Outline of Chapter 24:

         Inscription            Psalm 24 Inscription

         vv.     1–2           The Earth is God’s, as He Founded and Established It

         vv.     3–4           Who May Ascend to the Hill of Jehovah?

         vv.     5–6           How a Man May be Clean and Pure

         vv.     7–10         Lift up the Gates for the King of Glory, the Lord of Hosts

Charts, Short Doctrines and Maps:

         Introduction         Barnes Outlines Psalm 24

         Introduction         Psalm 24: A Celebration of Moving the Ark into Jerusalem

         v.       2              Doesn’t God Hang the Earth Upon Nothing?

         v.       3              The Holy Hill References

         v.       4              Parallelisms within Psalm 24:4

         v.       4              Related Passages to Psalm 24:4

         v.       6              Seeking God

         v.       6              Translations of Psalm 24:6

         v.       6              Interpreting Psalm 24:6

         v.       7              The Ark of God (a Summary)

         v.       7              Various Interpretations of Psalm 24:7

         v.       9              Why Does God the Holy Spirit Repeat Vv. 7–8?

         v.       9              The Two Advents of Jesus Christ

         v.       9              Incorrect Interpretations as to Why vv. 7–8 are Repeated

         v.      10              Scofield’s Summary of Psalm 24

         v.      10              Bullinger Organizes Psalm 24

         v.      10              One Choral Interpretation of Psalm 24

         v.      10              A Complete Translation of Psalm 24

I ntroduction: Psalm 24 is seen by many as a psalm written by David to celebrate the taking of Jerusalem and the moving of the Ark into the City of David. For this reason, I would teach this psalm as one of the psalms sung by David and the Levites as they move the Ark into Jerusalem (this would fit nicely with 1Chron. 15). Several times, David speaks of lifting up the gates—presumably the gates of the city—so that the King of Glory might enter (and here, we would understand His entrance to be represented by the entry of the Ark of God into the city.

This is an unusual psalm; the language is very simple and very repetitive. When I do the basic exegesis, sometimes it takes me a full study session to do one or two verses; I did the basic Hebrew exegesis of these 10 verses in 2½ sessions. On the other hand, I found myself with very little to say about these verses, which is a little unnerving.

Like most of David’s psalms, this psalm is very well organized. It can be easily broken down into two sections, vv. 1–6 and vv. 7–10. The first section can be further subdivided into 3 sections of 2 verses each, the 2^nd of each verse either answering the question of the 1^st, or paralleling the 1^st verse. In the final stanza, vv. 7 and 9 are almost identical, and vv. 8 and 10 are almost identical. And, unlike some of David’s psalms, the organization of this psalm is quite apparent. If you read the psalm with any thought at all, you will easily recognize this pattern. To my way of thinking, this would be well-performed by a choir, with one set of voices singing every other verse, and the other set of voices singing the other verses. It simply seems to be designed in this way.

Now, I do not know hymns, apart from a small handful of them, but this strikes me as a psalm which should have been easily put to rousing music and melody. Even the variety of English translations seem to have an easy rhythm to them. I don’t know if anyone has done this yet, but someone ought to. One of the things which has been great fun for me is coming across a passage which has never been properly explained in the past, and to be able to explain it in such a way that the logic and the meaning seem to be obvious, once it is heard. It has amazed me that, after 2000 years or so of intense study by scholars all over the world, scattered throughout time, that some verses have not been properly explained. However, when I come to a psalm like this, is makes me also realize that, this would be the perfect psalm to put to music by the budding musician; that there must be a number of psalms throughout the Bible (and in the book of Psalms, obviously) which have not yet been put to music. They were, at one time, probably put to music, and, in eternity, we will get to enjoy that; however, ultimately, it is the meaning of these words which is important, and that is what remains for us to examine.

In v. 1, we are told that all the earth belongs to God, and, in v. 2, we are told this is because He established it upon the waters. V. 3 asks who can fellowship with God, and v. 4 answers, a man who is pure and clean. V. 5 continues the thought of v. 4, indicating that we receive righteousness and blessings from God, and v. 6, David

points out that this is the generation which seeks after God.

In vv. 7–10, the timber and organization of the psalm changes somewhat to almost a chorus, where vv. 7 and 9 call for the gates to be lifted up fro the Lord of Glory; and vv. 8 and 10 tell us just who this Lord of Glory is.

Psalm 24 Inscription

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Latin Vulgate                          On the first Sabbath a psalm for David.

Masoretic Text                       To David a Psalm.

Septuagint                              A Psalm for David on the first Sabbath. This is Psalm 23 in the Greek.

Significant differences:           We have the obvious additional text on the first Sabbath included with the LXX and the Vulgate. The English rendering of the Latin has on the first day of the week (which is Sunday). Now, normally, I simply go with the Douay-Reims translation, and sometimes I update it, as representative of the Latin text. However, in this case, we have a clear bending of the text in the English. So, I checked on Latin directly and came up with Prima sabbati, Psalmus David (or, on the first Sabbath, a Psalm of David). So it does appear as though those who translated this verse into the English (the Douay-Reims version) took some liberties with the text here. An online Latin-English interlinear site indicates that this reads For the First Sabbath.

Just in case you did not know, Sabbath means Saturday and not Sunday. I made sort of a big deal here as, people have, for years, blamed the Catholic church for distorting and changing the Bible, and throwing out things they did not like and putting in stuff that they did like. This does indicate that the translators of the Douay-Reims took some liberties (1749–1752), but my memory is that many people incorrect think that the Sabbath and Sunday are the same day (and maybe this is where it started?). Anyway, I have beat this topic to death, only because of the false accusations against the early Catholic church, where it is clear that Jerome did properly render the inscription for this verse.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       (A psalm by David.)

The Message                         A David psalm.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             A Psalm. Of David.

Complete Apostles’ Bible      A Psalm of David on the first day of the week.

God’s Word™                         A psalm by David.

HCSB                                     A Davidic psalm.

JPS (Tanakh)                         Of David. A psalm.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

Updated Emphasized Bible    David’s. A Melody.

Young's Literal Translation     A Psalm of David.

What is the gist of this verse? Here, we note who wrote this psalm and possibly when it was written (or when it was first performed).

Translation: With regards to David, a Psalm, [composed on the first Sabbath]. As is always the case, we have the lâmed preposition, which, in this case, indicates ownership or authorship. I would expect the bêyth preposition, but that is not used in the psalms (by David, by means of David). What is different is, David’s name comes first; usually this reads a psalm of [to] David.

