Psa 96:11; or the inhabitants of the heavens and earth may be meant, as the angels of heaven; and so the Targum interprets it; who, as they praised the Lord at the incarnation of Christ, Luk 2:14; so doubtless they did at his ascension, when he was seen and accompanied by them, Ti1 3:16, Psa 68:17; and also the spirits of just men made perfect in heaven, who were there when Christ was received into it; and the inhabitants of the earth, as the Targum also paraphrases it; of the continent, particularly the Roman empire, when the Gospel was sent thither, which brought the good news of an incarnate, suffering, risen, ascended, and exalted Saviour;

the seas, and everything that moveth therein; the inhabitants of the isles in the seas, such as ours of Great Britain and Ireland, who waited for the doctrine of the Messiah, and to whom he calls to listen to what he says; and which is a sufficient reason for praise and thanksgiving in them; even in as many as have spiritual life and motion, who are quickened, influenced, and moved by the Spirit of God; see Isa 42:4.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Let the heaven and earth praise him - All things; all above and all below.

The seas - The waters - the oceans. This is in accordance with what often occurs in the Scriptures, when all things, animate and inanimate, are called on to praise God. Compare Psa 148:1-14.

And everything that moveth therein - Margin, as in Hebrew, “creepeth.” Compare the notes at Psa 8:8. See also the notes at Isa 55:12.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The heaven and earth; either,

1. Angels and men. Or rather,

2. The heaven and earth themselves, as in the next branch,

the seas, and every thing that moveth therein: all which by a usual figure he invites to praise God, as he doth elsewhere, because they all give men occasion to praise God.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ver. 34. Let the heaven and earth praise him, the seas, and every thing that moveth therein. The doxology of a glowing heart. The writer had fathomed the deeps, and had ascended to the heights; and, therefore, calls on the whole range of creation to bless the Lord. Our Well Beloved here excites us all to grateful adoration: who among us will hold back? God's love to Christ argues good to all forms of life; the exaltation of the Head brings good to the members, and to all in the least connected with him. Inasmuch as the creation itself also is by Christ's work to be delivered from bondage, let all that have life and motion magnify the Lord. Glory be unto thee, O Lord, for the sure and all including pledge of our Surety's triumph; we see in this the exaltation of all thy poor and sorrowful ones, and our heart is glad.

None.

Ver. 34. The sea, etc. How God is, should be, and shall be praised by the sea.

Psalms 69:35*

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Let the heaven and earth praise him, the seas, and everything that moveth therein. (comp. Psa_96:11) As Job calls on heaven and earth to sympathize with him in his distress, (Job_16:18, Job_16:19) so David would have them to partake in his joy at his deliverance.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Let heaven and earth praise him ... the seas

Here heaven and earth and the seas are spoken of as if they are people who are able to praise God. (See: Personification)

the seas and everything that moves in them

It is implied that "Let ... praise him" should be understood here. AT: "let he seas and everything that moves in them praise him" (See: Ellipsis)

God will save Zion

Here "Zion" refers to the people in Zion. AT: "God will save the people of Zion" (See: Metonymy)

have it as a possession

The word "it" refers to the land of Judah.

who love his name

Here "name" refers to God himself. AT: "who love God" (See: Metonymy)

translationWords

heaven

earth

praise

save

Zion

Judah

possess

servant

descend

inherit

love

name

life

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.