Psalm 149
Sing to the LORD a New Song
1 Praise the LORD!Sing to the LORD a new song,
his praise in the assembly of the godly!
2 Let Israel be glad in his Maker;
let the children of Zion rejoice in their King!
3 Let them praise his name with dancing,
making melody to him with tambourine and lyre!
4 For the LORD takes pleasure in his people;
he adorns the humble with salvation.
5 Let the godly exult in glory;
let them sing for joy on their beds.
6 Let the high praises of God be in their throats
and two-edged swords in their hands,
7 to execute vengeance on the nations
and punishments on the peoples,
8 to bind their kings with chains
and their nobles with fetters of iron,
9 to execute on them the judgment written!
This is honor for all his godly ones.
Praise the LORD!
I wanted to add the message paraphrase as well, it is important to that the message is not the most accurate translation. It is more of a paraphrase and can bring certain verses into new light for me. So i may not be a good study bible but it can be a good study tool like a commentary.
Psalm 149
praise him in the company of all who love him.
Let all Israel celebrate their Sovereign Creator,
Zion's children exult in their King.
Let them praise his name in dance;
strike up the band and make great music!
And why? Because God delights in his people,
festoons plain folk with salvation garlands!
5-9 Let true lovers break out in praise,
sing out from wherever they're sitting,
Shout the high praises of God,
brandish their swords in the wild sword-dance—
A portent of vengeance on the God-defying nations,
a signal that punishment's coming,
Their kings chained and hauled off to jail,
their leaders behind bars for good,
The judgment on them carried out to the letter
—and all who love God in the seat of honor!
Hallelujah!
Psalm 149 is the second to the last song, and it definitely gets it ready to come to a close. The psalmist is just so excited to praise the Lord. I really love the energy of The Message paraphrase of the first two verses, "Hallelujah! Sing to God a brand-new song, praise him in the company of all who love him. Let all Israel celebrate their Sovereign Creator, Zion's children exult in their King." The psalmist is exclaiming that we must praise the Lord, with new songs from our hearts. We need to sing these praise songs in the company of those who share in our love for God. We need to celebrate the creator and the fact that we are His creation. He goes onto say in verses 3 and 4, that God will take great pleasure in seeing His people worship Him. He loves to see us worship with a heart that will shake the earth, that will change the culture we live in. I honestly believe that this is the kind of worship God wants us to have, culture changing worship.
From 5-9, we see a shift in the psalmists direction. He talks about the godly people exulting God by unleashing His judgement on the evil of the world. This is our praise to Him. The message puts verses 5 and 6 like this, "Let true lovers break out in praise, sing out from wherever they're sitting. Shout the high praises of God, brandish their swords in the wild sword-dance" In our praises we will unleash our sword, the word of God, onto the nations. It continues to talk about executing vengeance on the nations who will not repent from their evil ways. After all of this celebration, the psalmist closes the psalm, "This is honor for all his godly ones. Praise the Lord!"
Like all of the psalms, this one encourages me so much to make music for Him. It also challenges me to expand my worship. It challenges me to make my worship more than just the songs i sing or write. It makes me want to write songs that show the world His greatness. But to also live my life as a life of worship to Him. Because words can say a lot, but how we live and how we love will overall be how the world will see the love of our awesome God. This is definitely what I have taken from all of the psalms, these were real people. Real people that didn't want to write songs about theology of the church, they wrote songs of praise to God. Because that is what was on their hearts
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