In both the Latin and the Greek, we have the additional phrase on the first Sabbath. Interestingly enough, the Latin places this first and the Greek places it after a psalm of David. As was discussed, even though there are at least two translations which read on the first day of the week, these translations are incorrect. Given that we find this phrase in both the Latin and Greek, I would suspect that it was somehow dropped out of the original Hebrew text.

It is certainly unclear whether the Ark was moved on a first Sabbath or if David wrote this psalm on a first Sabbath. Www.sacredbible.org tells us this: There are two First Sabbaths. The first of the First Sabbaths is the Sabbath during the Feast of Passover. After that Sabbath, the counting of the Feast of Weeks begins with the very next day. The first week in the counting of the Feast of Weeks ends with the second First Sabbath, that is, the First Sabbath in the count of Seven Sabbaths leading up to the Feast of Weeks. Because there was no clear concept of a number zero (which would, in modern counting be the first Sabbath of Passover), there must be two first Sabbaths.

Quite frankly, I don’t get exactly where they get this from—two first Sabbaths (which seems counterintuitive)—however, that this takes place on the Passover would be a nice touch and fully in line with our understanding of this psalm. In going with the ancient Jewish calendar, the first Sabbath would be the Passover. Although the emphasis of this psalm is not upon our Lord’s death on our behalf, we may reasonably assume that vv. 3–4 allude to it, and our entire foundation of our faith is the true understanding of the Passover. Therefore, nothing would be more apropos than for David to have moved the Ark on the Passover Sabbath.

This could possibly suggest why this phrase would have dropped out of the Hebrew text—there is a lot of work involved here in moving the Ark from Obed-edom’s home to Jerusalem, and we might guess that legalistic Jews dropped this from the text for that reason. However, (1) we cannot absolutely and unequivocally associate this psalm with the moving of the Ark (although most believe that is the correct interpretation); and (2) more importantly, we have no history of the Sacred Text being changed to suit temporal doctrines like the Jewish distortion of the Sabbath. In other words, if these few words should have been a part of the Hebrew text, then they likely fell out of the text due to less nefarious reasons. You may want to refer to a short paper which I wrote, entitled: Serious Old Testament Textual Problems. Believe it or not, this inscription is one of the most substantive textual problems in the entire Old Testament.

The Earth is God's, as He Founded and Established It

Here is how others have handled this verse:

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text 

Septuagint                              The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness of it; the world, and all that dwell in it.

Significant differences: 

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       The earth and everything on it belong to the LORD. The world and its people belong to him.

The Message                         GOD claims Earth and everything in it, God claims World and all who live on it.

New American Bible              The earth is the Lord’s and all it holds,

the world and those who live there.

New Living Testament           The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.

The world and all its people belong to him.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             The earth is the Lord's, with all its wealth; the world and all the people living in it.

God’s Word™                         The earth and everything it contains are the LORD'S. The world and all who live in it are his.

HCSB                                     The earth and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants, belong to the LORD;...

JPS (Tanakh)                         The earth is the Lord’s and all that it holds,

the world and its inhabitants.

The Scriptures 1998              The earth belongs to הוהי,

And all that fills it – The world and those who dwell in it.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

English Standard Version      The earth is the LORD's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein,...

LTHB                                     The earth is Jehovah's, and the fullness of it; the world, and those who live in it.

Young's Updated LT              To Jehovah is the earth and its fullness, The world and the inhabitants in it.

What is the gist of this verse? Everyone on this earth and the earth belong to God.

Translation: To Y^ehowah [belongs]... What we have here is ellipsis. We would expect a verb, but there is no verb. The most common verb to insert is some form of the status quo verb to be, which would give us: To Jehovah [is] the earth and her multitudes the world and those dwelling in it. I think the concept here is that, all that is in the earth and the earth itself all belong to Jehovah God. Even the most literal of the translations agrees with this interpretation.

First of all, God created the earth and all that is in it. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1). God created everything necessary for the sustenance of the earth and He created all that is in the earth (Gen. 1:2–27). The earth is a created thing; everything that you see is a created thing. Just as, when an artist paints a painting or constructs a sculpture, we understand that this artist has ownership and control over that which he has created. He can add, subtract or alter his creations as he sees fit. Most of you are not painters, so you won’t get this at first, but, the painter has to decide when he is finished. He has to decide when his statement or his creation has been completed. As the artist and creator, this is his choice—to take the creation as far as he chooses to, and then to call it complete when, in his eye, it is complete. God created the earth and all that is in it; He determined when it was completed (Gen. 2:1). He has ownership over his creation. We may have feelings, thoughts, ideas and even creative impulses, but we are created beings and we do belong to the God Who made us.

You should recognize that we have a completed world, apart from sin. There is a tremendous abundance as well as a wonderful balance between man and that which sustains man. We have a tremendous supply of such an incredible variety of food; and man’s ingenuity has seen to it that food can be transported all over any given area from thousands of miles away. I can, at any point in the day, wander down to my local supermarket and choose from a tremendous variety of fruits and vegetables, some of which are grown in Chili. After a hurricane scare, I realized how spoiled I was and how good my life is; I was without electricity for 24 hours, and when I went to the store, they were out of milk. I could not believe it! I did not realize that we could actually run out of this or that staple. The way hat God has blessed the United States is mind-boggling. There has never been a nation before which has received such incredible blessings from God. We are God’s creation, and God may choose how to deal with us.

Translation: ...the earth and her multitudes... Multitude here refers to that which fills up the earth, which would include everything on this earth, including all of the people. The 3^rd person feminine singular suffix refers back to the earth; her multitude is the earth’s multitude.

Scripture tells us: You are not your own; you have been bought with a price (1Cor. 6:19b–20a). We are slaves to sin; we will sin for the entirety of our lives. We are in bondage to our old sin nature. We are placed under indictment for Adam’s original sin. When Jesus Christ went to the cross, He paid for us; He bought us with His blood. Jehovah God owns us based upon what Christ did for us on the cross and because God created us in Adam and gave each one of us life.

It is important to point out that, even though the Jews are God’s people, and even though God, for over a millennium, worked through the nation Israel and the Jewish people, this does not mean that God ignored or abandoned the rest of the world. God is not a God of the Jews only, and psalms like this one remind us that God is God over all of the earth, over all the earth’s population.

Translation: ...the world and those dwelling in it. As is often found in the psalms, we have a parallel line to the one which went before. The word for world means the fertile and inhabited earth, the habitable globe, world. It is clear that we are not just speaking of the things of the world, but of mankind. It does not appear as though this line offers new information or new truth; it simply backs up and emphasizes what the previous line has said.

Other writers wax more poetic than I in this area; Gill writes: The whole universe, all the terraqueous globe, both land and water, and the circumambient air, and all that is therein; the fishes of the sea, the fowls of the air, the beasts of the field, all plants and vegetables that spring out of the earth, and metals and minerals in the bowels of it; all which are the riches of the Lord the earth is full of, [all belong to God].

