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Christmas Season · Nativity of the Lord - Christmas Midnight · Year A

Psalm 96:1-2a, 2b-3, 11-12, 13 (Luke 2:11)

A New Song for the Nations

December 25, 2025

A Gorge in the Mountains (Kauterskill Clove), Sanford Robinson Gifford
A Gorge in the Mountains (Kauterskill Clove), Sanford Robinson Gifford, 1862The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (CC0)
A Catskill gorge dissolved almost entirely into golden haze, with the sun in the centre and the landscape only just readable through it.Let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice; then shall all the trees of the wood sing for joy. Psalm 96 is a landscape praising, and Gifford painted light rather than ground.Sanford Robinson GiffordA Hudson River School painter who made atmosphere itself the subject, painting light as a visible substance between the viewer and the hills.The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (CC0)The largest art museum in the Americas, founded in 1870 by a group of New Yorkers who wanted one and had no collection to start from.The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (CC0)
Roman Lectionary
GospelLuke 2:1-14Lk 2:1-14
Second ReadingTitus 2:11-14Ti 2:11-14
First ReadingIsa. 9:1-6Is 9:1-6
Responsorial PsalmPs. 96:1-2a, 2b-3, 11-12, 13 (Luke 2:11)Ps 96:1-2a, 2b-3, 11-12, 13 (Lk 2:11)

Overview & Insights

“O sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth.” (Psalm 96:1)

Psalm 96 is one of the enthronement psalms (93 and 95 to 99), whose refrain is that the Lord is king (v. 10). Nearly the whole poem is reused in the account of David bringing the ark to Jerusalem at 1 Chronicles 16:23-33, which suggests either an old liturgy taken up by the chronicler or a psalm assembled from his source. The new song of verse 1 is not a fresh composition so much as the proper response to a fresh act of God, a motif shared with Psalms 33:3, 98:1 and 149:1. The summons is addressed outward, to the families of the nations (v. 7), and the closing strophe widens further, with heavens, sea, field and trees called as witnesses to the coming judgment (vv. 11 to 13). The antiphon appointed with it, taken from Luke 2:11, hears that arrival in the birth announced to shepherds.

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Take it further: Psalm 96:1-2a, 2b-3, 11-12, 13 (Luke 2:11)

Commentary

Commentary on Psalm 96Commentary on Ps 96 Working Preacher

Luther Seminary reading of the new song psalm of exultation fitting for Christmas Eve.

Psalm 96 Commentary: Declaring the Glory of GodPs 96 Commentary: Declaring the Glory of God Enduring Word · David Guzik

David Guzik's verse by verse notes on singing God's glory among the nations.

Psalm 96:1 CommentariesPs 96:1 Commentaries BibleHub

Classic commentators compiled on the call for all the earth to sing a new song.

Background & Word Study

Psalm 96:1 InterlinearPs 96:1 Interlinear BibleHub

Hebrew text of the new song psalm word by word with parsing.

Psalms 96 | Sefaria LibraryPs 96 | Sefaria Library Sefaria

Hebrew and English text of Psalm 96 with classical Jewish commentaries.

The Church Fathers

Psalms 96 - Catena Bible & CommentariesPs 96 - Catena Bible & Commentaries Catena

Patristic comments on Psalm 96 and the coming of the Lord to judge the earth.

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