Psalm 33 (1928 BCP)
Psalm 33 (1928 BCP) is the hymn Exultate, justi in the Psalter of the 1928 Book of Common Prayer. It calls the righteous to public thanksgiving, praises God's creating word and governing counsel, and ends with the congregation's patient hope in God's mercy. In the Prayer Book's monthly cycle it follows Psalm 32 at Evening Prayer on the Sixth Day.[1]
The 1928 Prayer Book text
REJOICE in the LORD, O ye righteous; * for it becometh well the just to be thankful.
2 Praise the LORD with harp; * sing praises unto him with the lute, and instrument of ten strings.
3 Sing unto the LORD a new song; * sing praises lustily unto him with a good courage.
4 For the word of the LORD is true; * and all his works are faithful.
5 He loveth righteousness and judgment; * the earth is full of the goodness of the LORD.
6 By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; * and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.
7 He gathereth the waters of the sea together, as it were upon an heap; * and layeth up the deep, as in a treasure-house.
8 Let all the earth fear the LORD: * stand in awe of him, all ye that dwell in the world.
9 For he spake, and it was done; * he commanded, and it stood fast.
10 The LORD bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought, * and maketh the devices of the people to be of none effect, and casteth out the counsels of princes.
11 The counsel of the LORD shall endure for ever, * and the thoughts of his heart from generation to generation.
12 Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord JEHOVAH; * and blessed are the folk that he hath chosen to him, to be his inheritance.
13 The LORD looketh down from heaven, and beholdeth all the children of men; * from the habitation of his dwelling, he considereth all them that dwell on the earth.
14 He fashioneth all the hearts of them, * and understandeth all their works.
15 There is no king that can be saved by the multitude of an host; * neither is any mighty man delivered by much strength.
16 A horse is counted but a vain thing to save a man; * neither shall he deliver any man by his great strength.
17 Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, * and upon them that put their trust in his mercy;
18 To deliver their soul from death, * and to feed them in the time of dearth.
19 Our soul hath patiently tarried for the LORD; * for he is our help and our shield.
20 For our heart shall rejoice in him; * because we have hoped in his holy Name.
21 Let thy merciful kindness, O LORD, be upon us, * like as we do put our trust in thee.
Praise, creation, and the new song
The Psalm begins with a fittingness claim: thanksgiving becomes those whom it calls “just.” The instruments and “new song” do not make praise a private mood; they summon a people to give voice to God's truthful word and faithful works. The appeal to creation in verses 6–9 reaches back to Genesis 1, where God speaks and it is so, and the Church hears that confession alongside John 1:1–3 and Colossians 1:16–17. These passages do not dissolve the Psalm's first meaning into a later text; they confess that the Maker praised by Israel is known in the incarnate Word.
Alexander MacLaren observes that the Psalm's newness is not novelty for its own sake, but renewed praise for God's enduring acts:
The “new song” is not necessarily the psalm itself, but may mean other thanksgivings evoked by God's meditated-on goodness. But, in any case, it is noteworthy that the occasions of the new song are very old acts, stretching back to the first creation and continued down through the ages.
That insight helps explain why Psalm 33 belongs to the ordinary, repeatable discipline of Evening Prayer. The Church's “new song” is not an attempt to improve on revelation, but the ever-fresh reception of creation, providence, and redemption as gifts. Its language of “word” and “breath” also provides a scriptural grammar for Christian Trinitarian reflection: the one God creates by his word and gives life by his breath, while the New Testament identifies the eternal Word as the Son and speaks of the Spirit as giver of life.
The work of creation is set forth in vv. 6-9, as the effect of the Divine word alone. The psalmist is fascinated not by the glories created, but by the wonder of the process of creation. The Divine will uttered itself, and the universe was.
Providence and the counsel of God
Verses 10–16 move from the origin of the world to its history. Nations devise and rulers rely on armies, yet the Psalm refuses to call military scale or human calculation saving power. This is neither indifference to public responsibility nor a promise that faithful people will never suffer. It is worship's correction of every political idolatry: history is finally accountable to the counsel of the Lord, whose righteousness and judgment are inseparable from his goodness.