Barnes writes: The whole world belongs to God. He is the Creator of the earth, and therefore, its Proprietor; or, in other words, “the property vests in him.” It belongs to Him in a sense somewhat similar to our right of property in anything that is the production of our hands, or of our labor or skill. We claim that as our own. We feel that we have a right to use it, or to dispose of it, as we choose. No other person has a right to take it from us, or to dictate to us how we shall employ it. Thus, God, in the highest possible sense, has a right to the earth, and to all which it produces, as being all of it the creation of His hands, and the fruit of His culture and skill. He has a right to dispose of it as He pleases; by fire, or flood, or tempest; and He has an equal right to direct man in what way He shall employ that portion of the productions of the earth which may be entrusted to Him. All the right which any person has to any portion of the earth’s surface, or to what is treasured up in the earth, or to what it is made to produce, is subordinate to the claims of God, and all should be yielded up at His bidding, whether He comes and claims it to be employed in His service, or whether He comes and sweeps it away by fire or flood; by the locust, or by the palmer-worm.

Barnes also made an interesting observation: I saw [this verse] inscribed in a place where it seemed to be most appropriate, and most adapted to arrest and direct the thoughts of men - on the front of the Royal Exchange in London. It was well to remind the great merchants of the largest commercial city in the world of the truth which it contains; it does much to describe the character of the British nation that it should be inscribed in a place so conspicuous, and, as it were, on the wealth of that great capital.

Paul quotes from this verse in 1Cor. 10:26–27: For 'the earth, with all that is in it, belongs to the Lord.' If an unbeliever invites you to his house and you consent to go, eat anything that is put before you, without making inquiries to satisfy your scruples. The idea is, there is no unclean meat; not even that which is offered to idols. One author said that Paul quoted this verse twice, but this is the only place I could find where Paul uses this verse.

A parallel passage to Psalm 24:1 is Psalm 50:10–11: For every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the mountains; and the wild beasts of the field are Mine. God’s ownership over all the world is also mentioned in Ex. 9:29: Moses said to him, "As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will stretch out my hands to the LORD. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth is the LORD's. Also, Ex. 19:3–5: The LORD called to Moses, saying, "Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, you shall be My treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is Mine.” Deut. 10:14: Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it. Psalm 89:11: The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours; the world and all that is in it, you have founded them. My point in this is, the Jews had a lot of Scripture indicating that God was God over all the earth, and He was not exclusive to the Jewish race. See also 1Chron. 29:11 Job. 41:11 Psalm 89:11 Dan. 4:25.

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text                       For He upon seas established her

and upon rivers sets her up.

Septuagint                              He has founded it upon the seas, and prepared it upon the rivers.

Significant differences:           None.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       The LORD placed it all on the oceans and rivers.

Good News Bible (TEV)         He built it on the deep waters beneath the earth and laid its foundations in the ocean depths.

The Message                         He built it on Ocean foundations, laid it out on River girders.

New Living Testament           For he laid the earth’s foundation on the seas

and built it on the ocean depths.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             For by him it was based on the seas, and made strong on the deep rivers.

God’s Word™                         He laid its foundation on the seas and set it firmly on the rivers.

HCSB                                     ...for He laid its foundation on the seas and established it on the rivers.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

LTHB                                     For He has founded it on the seas and established it upon the rivers.

Young's Updated LT              For He on the seas founded it, And on the floods He established it.

What is the gist of this verse? God founded the earth upon the seas, and He established the world upon the rivers.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:AYool_topography_15min.png. It is interesting that, from above, it does appear as though God placed the land upon the oceans.

Translation: For He ordained her [to be] upon the seas... Just like the previous verse, we have a parallel thought, which goes back to the previous verse. The earth is Jehovah’s, for He ordained her to be upon the seas. This is an expression of poetry and not necessarily a scientific statement. The earth—the ground—is like an island in the oceans. It is as if the oceans were there first, and then God placed land upon them. We have no idea if David had any connection with the Mediterranean Sea or not; up until this point in time, we have no record of David ever being in a ship. To a man who is inland, and has spent all of his life on land, the vastness of the oceans are not as striking. However, for David, he seems to recognize, through God the Holy Spirit, that the land is the small portion and the seas are the greater portion. David does not see the earth as a bunch of lands with dottings of lakes and rivers; he presents the earth, the ground that we walk on, as a piece of ground which sits upon the ocean. We know now that water covers most of the earth; that land is a smaller portion of the earth, set in the midst of the oceans; and David so gives his testimony, by means of God the Holy Spirit. If memory serves, the oceans cover 2/3^rds of the earth’s surface (it’s 71%). And, of the earth’s surface water, nearly 97% of it is ocean.

The verbiage used here is quite interesting. It could mean that the earth is founded upon the oceans, as a house is placed upon its foundation (here, in Texas, it is a carefully crafted concrete foundation). The verb used here is not found in Gen. 1, but it is used in several places to describe placing a home or building upon a foundation (Joshua 6:26 1Kings 5:17 Ezra 3:6). God has carefully placed the continents on the oceans, so to speak. As I mentioned above, from our knowledge of geography, this all makes great sense; however, please recognize David’s limited understanding of the lands which are surrounded by oceans. David would be familiar with the Mediterranean Sea, the River Jordan, and the two postage stamp-sized lakes in Palestine. However, this would not cause a person to view the earth as being founded upon the seas; God the Holy Spirit would inspire someone to make that observation.

At the same time, we should not view David as saying that the earth is floating upon the seas. So, how far do we go with poetic license? Why do we grant one but not the other? Poetry is different than prose, and requires greater care when interpreting it. What is clear in the language is that the inhabited land appears to be resting upon the seas, like an island, which is how we might view the earth from above. However, there is no reason for us to further extrapolate this, to try and force a meaning which is not there. Below us is water; around us in all directions is water; it is as if God has founded or established the earth upon water.

There is another way that this verse can be understood: insofar as we know, no place else in the universe has this much water. Water is the rarest form of H₂O in the universe. We don’t realize this because there is so much water; but, in the rest of the universe, it is much hotter, so that H₂O is steam; or, it is much colder, so that H₂O is ice. The earth has a very narrow temperature range, which range is preserved by the earth and by the seas. The limited temperature range keeps most of our H₂O in liquid form; and liquid H₂O maintains that temperature range. There is an incredible balance which God has established here.

Our entire life is based upon water. Remove the water from the earth and planet earth dies in a matter of weeks. Our life is dependent upon water; our very life is founded upon water.

