Psalm 95

This psalm belongs to Book IV of the Psalms (Psalms 90–106). Together with Psalms 93 and 96–99, it belongs to a group of psalms that celebrate the LORD as King, commonly called the enthronement psalms. The preceding psalm, Psalm 94, appeals to God as the judge of the wicked, while Psalm 95 opens with a summons to worship.

Structure

• Verses 1–2: With the call "O come," the psalmist invites the people to sing with thanksgiving to the LORD, the rock of their salvation.
• Verses 3–5: The LORD is a great King above all gods. The deep places of the earth and the heights of the hills, the sea and the dry land, are all his handiwork.
• Verses 6–7a: Calling again, "O come," the psalmist invites the people to bow down in worship and kneel before their Maker. The people are the sheep of his pasture.
• Verses 7b–11: The speaker shifts to God himself, who warns the people not to harden their hearts as at Meribah and Massah. Because their fathers tempted him, he was grieved with that generation for forty years and swore that they would not enter into his rest.

Key Verses

• Psalm 95:6: "O come, let us worship and bow down" — a verse that explicitly describes the bodily posture of worship.
• Psalm 95:7: "To day if ye will hear his voice" — the turning point from praise to warning; the New Testament Epistle to the Hebrews repeatedly cites this "today."
• Psalm 95:11: "They should not enter into my rest" — the verse that serves as the starting point for the discussion of rest in Hebrews.

People and Places

• The LORD: Portrayed as Creator, King, and Shepherd of his people.
• The fathers: The generation that passed through the wilderness after the Exodus; connected with the forty years in the wilderness.
• Meribah: A place name meaning "strife," where the people quarreled with Moses over water (Exodus 17; Numbers 20).
• Massah: A place name meaning "testing," named together with Meribah in Exodus 17.

Interpretive Notes

The Hebrew text has no superscription. The Septuagint attributes the psalm to David, and Hebrews 4:7 likewise cites it as spoken "in David." Some interpreters take this as evidence of Davidic authorship, while others regard it as a conventional way of referring to the Psalter as a whole. The phrase "above all gods" (v. 3) is generally read as a poetic expression of the LORD's superiority over the gods of the nations. Hebrews 3 and Hebrews 4 quote verses 7–11 at length and interpret "rest" as reaching beyond entry into the land of Canaan to a rest that remains for the people of God (Hebrews 4:9–11).

In the Korean Church

Verses 1–7 are commonly used as a call to worship at the opening of Sunday worship services. In the Anglican tradition of England and America, this psalm has long been sung at Morning Prayer under the name Venite (Latin for "O come"). In Judaism, the Friday evening prayers welcoming the Sabbath are known to begin with this psalm.