Psalms 95

KJV · Chapter 95/150

1O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.

2Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.

3For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.

4In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also.

5The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.

6O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker.

7For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice,

8Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

9When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.

10Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:

11Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

An enthusiastic invitation to worship and kneel before the Creator, followed by a serious warning: do not harden your heart as the ancient Israelites did in the wilderness, who therefore did not enter the promised rest.

Explanation

The first part (v.1-7) is a joyful invitation to communal worship; the second (v.7-11) abruptly shifts tone, referring to the episode at Meribah and Massah (Exodus 17), when the people tested God's patience in the wilderness for forty years. This shift serves as a reminder that true worship is not just a feeling, but also an ongoing willingness to trust and obey. The book of Hebrews (chapters 3-4) draws extensively on this psalm to warn about the importance of persevering in faith. The application today is not to let routine harden the heart against God's daily call.

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