Translation: ...and He establishes it upon the rivers. This is placed in parallel with the inhabited world at the end of v. 1, giving us To Y^ehowah [belongs]...the world and those dwelling in it; and he establishes the world upon the rivers. What would have been clear to the people of that era is, you could dig a well, and, oft times, hit water. What would not have been as obvious is, just how much water there is compared to land. It is also interesting that David would speak of inhabited lands being established upon rivers; why not upon a huge lake? We know today that river is more accurate.

As before, we have an unusual verb, which means to set up, to place perpendicular to; to establish; to found [a city]. We have a reference back to creation, but without using any of the 3 primary creation verbs used when God created the earth. It sounds as if God has placed the land upon the seas, again, as if the water is a foundation for the land. However, to be more in line with what the text of this verse says, and with science, the world and all who are dwelling in it are founded and established upon water. This is significant from a scientific standpoint. In the previous half of this verse, appears as though God placed the inhabited land upon the seas; however, this appears more as if David is saying that all those who inhabit the earth are dependent upon water. For us today, this is a scientific given. In David’s day, water was obviously seen as important, but it was not as clear then as to how integral water is to our everyday lives and to every function of our bodies.

This poetically presents Gen. 1:9–10: Then God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear." And it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. In reading through this creation account, one of the fascinating aspects of it is, God does not specifically create the water or the seas in the 6 days of creation (Gen. 1:2), although He does create the atmosphere (Gen. 1:6–8). There are additional parallel verses: Psalm 104:5–14: [The Lord] laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed forever. You covered it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains. At your rebuke they fled; at the voice of your thunder they hastened away. They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which you have founded for them. You have set a boundary that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth. He sends the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills. They give drink to every beast of the field: the wild donkeys quench their thirst. By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation, which sing among the branches. He waters the hills from his chambers: the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your works. He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth. Psalm 136:6 He stretches out the earth above the waters: for His mercy endures forever. Jer. 5:22: “Don’t you fear Me?” says the LORD; “Will you not tremble at My presence, who has placed the sand for the boundary of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it; and though its waves toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?”

Application: We should understand, in balance, that David is in no way speaking of the precariousness of the earth: that is, we should not think that because the earth is founded or established upon water that this is analogous to the house built upon sand, which cannot stand. Psalm 104:5: Jehovah laid the foundations of the earth that it should not be moved forever. Psalm 119:90: Your faithfulness is for all generations; You established the earth, and it stands firm. Eccles. 1:4: A generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. At the time that I write this, there is the Global Warming scare or panic which is occurring. Thousands of people are concerned about our carbon footprint and about how much carbon each of us puts into the earth’s atmosphere. The thinking is, we, little, puny man, can destroy all life on this planet, a mindset which has been with us since the invention of nuclear weapons (how many movies and science fiction books have been based upon the destruction of humanity by nuclear weaponry). Believers need to relax in this regard. Today it is global warming; in the past, it has been population explosion and the coming ice age. I don’t know what great scare is coming next, but there will be one, and mankind will be able to stop it, only if we place our faith and more power and, of course, more money, in the hands of our government (or, so will be the solution offered).

Who May Ascend to the Hill of Jehovah?

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text                       Who ascends in a hill of Y^ehowah

and who stands in a place of His holiness?

Septuagint                              Who shall go up to the mountain of the Lord,

and who shall stand in his holy place?

Significant differences:           None.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       Who may climb the LORD's hill or stand in his holy temple?

Good News Bible (TEV)         Who has the right to go up the LORD's hill? Who may enter his holy Temple?

The Message                         Who can climb Mount GOD? Who can scale the holy north-face?

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             Who may go up into the hill of the Lord? and who may come into his holy place?

God’s Word™                         Who may go up the LORD'S mountain? Who may stand in his holy place?

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

LTHB                                     Who shall go up into the hill of Jehovah? And who shall rise in His holy place?

WEB                                      Who may ascend to Yahweh's hill? Who may stand in his holy place?

Young’s Updated LT             Who goes up into the hill of Jehovah? And who rises up in His holy place?

What is the gist of this verse? David asks who can have fellowship with God (who can go up to the hill of Jehovah and who can stand in His holy place?).

Translation: Who may ascend the hill of Y^ehowah... Worship during the time of David often occurred on the tops of mountains, often called the high places. This would be heathen worship as well as the true worship of Jehovah God. At this time, as far as we can tell, the Tabernacle is on Gibeon (1Kings 3:4 1Chron. 16:39), which means city on a hill. So, whatever Tabernacle worship which occurred at this time was related to going up to Gibeon, the city on a hill. Others picture this as going up Mount Zion—which is a part of Jerusalem—to worship. When David brought the Ark to Jerusalem, there was singing and the reading of psalms and sacrifices. So, it is also possible that David was referring to Mount Zion here. Psalm 132:13: For the LORD has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his habitation. The spin which Matthew Henry puts on this is, this is a reference to heaven. The ascending a hill is metaphorical for entering into God’s true presence.

The idea here is, who has the right to go up to worship Jehovah? Who is able to go up the hill to worship Jehovah? Who is sinless enough to go up to a place of worship? We’re not talking about the difficulties of going up a mountain; these would be places which could be accessed by the average person; we are talking about the purity of soul—and no man has a pure soul.

Translation: ...and who may stand in His holy place? This is whatever area that Jehovah God inhabits specifically, which, might be seen as within the Tabernacle or above the altar or wherever He is worshiped. It is considered a sacred place because God is sacred; God is set apart; God is holy. Now, how can sinful man actually take a stand in such a place? If point A is considered a holy place inhabited by God, then how can man stand there? The example which quickly comes to mind is when Moses came upon the burning bush and God told him that he was standing on holy ground (Ex. 3:2–6).

Now recognize that this is an interesting dichotomy: all the earth is the Lord’s, yet there appear to be particular places which are more closely associated with Him. The key is, this world was given to man for man to take care of; and man, in his transgression, gave the earth over to Satan to rule over (this is the Devil’s world). So, even though the earth is God’s, as it was created by Him; custodianship at this point belongs to Satan. Given this, there are places where God makes Himself known or where He reaches out to man. When man comes into contact with God is what David is referring to.

We have a parallel passage in Psalm 15:1: LORD, who shall abide in your tabernacle? Who shall dwell in your holy hill?

As an aside, we often speak of heaven, and many people have these ideas of sitting on clouds with harps, looking all white and shiny; however, the Bible, in relation to man, speaks in terms of this earth. When we are raptured (if this is the rapture generation), we will meet the Lord in the air, but He will also return to the earth at the end of the Tribulation, 7 years later. This psalm, like many passages, does not speak of an otherworldly place, but of life here on earth—or at least, in it allusions, they are to places which are here on earth.

