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Christmas · Christmas Midnight · Year A

Psalm 96

Declare His Glory Among 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)
LSB Three-Year Lectionary
GospelLuke 2:1-14 (15-20)Lk 2:1-14 (15-20)
EpistleTitus 2:11-14Ti 2:11-14
Old TestamentIsa. 9:2-7Is 9:2-7
PsalterPs. 96Ps 96

Overview & Insights

“Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples.” (Psalm 96:3)

Psalm 96 opens with a threefold summons to sing and closes in a courtroom, and the hinge is verse 10, the Lord reigns. The nations are not spectators: they are told to declare his glory (v. 3), and the gods they trust are dismissed in verse 5 with a Hebrew pun, the gods of the peoples are elilim, nothings. Verses 7 to 9 borrow almost intact from Psalm 29:1-2, with the families of the nations set where that psalm had heavenly beings, a small but pointed act of revision. The final strophe calls heavens, earth, sea, field and trees to join, and the reason given for their rejoicing is that he comes to judge, a prospect this psalm treats as good news rather than threat. Appointed for the midnight service, it hears that coming in the arrival announced to shepherds.

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Take it further: Psalm 96

Commentary

Working Preacher: Psalm 96Working Preacher: Ps 96 Working Preacher

Luther Seminary exegesis on why this psalm of pure exultation fits Christmas Eve.

BibleHub: Psalm 96:1 CommentariesBibleHub: Ps 96:1 Commentaries BibleHub

Aggregated classic commentaries on the call to sing a new song.

Enduring Word: Psalm 96Enduring Word: Ps 96 Enduring Word · David Guzik

Verse by verse evangelical notes on the psalm's call to worldwide praise.

Background & Word Study

BibleHub Interlinear: Psalm 96:1BibleHub Interlinear: Ps 96:1 BibleHub

Hebrew text with parsing for the enthronement language of the psalm.

Sefaria: Psalm 96Sefaria: Ps 96 Sefaria

Hebrew text of the psalm alongside an English translation.

The Church Fathers

Catena: Psalm 96Catena: Ps 96 Catena

Patristic comment chain reading the psalm's coming judge as Christ.

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