Old Testament
Psalms 95
Overview
Psalm 95 is a call to worship that turns abruptly into a solemn warning. It opens with a joyful summons to sing and shout to the LORD, the great King above all gods and the Maker of land and sea, then calls the worshippers to kneel before their Maker and Shepherd. The mood shifts sharply in the final verses as God Himself speaks, warning the congregation not to harden their hearts as Israel did at Meribah and Massah, lest they too forfeit His rest.
1Oh come, let’s sing to Yahweh. Let’s shout aloud to the rock of our salvation!
2Let’s come before his presence with thanksgiving. Let’s extol him with songs!
3For Yahweh is a great God, a great King above all gods.
4In his hand are the deep places of the earth. The heights of the mountains are also his.
5The sea is his, and he made it. His hands formed the dry land.
6Oh come, let’s worship and bow down. Let’s kneel before Yahweh, our Maker,
7for he is our God. We are the people of his pasture, and the sheep in his care. Today, oh that you would hear his voice!
8Don’t harden your heart, as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the wilderness,
9when your fathers tempted me, tested me, and saw my work.
10Forty long years I was grieved with that generation, and said, “They are a people who err in their heart. They have not known my ways.”
11Therefore I swore in my wrath, “They won’t enter into my rest.”