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text                       Clean of [two] palms and pure of heart

who does not lift up to the iniquity his [possibly, my] soul

and who does not swear to deceit.

Septuagint                              Innocent in his hands and pure in his heart; who has not lifted up his soul to vanity, nor sworn deceitfully against his neighbour.

Significant differences:           The word vanity in the LXX also means iniquity. The LXX adds against his neighbor to the end of this verse. The Latin agrees with the Greek; the Syriac does not.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       Only those who do right for the right reasons, and don't worship idols or tell lies under oath.

Good News Bible (TEV)         Those who are pure in act and in thought, who do not worship idols or make false promises.

The Message                         Only the clean-handed, only the pure-hearted; Men who won't cheat, women who won't seduce.

New Living Testament           Only those whose hands and hearts are pure,

who do not worship idols

and never tell lies.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             He who has clean hands and a true heart; whose desire has not gone out to foolish things, who has not taken a false oath.

God’s Word™                         The one who has clean hands and a pure heart and does not long for what is false or lie when he is under oath.

HCSB                                     The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not set his mind on what is false, and who has not sworn deceitfully.

JPS (Tanakh)                         He who has clean hands and a pure heart,

who has not taken a false oath by My [ancient versions and some manuscripts read “His”] life

or sworn deceitfully.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

English Standard Version      He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.

WEB                                      He who has clean hands and a pure heart; Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood, And has not sworn deceitfully.

Young’s Updated LT             The clean of hands, and pure of heart, Who has not lifted up to vanity his soul, Nor has sworn to deceit.

What is the gist of this verse? This answers the question of the previous verse: Who can go up the hill of Jehovah and stand in His holy place? Our verse answers: Those who are pure and clean, who does not elevate iniquity in one’s life and does not swear falsely against his neighbor.

Translation: [A man who has] clean hands and a pure heart,... The question posed in the previous verse was: Who can go up the hill of Jehovah and who can stand up in His holy place? This verse answers that question by saying, anyone with clean hands and a pure heart. We know that all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory (Rom. 3:23). So, this lets out you and me. However, this would even prevent David from ascending up the hill of God to worship Him. The key is regeneration; for He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5). We have been made clean by God—at least positionally. We will all sin at some point in time. We sinned before we believed in Jesus Christ and we will sin after believing in Jesus Christ. Clean hands and a pure heart refers the fact that we are clean before God because we are in Jesus Christ, not because we have an exemplary life. The clean hands means that we are in fellowship; that is, we have named our sins to God. Experientially, a pure heart comes before clean hands. Jesus told us, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” (Matt. 5:8).

Hands are an expression of volition—they represent what we do (see Isa. 1:15 59:3 Acts 2:23 Psalm 26:10). Bullinger views the use of hands as a metonym for the works done by them (which is how I view it) and the pure heart as inward character. I am conflicted whether this refers to a person’s inner intentions or to the fact that they have been regenerated. A person’s inner intentions, when in fellowship, would reflect the fact that they have been regenerated. For me, in order for one to have a relationship with God in the first place, regeneration must take place, and I believe that to be the overriding principle here.

McGee comments: If the only ones who are going to ascend into the hill of the Lord are those who have clean hands and a pure heart, and those who have not lifted up their souls unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully, I guess I won’t be there. That leaves me out. But I am gong to be there, because I am going to be there in Christ. He has undertaken to present me before the throne of grace in His present priestly office because I have trust Him as my Savior.

Translation: ...who does not lift up his soul to iniquity [or, to vanity]... Here we go into experiential righteousness. Once a person has believed in Jesus Christ, he does have a life to lead afterwards. There are some lifestyles which are sinful, and a person should no longer elevate that lifestyle. He may sin now and again in that realm of sins; but this should no longer be the focus of his life; this should not be something which he touts as being good or correct.

Application: A person with homosexual tendencies can be saved by believing in Jesus Christ (the same way anyone is saved). No doubt, his area of weakness will be homosexual actions. Now, he can continue in this lifestyle and try to portray it as being a valid choice; that would be lifting up his soul to iniquity. He can reject this as sinful, even though, now and again, he may sin and commit homosexual acts.

Now, understand that once you believe in Jesus Christ, you are saved, and that cannot be changed in any way. You cannot lose this salvation. However, what you can lose is fellowship with God in time. So, you may not be ascending the hill of Jehovah and you may not stand in His holy place—in this life.

Application: It is my opinion that there are a huge number of believers who are saved forever, never lose this salvation, and yet they do not advance one iota experientially and, in most cases, spend all of their lives (or the lion’s share of their lives) out of fellowship. You have to be willing to name your sins to God in order to be restored to temporal fellowship with Him. If you don’t, then you have no experiential link to Him. In order to grow spiritually, you need to learn His Word as He has designed His Word to be learned—under the authority of a pastor-teacher.

Barnes understand this as, He does not lift up his soul to vanity, and interprets it thus: The probable meaning is, that he has not set his heart on vain things, or that which is false. He has sought after substantial truth, alike in the object of worship, in that which he professes to believe, and in the statements and promises which he makes to others. He aims to secure that which is true and real. He is in no sense “carried away” with that which is unreal and false.

The other interpretation is, a person lives his life for that which is vain and empty. His life has no substance to it; no eternal meaning. A life filled with excess and self-gratification.

Application: One of the big pushes in popular culture today is, put yourself first; look out for #1; if you don’t take care of your own needs, no one else will. This would be a vain existence. This would be a worthless life. When your life is all about you, it has no substance, no meaning. First of all, you are pre-empting God, as if He does not know what your needs are; as if He does nothing on your behalf. Secondly, this is a form of self-worship. Finally, this is psychologically unsound. Those who put others first (their spouses, their children), lead a life of greater satisfaction, than those who put themselves first. Those who look to satisfy themselves first in any way possible become frustrated and angry. It is these types who end up in Alcoholics Anonymous or in substance abuse or as addicts of one kind or another.

Translation: ...and [who] does not swear duplicity [or, does not make deceitful oaths] [the LXX adds: against his neighbor]. I suspect that the additional verbiage belongs here and that, at some point in time, it was dropped out of the text due to a poor manuscript or errors made by a copyist. This again refers to a set of lifestyle choices. One who deals in a duplicitous manner with his neighbor would be a person who attempts to cheat him and to try to get ahead of him by taking from his neighbor. Believers will occasionally lie and they will occasionally cheat, but it will not be a lifestyle choice of the believer who maintains fellowship with God. At some point, they must confess these sins in order to have their fellowship with God restored.