The only stable, permanent reality is the will of God, and it imparts derived stability to those who ally themselves with it, yielding to its counsels and moulding their thoughts by its.
MacLaren also traces the Psalm's imagery of sea, inheritance, king, host, and horse to the Exodus song (Exodus 15). That reading illuminates the Psalm's corporate language: “blessed are the people” does not license national self-congratulation, but locates a people under the liberating God who defeats the apparent self-sufficiency of Pharaoh's chariots. In Christian prayer the Church therefore receives verse 12 with gratitude and humility, as a people made God's own by mercy rather than by autonomous merit.
The eye of the Lord and patient hope
The closing movement joins the Lord's universal knowledge of every heart with his particular, merciful regard for those who fear him and hope in his mercy. “Fear” here is reverent creatureliness before the Creator, not terror before a rival power. “Patiently tarried” is consequently an active posture of dependence: the congregation waits, confesses God as help and shield, rejoices, and asks for the mercy in which it already hopes.
Augustine gives this moral and ecclesial construal of the opening praise:
Rejoice, O you righteous, not in yourselves, for that is not safe; but in the Lord. For praise is comely to the upright: these praise the Lord, who submit themselves unto the Lord; for else they are distorted and perverse.
For Augustine, the ten-stringed instrument becomes an image of embodied love rather than a warrant for contempt of the Psalm's literal music:
Praise the Lord, presenting unto Him your bodies a living sacrifice. Sing unto Him with the psaltery for ten strings: let your members be servants to the love of God, and of your neighbour, in which are kept both the three and the seven commandments.
The interpretation draws the Psalm into Romans 12:1 and the twofold commandment of love. It is a theological reception, not a replacement text: the 1928 Psalter keeps the concrete harp and lute before the worshipper, while Augustine presses the worshipper to offer the whole bodily life that sings.
Behold, the Eyes of the Lord are upon them that fear Him: because if you seek salvation, behold, the love of the Lord is upon them that fear Him. Upon them that hope in His mercy: that hope not in their own strength, but in His mercy.
This reception accords with the Prayer Book's closing petition: mercy is not earned by the intensity of hope; rather, the people dare to hope because the Lord is already their help and shield. Psalm 33 thus forms worshippers in praise that is creational, public, and morally serious—praise that refuses both self-reliance and despair.
See Also
External Links
- 1928 Book of Common Prayer: Psalms 1–37
- Alexander MacLaren on Psalm 33
- Augustine, Exposition on Psalm 33
References
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), The Psalter, Sixth Day, Evening Prayer, Psalm 33, pp. 404–405; text and appointment checked against Justus Anglican, The Book of Common Prayer, 1928: Psalms 1–37.
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), The Psalter, Psalm 33, verses 1–8, p. 404; verified against Justus Anglican, The Book of Common Prayer, 1928: Psalms 1–37.
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), The Psalter, Psalm 33, verses 9–14, p. 405; verified against Justus Anglican, The Book of Common Prayer, 1928: Psalms 1–37.
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), The Psalter, Psalm 33, verses 15–21, p. 405; verified against Justus Anglican, The Book of Common Prayer, 1928: Psalms 1–37.
- ↑ Alexander MacLaren, Expositor's Bible: The Psalms, vol. 1 (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1892), pp. 313–314, “Psalm XXXIII”; Christian Classics Ethereal Library transcription.
- ↑ Alexander MacLaren, Expositor's Bible: The Psalms, vol. 1 (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1892), p. 315, “Psalm XXXIII”; Christian Classics Ethereal Library transcription.
- ↑ Alexander MacLaren, Expositor's Bible: The Psalms, vol. 1 (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1892), pp. 316–317, “Psalm XXXIII”; Christian Classics Ethereal Library transcription.
- ↑ Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 33, §1 (Psalm 32 in the Vulgate/LXX numbering), in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 8, trans. J. E. Tweed (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888); New Advent transcription.
- ↑ Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 33, §2 (Psalm 32 in the Vulgate/LXX numbering), in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 8, trans. J. E. Tweed (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888); New Advent transcription.
- ↑ Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 33, §18 (Psalm 32 in the Vulgate/LXX numbering), in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 8, trans. J. E. Tweed (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888); New Advent transcription.