Psalm 98:1, 2-3a, 3b-4 (1a)

“Sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things.” (Psalm 98:1)

The antiphon for this feast is the psalm’s own first line, and the selection is shorter than usual, three stanzas that stop at the general summons of v. 4. What that leaves is a psalm entirely about divine initiative. The victory in v. 1 is credited to a right hand and a holy arm, with no human instrument named; the justice of v. 2 is revealed rather than achieved; and v. 3 grounds the whole in remembered covenant loyalty toward the house of Israel, not in anything newly deserved. That is the logic by which the psalm is appointed here, for a feast about grace that precedes merit rather than rewards it. The demand for a new song assumes that the old repertoire cannot carry a new act, a convention this psalm shares with Psalm 96 and with Isaiah 42:10. In the older Greek and Latin numbering the psalm is 97, which is how it is cited in patristic and liturgical sources.

From Sermons.com: Join Today to access the most scholarly & well written preaching resources anywhere.