Psalm 15:1–5 provides a close parallel to this verse: LORD, who shall abide in your tabernacle? who shall dwell in your holy hill? He that walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart. He that backbites not with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his neighbor. In whose eyes a vile person is despised; but he honors them that fear the LORD. He that swears to his own hurt, and changes not. He that puts not out his money at interest, nor takes reward against the innocent. He that does these things shall never be moved. Again, this is not salvation that we are speaking of, but temporal fellowship with God. As you grow in grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ and as you spend more and more hours in fellowship, you attain some experiential growth, and you do not engage in these behaviors (not regularly). Job also speaks of this in Job 17:9: The righteous also shall hold to his way, and he that has clean hands shall be stronger and stronger. His clean hands becoming stronger and stronger, refers to experiential spiritual growth.

How a Man May be Clean and Pure

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Latin Vulgate                          He shall receive a blessing from the Lord, and mercy from God his Saviour.

Masoretic Text                       He lifts up a blessing from with Y^ehowah

and righteousness from an Elohim of deliverance.

Septuagint                              He shall receive a blessing from the Lord, and mercy from God his Saviour.

Significant differences:           The first verb is quite different, and you will notice that many translators chose the LXX translation at this point. The Latin and Syriac both agree with the Greek.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       The LORD God, who saves them, will bless and reward them...

Good News Bible (TEV)         The LORD will bless them and save them; God will declare them innocent.

The Message                         GOD is at their side; with GOD's help they make it.

NET Bible®                             Such godly people are rewarded by the LORD,

and vindicated by the God who delivers them.

New American Bible              They will receive blessings from the Lord,

and justice from their saving God.

New Jerusalem Bible             Such a one will receive blessing from Yahweh,

saving justice from the God of his salvation.

New Living Testament           They will receive the Lord’s blessing

and have right standing with God their savior.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             He will have blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

God’s Word™                         This person will receive a blessing from the LORD and righteousness from God, his savior.

HCSB                                     He will receive blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

JPS (Tanakh)                         He shall carry away a blessing from the Lord,

a just reward from God, his deliverer.

New International Version      He will receive blessing from the Lord

and vindication from God his Savior.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

LTHB                                     He shall lift up the blessing from Jehovah, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

MKJV                                     He shall receive the blessing from Jehovah, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

NRSV                                     They will receive blessing from the Lord,

and vindication from the God of their salvation.

Young’s Updated LT             He bears away a blessing from Jehovah, Righteousness from the God of his salvation.

What is the gist of this verse? The man of clean hands and a pure heart exalts (or receives) blessing from Jehovah, as well as imputed righteousness.

Translation: He exalts [or, lifts up] blessing from Y^ehowah... There are two approaches in life for the believer. He can continue to exalt himself and his sins after he is saved (e.g., bragging about how drunk he got, how many women he has had or how righteous that he is), or he can exalt the blessings which he has received from Jesus Christ.

Application: In a believer’s life, there are going to be things that you can point to—specific things—which you can recognize as being blessings from God. If you, as a believer, cannot do that, then there is something seriously wrong with your spiritual walk.

As has been mentioned, the Latin, Syriac and Greek all have to receive instead of to exalt. I think it is more a matter of a simpler understanding in those translations. However, I think that what we are looking at here is a person who is not just in fellowship, but is growing spiritually. Since this person is growing spiritually, they will lift up or exalt the blessing which they receive from God.

I should also point out that the word blessing is in the singular; all that God gives, including difficulties, can be categorized as blessing. All that He does on our behalf is for blessing. For the believer out of fellowship, discipline is a blessing, as it is designed to get him back into fellowship. Difficulties and tests while we are in fellowship are designed to strengthen our faith in Him. A mature believer recognizes that he should exalt all that God has done on his behalf.

I want you to notice that the verb to bear, to lift up, to carry is found here and in the previous verse. The reason it figures so prominently into this psalm is, the Levites are carrying the Ark of God from the home of Obed-edom to Jerusalem. Not only does this verb (which is a very common verb, by the way) pertain to the moving of the Ark, and is the key to moving the Ark, but it is closely related to the blessing and righteousness which we receive from God.

Clarke suggests that the blessing here, in part, alluded to the house of Obed-edom, where the blessing of God was so manifest, that, within a couple of months, it was apparent to anyone who observed his home, and as we guessed, so apparent that someone reported this to David.

Translation: ...and [he exalts] righteousness from the Elohim of salvation [or, Jesus]. We do not exalt our own righteousness, but we exalt the righteousness which God has given us; the God of salvation; the God of Jesus (salvation [English translation] = Joshua [English transliteration from the Hebrew] = Jesus [English transliteration from Greek equivalent to Joshua]). When speaking to the unbeliever, make certain that you communicate to them that your righteousness has been imputed to you; you may not demonstrate it enough for him or for your own self, but you have it. Your self-righteousness means nothing to the unbeliever. To him, your self-righteousness pisses him off; or he dislikes you for it.

This portion of the verse could also read: ...and vindication from the God of his deliverance.

We think chronologically; and, for this reason, we would expect first to lift up the righteousness bestowed upon us by God (imputed righteousness at the point of salvation), and then to speak of blessing laid upon us, which is a result of imputed righteousness. We might look at this as more of a result based upon a cause. That is, the person receives blessing from God because he first received imputed righteousness from God. 2Cor. 5:21: For the man who knew no sin was made sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Philip. 3:9: And be found in Christ, not having my righteousness, that from law, but that through Christ's faith—the righteousness from God based on faith. 1Cor. 1:30: But by Him, you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Rom. 5:17–18 [Weymouth]: For if, through the transgression of the one individual, Death made use of the one individual to seize the sovereignty, all the more shall those who receive God's overflowing grace and gift of righteousness reign as kings in Life through the one individual, Jesus Christ. It follows then that just as the result of a single transgression is a condemnation which extends to the whole race, so also the result of a single decree of righteousness is a life-giving acquittal which extends to the whole race. Isa. 46:13: I will bring near My righteousness, it will not be far off, and My salvation will not wait; and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory. Isa. 51:6: “Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look on the earth beneath, for the heavens shall vanish like smoke, and the earth wear out like a garment, and those who dwell in it die as gnats. But My salvation is forever, and My righteousness is not broken.” Isa. 12:2: “Behold, God is my salvation [or, God is My Jesus]. I will trust, and will not be afraid; for Yah, Yahweh, is my strength and song; and He has become my salvation."

Gill: [This righteousness is] from Christ, who is God our Saviour, the author of salvation; and who has brought in an everlasting righteousness, which is in Him, and is a gift of His grace, and is received from Him by faith, and is a great blessing indeed; it secures from condemnation and death, and entitles us to eternal life.

