Psalm 29

A Psalm of David
1 Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings,
    ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
    worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.
3 The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
    the God of glory thunders,
    the Lord, over many waters.
4 The voice of the Lord is powerful;
    the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
    the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf,
    and Sirion like a young wild ox.
7 The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire.
8 The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;
    the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
9 The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth
    and strips the forests bare,
    and in his temple all cry, “Glory!”
10 The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
    the Lord sits enthroned as king forever.
11 May the Lord give strength to his people!
    May the Lord bless his people with peace!

This psalm requires you to understand one Hebrew word, and then the whole psalm opens up. It’s the word “qol,” [pronounced “coal”] which in Hebrew means “voice” or “sounds” or “thunder.” When you read “voice” in our English translation, it could also be translated “sound” or “thunder;” in Psalm 29 the psalmist is playing with those resonances.

In fact, it might be fun to read through Psalm 29 and say “qol” every time you read “voice.”

The psalm is a meditation on the power of God as experienced in a thunderstorm, as it blows in from the Mediterranean!

A Psalm of David.
1 Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.

The psalmist reminds the spiritual beings—we usually call them “angels”—that only God is the source of glory and strength, and not any other created being.

3 The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
    the God of glory thunders,
    the Lord, over many waters.
4 The voice of the Lord is powerful;
    the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.

The psalmist imagines a thunderstorm moving inland from the Mediterranean Sea, thundering over the waters.

5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf,
and Sirion like a young wild ox.

Lebanon is in the north of Israel, and was known for its mountains and its great cedar trees. Mount Sirion (also called Mount Hermon in the Bible) is north of the Sea of Galilee and is the tallest mountain in Israel. The psalmist imagines the voice of the Lord causing the mountain itself to skip like an adolescent animal.

7 The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire.
8 The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;
    the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
9 The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth
    and strips the forests bare,
    and in his temple all cry, “Glory!”

The psalmist imagines God’s words as lightning, streaking through the storm-filled sky.

10 The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
the Lord sits enthroned as king forever.
11 May the Lord give strength to his people!
May the Lord bless his people with peace!

God is in control of even the waters of chaos!

And then the psalmist says something amazing:

Do you know what the effect is on the people of God of the mighty strength of God?

PEACE.

God’s strength gives his people peace.