Psalms 98:8

Psa 98:8 Let the floods clap [their] hands: let the hills be joyful together

Ver. 8. {See Trapp on "Psa 96:12"}

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.

5. (Psa 98:8) Make music to Jehovah with a harp, with a harp and a musical voice! The first verb is the one translated play in the preceding verse. Its repetition is like that in Psa 47:1. It is strictly applied to instrumental music, but often extended to any musical expression, especially of praise to God. A musical voice, or a voice of singing, as distinguished from the voice of speech. The phrase occurs in Isa 51:3. The repeated introduction of the Hebrew verb or its derivatives is supposed by some to be the reason of the title. See above, on Psa 98:1.

8. (Psa 98:8) Let rivers clap the hand; together let mountains sing (or shout for joy)! This bold but beautiful personification is also found in Isa 55:12, the only other place where the clapping of the hands is ascribed to lifeless objects. This was a customary sign of joy, especially when joined with acclamation in honour of a sovereign, as it is not only here, and in Psa 47:1, in highly figurative poetry, but also in historical prose, e.g. the account of the coronation of Joash, 2Ki 11:12. Together, not merely with each other, but at the same time and in concert with the applauses of the floods or rivers.

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

Verse 8. Let the floods clap their hands] נהרות neharoth, properly the rivers-possibly meaning immense continents, where only large rivers are found; thus including inland people, as well as maritime nations, and those on the sea-coasts generally; as in those early times little more than the coasts of the sea were known. The Gospel shall be preached in the most secluded nations of the world.

Let the hills be joyful] All the inhabitants of rocky and mountainous countries.

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

(8) Clap their hands.—This expression, descriptive of the lapping sound of waves, occurs also in Isa_55:12.

Let the hills be joyful together.—

“Far along,

From peak to peak, the rattling crags among,

Leaps the live thunder! Not from one long cloud,

But every mountain now hath found a tongue,

And Jura answers through her misty shroud

Back to the joyous Alps who call to her aloud.”

BYRON: Childe Harold, canto iii.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8. Let the rivers clap their hands;

Let the mountains sing for Joy together.

Cp. Isa_55:12; and for the prosopopoeia, Hab_3:10.

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 floods clap their hands,.... Or "rivers" (e), dashing against their banks, as they pass along; a prosopopoeia, as the preceding and following, expressing great joy on account of the Messiah, the reigning King. Aben Ezra interprets this of men that are in rivers, as the sea; in the preceding verse of such that are in ships at sea; and the hills in the next clause of such that dwell on them;

let the hills be joyful together; see Isa 55:12.

(e) "fluvii", Cocceius, Gejerus, so Ainsworth.

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

Let the floods clap their hands - The rivers. Let them join in the universal praise. As if conscious of their beauty, their grandeur, their usefulness; as if sensible that all this was conferred by God; as if rejoicing in the goodness of God manifested to them, and through them, let them unite in the universal praise. Compare the notes at Isa 55:12.

Let the hills be joyful together - The mountains - in view of the goodness of God toward them - crowning them with beauty - clothing them with sublimity and grandeur - let them also rejoice in God as “their” God. Let all nature thus join in praise.

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

Ver. 8. Let the floods clap their hands. The rolling rivers, the tidal estuaries, the roaring cataracts, are here summoned to pay their homage, and to clap their hands, as men do when they greet their sovereigns with acclamation.

Let the hills be joyful together, or in concert with the floods. Silent as are the mighty mountains, let them forget themselves, and burst forth into a sublime uproariousness of mirth, such as the poet described when he wrote those vivid lines

"Far along,

From peak to peak, the rattling crags among,

Leaps the live thunder! Not from one lone cloud,

But every mountain now hath found a tongue,

And Jura answers, through her misty shroud,

Back to the joyous Alps, who call to her aloud."

Ver. 8. Let the floods clap their hands. The clapping of the hands being a token of delight and approbation, and the striking or dashing of the water in a river being, for the noise of it, a resemblance of that, the rivers are here said to clap their hands. Henry Hammond.

Ver. 8. Though the language be figurative, so far as it gives a voice to the inanimate creation in its various departments, yet, like all the figurative language of Scripture, it expresses a truththat which the Apostle has stated without a metaphor in the express revelation that the "creation shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God." And this because the reason of that bondage will no more exist. It is the consequence of sin: but when the world shall be subjected to the righteous rule of its coming King (as predicted in the last verse of this psalm), then earth and all creation shall own its present Lord, and join its tribute of praise to that of Israel and the nations, and the redeemed and glorified chinch. William De Burgh.

Ver. 8. The song of the sea, and the hallelujah of the hills.

Psalms 98:9*

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

8. The floods—Hebrew, the rivers. See on Psa_93:3.

Clap their hands—The clapping of the rivers is a figure which differs from Isa_55:12, and occurs nowhere else, but finds its origin in the playful dashings of the river rapids, or floods, as the common version has it. On clapping of hands, as an expression of exultation, see 2Ki_11:12; Psa_47:1; Eze_25:6. The whole imagery is exceedingly animated. See Psa_96:11-13. The correspondence of much of this psalm with the later prophecies of Isaiah is no proof that it is borrowed from, and hence later than, the latter, (better might the prophet be supposed to have copied from the psalm,) but is an example of coincidences in the poetic style where the subjects were similar, not unfrequent in Scripture, and not confined to Scripture.

Hills be joyful—Hills are “joyful” when clothed with greenness and covered with flocks. See on Psa_65:13. In the last of May and June the hills of Palestine already put on a brown and parched appearance for want of moisture; but if the rains, which end in April, have been copious, the harvest is plenteous and joyous. The imagery is specially suited to a pastoral and agricultural people in such a climate. Wherever Christ reigns men are at peace with each other, and through honest industry and sobriety the external signs of righteousness and prosperity soon appear in nature and in society.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Let the floods clap their hands. This bold metaphor occurs only here and in Isa_55:12, where the "trees" are asked to "clap their hands." Let the hills be joyful together before the Lord; or, sing for joy together; i.e. join with the rest of nature in expressing gladness.

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

Rivers will clap hands The prophets spoke in a language that the ear can hear; not that the rivers have a hand, but it is an expression of joy and gladness.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.