With God’s imputed righteousness, we come to Him with a pure heart and clean hands. Any post-salvation works, done in the Spirit, are a matter of God’s grace and His opportunity-provision. Let me draw a simple analogy. You can have the best ball carrier in the world on a football team. However, if his team never blocks for him, or if he never puts his hands on the ball, or if he simply sits on the bench for each and every game, no one is going to think much of his abilities. It is God’s grace that we have a spiritual gift or two; it is God’s grace that we are given the opportunity to use it (them). That we have any spiritual impact whatsoever in this life is God’s grace. Our response is, we should lift up His righteousness which He has bestowed upon us.

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text                       This generation of seekers;

those seeking faces of Jacob.

Selah!

Peshitta                                  This is the generation of those that seek Your face,

That proclaim You countenance, O God of Jacob.

Septuagint                              This is the generation of them that seek Him, that seek the face of the God of Jacob. Pause.

Significant differences:           The Greek, Latin and Syriac all have the phrase the God of inserted before Jacob. Since the Latin and Syriac generally agree with the Hebrew rather than the text of the Greek, when there is a disagreement, I would reasonably assume the God of belongs in this text. The Syriac adds an additional face here.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       ...because they worship and serve the God of Jacob.

Good News Bible (TEV)         Such are the people who come to God, who come into the presence of the God of Jacob.

The Message                         This, Jacob, is what happens to God-seekers, God-questers.

Revised English Bible            Such is the fortune of those who seek him,

who seek the presence of the God of Jacob. [Selah

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             This is the generation of those whose hearts are turned to you, even to your face, O God of Jacob. Selah.

God’s Word™                         This is the person who seeks him, who searches for the face of the God of Jacob. Selah.

HCSB                                     Such is the generation of those who seek Him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Selah.

JPS (Tanakh)                         Such is the circle [lit., generation] of those who turn to Him,

Jacob, who seek Your presence.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible                This is the generation [description] of those who seek Him, who inquire of and for Him, and [of necessity] require Him, who seek Your face, [O God of] Jacob. Selah [pause, and think of that]!

MKJV                                     This is the generation of those who seek Him, who seek Your face, O God of Jacob. Selah.

WEB                                      This is the generation of those who seek Him, Who seek your face -- even Jacob. Selah..

Young’s Updated LT             This is a generation of those seeking Him. Seeking Your face, O Jacob! Selah.

What is the gist of this verse? Those with David are a generation of men who seek Jehovah God.

Translation: This is a generation of seekers;... Things have changed since the generation of Saul. The men of that age sought after a king, but not after God. When Saul offered up sacrifices, the people went along with it. In fact, Saul ordered a number of things to be done during his reign, which should not have been followed (like his constant pursuits of David). During Saul’s reign, the Tabernacle seems to be relatively inactive and the Ark was simply kept in Kiriath-jearim. In the time of David, there is a spiritual rebirth, where people—his generation—look to God; where his people seek God. 1Peter 2:9: But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (see also Isa. 43:20 Ex. 19:6 Deut. 26:18).

Translation: ...ones who seek Your face, O God of Jacob! One might insert: This is a generation of those who seek Your face, O God of Jacob! As throughout this psalm, this is a parallel thought to what has come before. Those in attendance of this celebration, which was quite large, were seeking God; they sought for truth.

There is a change of person here, which occurs now and again in Scripture. In v. 6a, God is spoken of in the 3^rd person; and here, in v. 6b, He is spoken of in the 2^nd person. Because we have the 2^nd person here, and it is followed by Jacob, one would think that we are addressing Jacob. It makes less sense to try to tie generation to Jacob for this reason (that is, it would be hard to justify the interpretation the generation of Jacob).

He is called the God of Jacob here. Jacob was a believer in Jesus Christ, the son of Isaac, also a believer in Jesus Christ; a son of Abraham, a believer in Jesus Christ. They represent the regenerate line whereas, those who were from Abraham, but did not trust or follow God, became the line of Arab groups. Rom. 9:6–8: But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all those of Israel are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, "In Isaac your seed shall be called." That is, those who are the children of the flesh, are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. Or Rom. 4:16: That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring--not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.

Note that this provides us with a parallel to 1Chron. 15:13b: For we previously did not seek God according to the Scriptures. (see also 1Chron. 13:3). At this point, David was seeking God in His Word, and he lived in a generation of men who also sought after God.

Translation: [Musical] Pause [or, musical interlude; lit., Selah!] As described in the exegesis, this word çelâh comes from a verb which means to lift up. It is reasonable to assume that those who are playing musical instruments are to lift up these instruments and play during a pause in the singing. I believe that this is called the bridge in modern music? Keil and Delitzsch suggest: The music, as Sela directs, here becomes more boisterous; it gives intensity to the strong cry for the judgment of God; and the first unfolding of thought of this Michtam is here brought to a close. Let me suggest that this also is a time where David takes a break from writing, and concentrates on his run. Obviously, he is formulating this as he runs; he does not stop to scratch out a few verses on a rock or a tree; but this represents a break in his thinking, and the music intensifies as he simply runs.

Clarke: Selah! That is, It is confirmed; it is true. The persons who abstain from every appearance of evil, and seek the approbation of God, are those in whom God will delight.

Ewald divides this psalm into two separate psalms, each of which was composed at a different time for different reasons, and then the psalm was tied together. There is definitely a difference in the meter of these parts; however, we still have the give and take—where it appears as though one group sings one verse, and another group answers by singing a second verse. This pattern is retained throughout this psalm. That we have some kind of a change, such as the introduction of a different melody or a different meter, is actually quite common to music, where even classical music is often an interplay between two themes, both introduced separately in the first and second movements (I’m not sure if I have my terms correct here, as it has been several decades since I took a music appreciation course). For this reason, I see no need to presume that we have two different psalms here.

Lift up the Gates for the King of Glory, the Lord of Hosts

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Latin Vulgate                          Lift up your gates, O you princes, and be lifted up, O eternal gates: and the King of Glory shall enter in.

Masoretic Text                       Lift up, O gates,

your heads and be lifted up doors of antiquity;

and comes in a King of the Glory.

Septuagint                              Lift up your gates, you princes, and be lifted up, you everlasting doors; and the king of glory will come in.

Significant differences:           The Latin and the Greek are identical, and the Hebrew and Syriac are identical. In the Hebrew and Syriac, the psalmist addresses the gates themselves, and tell them to lift up their heads (princes). In the Greek and Latin, the psalmist addresses the gates and tells them to lift up their princes (or heads). The latter half of this verse is the same in all 4 languages.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       Open the ancient gates, so that the glorious king may come in.

Good News Bible (TEV)         Fling wide the gates, open the ancient doors, and the great king will come in.

