An exhortation to praise God, 1, 2, for his greatness, 3-5; and for his goodness, 6, 7; and not to test him, 8-11.
1 O come, let us sing to the LORD./
Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving/
and make a joyful noise to him with psalms.
3 For the LORD is a great God/
and a great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the deep places of the earth./
The strength of the hills is his also.
5 The sea is his, and he made it./
And his hands formed the dry land.
6 O come, let us worship and bow down./
Let us kneel before the LORD our maker.
7 For he is our God,/
and we are the people of his pasture/
and the sheep of his hand./
Today, if you will hear his voice,
8 Do not harden your heart, as at Meribah,/
and as in the day of Massah in the wilderness,
9 When your fathers tested me,/
proved me, and saw my work.
10 Forty long years I was grieved with this generation/
and said, "It is a people who err in their heart,/
and they have not known my ways,"
11 To whom I swore in my wrath,/
"They shall not enter into my rest."
Matthew Henry Commentary - Psalms, Chapter 95[➚]
John Calvin's Chapter Summary:
The inspired penman of this psalm, whoever he was, in exhorting the Jews to praise God in solemn assembly, states two grounds why God should be praised; the one, that he sustains by his power the world which he created, the other, that he had of his free grace adopted the Church into a gracious relationship with himself. As many take God's praises into their lips in a hypocritical manner, he exhorts the people at the same time to be sincere, serious, and devoted in the service, and to show by the tenor of their life that they had not been chosen in vain. The more effectually to guard them against hypocrisy, he mentions that their fathers from the beginning had been of a stubborn spirit, and chargeable with ingratitude to God; and he takes notice of the dreadful punishment which fell upon them, and which might well deter their children from following in the footsteps of their rebelliousness.
[v.7-11] - Quoted in Hebrews 3:7-11.
[v.7-8] - Quoted in Hebrews 3:15, 4:7.
[v.11] - Quoted in Hebrews 4:3, 5.