Psalm 96 (1928 BCP)
Psalm 96 (1928 BCP) (Cantate Domino) follows Psalm 95 at Morning Prayer on the Nineteenth Day in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer Psalter. Its summons to a “new song” joins Israel's praise of the Creator and King to a public proclamation of his salvation among all peoples. The Psalm therefore holds worship, mission, and the hope of righteous judgment together.
Prayer Book Text
O SING unto the LORD a new song; * sing unto the LORD, all the whole earth.
2 Sing unto the LORD, and praise his Name; * be telling of his salvation from day to day.
3 Declare his honour unto the heathen, * and his wonders unto all peoples.
4 For the LORD is great, and cannot worthily be praised; * he is more to be feared than all gods.
5 As for all the gods of the heathen, they are but idols; * but it is the LORD that made the heavens.
6 Glory and worship are before him; * power and honour are in his sanctuary.
7 Ascribe unto the LORD, O ye kindreds of the peoples, * ascribe unto the LORD worship and power.
8 Ascribe unto the LORD the honour due unto his Name; * bring presents, and come into his courts.
9 O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness; * let the whole earth stand in awe of him.
10 Tell it out among the heathen, that the LORD is King, and that it is he who hath made the round world so fast that it cannot be moved; * and how that he shall judge the peoples righteously.
11 Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; * let the sea make a noise, and all that therein is.
12 Let the field be joyful, and all that is in it; * then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the LORD.
13 For he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth; * and with righteousness to judge the world, and the peoples with his truth.
The Psalm moves outward in a deliberate sequence. Praise of the LORD begins in the gathered worshipper but is not retained as private possession: the Name is praised, salvation is announced daily, and the Lord's honour is declared among the nations. The contrast with idols is not a call to contempt for peoples; it distinguishes the created heavens from their Maker and calls every kindred to give God the worship due to him.
A New Song for the Whole Earth
“New” does not make the song a novelty detached from Israel's Scriptures. It is a fresh act of praise for the LORD's saving reign. The apostolic vision of a multitude drawn from every people gives the Psalm's breadth a fitting Christian echo:
And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.
Augustine connects the new song with the Church's being built in love rather than with a merely individual religious experience:
If all the earth sings a new song, it is thus building while it sings: the very act of singing is building: but only, if it sings not the old song. The lust of the flesh sings the old song: the love of God sings the new. … The whole earth then sings a new song: there the house of God is built.
That is a historical Christian reading, not a replacement for the Psalm's own voice. The 1928 wording keeps the command concrete: “be telling of his salvation from day to day.” In Morning Prayer the Church repeatedly learns that praise bears witness to God's deeds and that witness gives glory to God rather than to its messengers.
How does the building increase? “Be telling,” he says, “good tidings of His salvation from day to day.” Let it be preached from day to day; from day to day, he says, let it be built; let My house, says God, increase. … “Declare His honour unto the heathen:” His honour, not yours.
Worship in the Beauty of Holiness
Verses 6–9 gather the nations not to celebrate human achievement but to ascribe worship and power to the LORD. “Bring presents, and come into his courts” frames worship as response. Augustine's exposition places the offering within repentance and humility:
Confession is a present unto God. O heathen, if you will enter into His courts, enter not empty. “Bring presents.” What presents shall we bring with us? The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, shall not Thou despise. Enter with an humble heart into the house of God, and you have entered with a present.
This interpretation clarifies, without exhausting, the Prayer Book's “beauty of holiness.” The beauty is God's: glory, worship, power, and honour are before him. It also makes the Psalm a searching office text, since people invited into the courts are summoned to truthfulness and awe, not to self-display.
The King Who Comes to Judge
The final stanza gives creation a voice. Heaven, earth, sea, field, and trees rejoice because the Creator comes to judge with righteousness and truth. Judgment is not an alien interruption of praise: it is the promised setting-right of the world by its King.
Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad. Let the heavens, which declare the glory of God, rejoice; let the heavens rejoice, which the Lord made; let the earth be glad, which the heavens rain upon. For the heavens are the preachers, the earth the listeners.
“Before the face of the Lord. For He comes, for He comes to judge the world.” He came at first, and will come again. He first came in His Church in clouds. … Let us not resist His first coming, that we may not tremble at His second.
The Nineteenth-Day Morning Prayer sequence begins with Psalm 95's invitation to worship and hear the Shepherd's voice, then turns in Psalm 96 to proclamation, holy awe, and the King's righteous judgment. The sequence teaches that adoration has public consequences: the Church tells God's salvation, refuses idolatry, offers humble worship, and waits in hope for the Judge whose truth will not fail.
Use in the Daily Office
At Morning Prayer on the Nineteenth Day, Psalm 96 is prayed after Psalm 95 and before Psalm 97. Its new song is therefore joined to the preceding call to worship the Maker and to the following declaration that “The LORD is King.” In this office setting, the Psalm forms a people whose praise is missionary, reverent, and expectant of God's righteous rule.
See Also
- Book of Common Prayer (1928)
- The Psalter (1928 BCP)
- Daily Office (1928 BCP)
- Morning Prayer (1928 BCP)
- Psalm 95 (1928 BCP)
- Psalm 97 (1928 BCP)
References
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church (New York: Church Pension Fund, 1928), Psalter, Psalm 96, Cantate Domino, vv. 1–9, at Justus Anglican: 1928 BCP Psalter. The title, wording, verse order, punctuation, and placement after Psalm 95 under Morning Prayer on the Nineteenth Day were compared word for word with the local transcription at
sources/justus1928/Psalms2.htm; its decorative opening drop-cap was normalized to “O,” and the local footnote marker after “peoples” was not reproduced. - ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church (New York: Church Pension Fund, 1928), Psalter, Psalm 96, Cantate Domino, vv. 10–13, at Justus Anglican: 1928 BCP Psalter. The text was compared word for word with
sources/justus1928/Psalms2.htm, including “the round world so fast,” the repeated “for he cometh,” and the plural “peoples.” - ↑ The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version (Cambridge: University Press, 1769), Revelation 5:9, at Bible Gateway: Revelation 5:9 KJV.
- ↑ Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 96, §2, trans. J. E. Tweed, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 8, ed. Philip Schaff (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888), at New Advent: Augustine, Exposition on Psalm 96. Augustine's Psalm 96 follows the Septuagint/Vulgate numbering and cites the Hebrew-numbered Psalm 95; the quotation and ellipsis were checked against the named transcription of Tweed's translation.
- ↑ Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 96, §3, trans. J. E. Tweed, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 8, ed. Philip Schaff (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888), at New Advent: Augustine, Exposition on Psalm 96. The wording and ellipsis were checked against the named transcription; “heathen” reproduces the 1888 translation's language, while the article's claim concerns the Psalm's address to all peoples.
- ↑ Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 96, §9, trans. J. E. Tweed, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 8, ed. Philip Schaff (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888), at New Advent: Augustine, Exposition on Psalm 96. The quotation was checked against the named transcription of Tweed's translation; Augustine is interpreting the Psalm's “presents” with Psalm 51:17 rather than supplying a different Prayer Book text.
- ↑ Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 96, §12, trans. J. E. Tweed, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 8, ed. Philip Schaff (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888), at New Advent: Augustine, Exposition on Psalm 96. The quotation was checked against the named transcription of Tweed's translation and is offered as a patristic interpretation of the Psalm's cosmic imagery.
- ↑ Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 96, §14, trans. J. E. Tweed, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 8, ed. Philip Schaff (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888), at New Advent: Augustine, Exposition on Psalm 96. The quotation and ellipsis were checked against the named transcription of Tweed's translation; this is Augustine's theological reception, not a claim about the original historical setting of the Psalm.