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Pentecost Season · Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time · Year A

Psalm 96:1+3, 4-5, 7-8, 9-10 (7b)

Declare His Glory Among the Nations

October 18, 2026

Christ Surrounded by Musician Angels, Hans Memling
Christ Surrounded by Musician Angels, Hans Memling, c. 1480Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp
From a great organ-shutter ensemble made for a Spanish monastery and now in Antwerp: angels playing named, playable fifteenth-century instruments, each fingered correctly.The psalm tells the righteous to praise with the harp and the ten-stringed lute, and Memling painted the instruments accurately enough to rebuild them from.Hans MemlingA German-born painter (c. 1430-1494) who settled in Bruges and became its most sought-after master, with a calm, orderly manner that made him popular with foreign merchants.Royal Museum of Fine Arts, AntwerpAntwerp's great collection, strongest in the Flemish painters the city produced, reopened in 2022 after an eleven-year closure.Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp
Roman Lectionary
GospelMatt. 22:15-21Mt 22:15-21
Second Reading1 Thess. 1:1-5b1 Thes 1:1-5b
First ReadingIsa. 45:1, 4-6Is 45:1, 4-6
Responsorial PsalmPs. 96:1+3, 4-5, 7-8, 9-10 (7b)Ps 96:1+3, 4-5, 7-8, 9-10 (7b)

Overview & Insights

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

The liturgy of this psalm celebrating Yahweh’s kingship opens with calls to praise stated in general terms (vv. 1–3). Reasons for the praise are then stated in terms of Yahweh’s incomparability among those claiming divine status, his past act of making the heavens, and his royal attributes (vv. 4–6). The liturgy then moves to another section calling for praise but this time specifying how and where (vv. 7–9). The final section specifies the content of this praise, which looks especially to his future act of judging. In response, the whole cosmos is to reverberate with praise (vv. 10–13).

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Take it further: Psalm 96:1+3, 4-5, 7-8, 9-10 (7b)

Commentary

Psalm 96 verse by versePs 96 verse by verse Enduring Word · David Guzik

David Guzik's verse-by-verse commentary on the psalm.

Psalm 96:1 commentariesPs 96:1 commentaries BibleHub

A stack of classic commentaries gathered at the psalm's opening.

Psalm 96 commentariesPs 96 commentaries StudyLight

A second aggregator carrying a different set of classic commentators.

Background & Word Study

Psalm 96 in HebrewPs 96 in Hebrew Sefaria

The Hebrew text with traditional Jewish commentary alongside.

The Church Fathers

Psalm 96 in the FathersPs 96 in the Fathers Catena

What the Church Fathers wrote on this psalm, gathered in one place.

Questions preachers ask

What kind of psalm is Psalm 96?

An enthronement hymn calling all the earth to sing and the nations to worship, declaring “the Lord reigns” and comes to judge the world in righteousness, so even the fields and the trees of the forest sing for joy.

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