The Message                         Wake up, you sleepyhead city! Wake up, you sleepyhead people! King-Glory is ready to enter.

New Living Testament           Open up, ancient gates!

Open up, ancient doors,

and let the King of glory enter.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             Let your heads be lifted up, O doors; be lifted up, O you eternal doors: that the King of glory may come in.

HCSB                                     Lift up your heads, you gates! Rise up, ancient doors! Then the King of glory will come in.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

English Standard Version      Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.

Young's Updated LT              Lift up, O gates, your heads, And be lifted up, O doors age-during, And the King of Glory comes in!.

What is the gist of this verse? The psalmist calls for the gates to be opened, so that the King of Glory may come in. .

Translation: Lift up your heads [or, princes], O gates... The general idea here is, the gates are being opened for the King of Glory to come through; however, the language is somewhat odd. I don’t know what the head of a gate would be, or why someone would lift it. The word also means princes, and it is confusing why the psalmist would address the gates and tell them to lift up their princes, when it appears that it should be the other way around (O princes, lift up your gates; which is how it reads in the Latin and Greek). Now, it is possible that the person who hears this would understand how it should read, but I don’t have really know why it reads as it does. Perhaps the meaning is, Lift up gates; [lift up] your princes. Again, even with that understanding, the meaning is somewhat confusing.

In any case, we cannot simply write this off as an error. Why? Because we will repeat this same phrase in v. 9. The odds of making the same error in copying a manuscript twice in two nearby verses, converting something which makes sense into something which is very hard to understand, is highly unlikely.

Now, I have always pictured the gates of a city as being opened, but not lifted. However, they are lifted in this verse (and in v. 8). Barnes suggests the same thing: It would seem...that the gates of the city were originally made in the form of a portcullis, as the gates of the old castles in the feudal ages were, not to “open,” but to be “lifted up” by weights and pulleys. In some of the old ruins of castles in Palestine there are still to be seen deep grooves in the “posts” of the gateway, showing that the door did not open and shut, but that it was drawn up or let down. Barnes continues: There were some advantages in this, as they could be suddenly “let down” on an enemy about to enter, when it would be difficult to close them if they were made to open as doors and gates are commonly made. Thus understood, the “heads” of the gates would be the top, perhaps ornamented in some such way as to suggest the idea of a “head,” and the command was that these should be elevated to admit the ark of God to pass.

Freeman, who specializes in giving us an idea as to how things worked in the ancient world, writes: Allusion is thought to be made here to the custom of hanging gates so that, instead of opening in the ordinary way, they rise and fall as they open and shut. A gate of this description was called cataracta, because of the force and noise with which it fell. It was used in the fortification of towns, and corresponded to the portcullis of modern times; and is supposed to have been known in the time of David.

That the gates themselves are addressed is found elsewhere in ancient literature. Clarke quotes from Hymn of Callimachus to Apollo, vv. 6–7, where this is done.

Translation: ...and be lifted up, O ancient doors;... It is unclear again as to why these doors are lifted, or why they are called ancient doors; the fact that they are being opened is easily explained: for the Lord of Glory to walk through.

Now, the idea could be that the heads of the people are to lift up, in order to behold the Ark of God coming; and that O gates belongs with the second portion of this verse: Lift up your heads; O gates, be lifted up, O ancient doors. However, we have an additional and between O gates and be lifted up. It does not seem reasonable to follow a vocative with a wâw conjunction.

I have interpreted this psalm to be read as David and the Levites bring the Ark into Jerusalem. What I picture here are, the gates of the city of Jerusalem being opened, as this procession marches through, the Levites carrying the Ark of God on their shoulders.

These words referring to ancient doors or doors of antiquity, there is an idea of permanence. This does not mean that the doors to Jerusalem which David has lifted up have been there for hundreds of years (although, it is possible that they have been); but David is referring to the concept of eternal things, which is related to the King of Glory coming in. The idea is not that the Ark is an idol and that its arrival in Jerusalem marks God permanently residing in Jerusalem; David is, instead, looking off into the future, when Jesus Christ will rule the world in the Millennium from Jerusalem.

Translation: ...when the King of Glory comes in! The entrances are being opened, so that the King of Glory may enter in. In 1Cor. 2:8, Christ is called the Lord of Glory.

Going with the interpretation that David and the Levites are singing this as the gates of Jerusalem of opened for the Ark of God, it is important to recognize that at no time did doctrinal believers, like David, speak of the Ark as an idol. The Ark coming into the city of Jerusalem is analogous to Jesus Christ coming into Jerusalem as a king. Upon the Ark is the mercy seat—which one might see as God’s throne—and this is where God would meet man, although how was not as perspicuous in the time of David as it is today.

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text                       Who [is] this, a King of the Glory?

Y^ehowah, strong and mighty;

Y^ehowah mighty of battle.

Septuagint                              Who is this king of Glory? the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.

Significant differences:           In the last line of the Hebrew, we have a construct state; in the Greek, we have the preposition in, in between the words (which may be a reasonable interpretation of the construct state in this case).

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       Who is this glorious king? He is our LORD, a strong and mighty warrior.

Good News Bible (TEV)         Who is this great king? He is the LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, victorious in battle.

The Message                         Who is this King-Glory? GOD, armed and battle-ready.

New American Bible              Who is this king of glory?

The Lord, a mighty warrior,

the Lord, mighty in battle.

New Jerusalem Bible             Who is he, this king of glory?

It is Yahweh, strong and valiant.

Yahweh, valiant in battle.

New Living Testament           Who is the King of glory?

The Lord, strong and mighty,

the Lord, invincible in battle.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             Who is the King of glory? The Lord of strength and power, the Lord strong in war.

God’s Word™                         Who is this king of glory? The LORD, strong and mighty! The LORD, heroic in battle!

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

WEB                                      Who is the King of glory? Yahweh strong and mighty, Yahweh mighty in battle.

Young’s Updated LT             Who is this—“the king of glory?” Jehovah—strong and mighty, Jehovah, the mighty in battle.

What is the gist of this verse? The psalm asks, “Who is this King of Glory” and appears to answer that it is the all-powerful Jehovah God.

The way I would interpret this is, David has come to the gates and has called for them to be lifted for the King of Glory, and these are the gatekeepers who respond, “Who is this King of Glory?” Throughout this psalm, we have seen a very even statement and response.

Translation: Who [is] this, the King of Glory? In the previous verse, David spoke of lifting up the gates [into Jerusalem] so that the King of Glory could come through. In this verse, he explains who this King of Glory is. David asks the question, Who is this King of Glory? You see, many men, having just become king, having had successful battles, might refer to himself as the King of Glory. They look to glorify themselves. So many kings in the past were seen as deity and even worshiped. Not David.