Psalms 99:4

"Let them praise your great and awesome name. He is Holy!"

Key Reflection

In the context of ancient Israel, Psalms 99:4 exhorts the people to praise God's majestic and awe-inspiring name, emphasizing His holiness. This reflects a common practice in worship where leaders would repeatedly stress God’s supreme divinity and moral purity, ensuring that these key attributes were deeply ingrained in the collective consciousness of the community. The original audience would have understood this as a call to reverence and adoration, reflecting their belief in a sovereign and holy deity who deserved unparalleled honor.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

The king’s strength -The word king here undoubtedly refers to God as a king,Psalms 99:1. The word rendered “strength,” means power, force; and the reference here is to what constitutes the main strength or power of his character and government. It is rendered in the Septuagint,τιμήtimē- “honor.” So in the Latin Vulgate -”honor.”DeWette renders it, “The praise of the king who loves judgment.” So Rosenmuller, “Let them praise the strength - the power - of the king who loves judgment.” But perhaps our common version best expresses the sense, that whatever there is in the character of the “king,

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