Bible Commentaries
Psalms 29

Verse 1

Give unto the LORD, O ye mighty, give unto the LORD glory and strength.

Ye — Ye potentates and rulers of the earth.

Glory — By an humble and thankful acknowledgment of it.

Verse 2

Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.

Give, … — The honour which he deserves: own him as the Almighty, and the only true God.

Holiness — Or, in his holy and beautiful house.

Verse 3

The voice of the LORD is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the LORD is upon many waters.

The waters — Above in the clouds, which are called waters, Genesis 1:7; Psalms 18:11. The Divine power displays itself in those high places, which are far above the reach of all earthly potentates.

Many — Upon the clouds, in which there are vast treasures of water, and upon which God is said to sit or ride, Psalms 18:10-11; Psalms 104:3.

Verse 5

The voice of the LORD breaketh the cedars; yea, the LORD breaketh the cedars of Lebanon.

Lebanon — A place famous for strong and lofty cedars.

Verse 6

He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn.

Them — The cedars; which being broken by the thunder, the parts of them are suddenly and violently hurled hither and thither.

Sirion — An high mountain beyond Jordan joining to Lebanon. Lebanon and Sirion are said to skip or leap, both here, and Psalms 114:4, by a poetical hyperbole.

Verse 7

The voice of the LORD divideth the flames of fire.

The flames — The lightnings.

Verse 8

The voice of the LORD shaketh the wilderness; the LORD shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh.

Kadesh — An eminent wilderness, vast and terrible, and well known to the Israelites, and wherein possibly they had seen, and observed some such effects of thunder.

Verse 9

The voice of the LORD maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forests: and in his temple doth every one speak of his glory.

To calve — Through the terror it causes, which hastens the birth. He names the hinds, because they bring forth their young with difficulty, Job 39:1-2.

Discovereth — Heb. maketh bare, of its trees, which it breaks or strips of their leaves.

Glory — Having shewed the terrible effects of God’s power in other places, he now shews the blessed privilege of God’s people, that are praising God in his temple, when the rest of the world are trembling under the tokens of his displeasure.

Verse 10

The LORD sitteth upon the flood; yea, the LORD sitteth King for ever.

The flood — The most violent waters, which sometimes fall from the clouds upon the earth. These are fitly mentioned, as being many times the companions of great thunders. And this may be alleged as another reason, why God’s people praised him in his temple, because as he sends terrible tempests and thunders, so he also restrains and over-rules them.

Sitteth — He doth sit, and will sit as king for ever, sending such tempests when it pleaseth him.