Psalm 29 (28)
The storm: the Lord is passing. God speaks through the tempest. It is there that he shows his power and his glory.
1 Give the Lord, O sons of God,
give the Lord glory and strength,
2 give the Lord the glory due his name;
worship the Lord in great liturgy.
3 The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the Lord thunders over vast waters.
4 How powerful is the voice of the Lord,
How splenderous is the voice of the Lord.
5 The voice of the Lord tears up the cedars,
the Lord is shattering the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He makes Lebanon skip like a calf,
and Sirion like a young wild bull.
7 The voice of the Lord breaks forth with flashes of fire,
8 the voice of the Lord makes the wilderness quake,
The Lord is shaking the wilderness of Kadesh.
9 The voice of the Lord makes the oaks shudder,
the Lord strips the forests bare,
and in his temple all cry, “Glory!”
10 Over the flood the Lord was sitting;
the Lord is king and he reigns fore ver.
11 May the Lord give his people strength;
may the Lord bless his people with peace!
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Comments Psalms, Chapter 29
It only takes a big storm to let us know the limits of our powerful organs and our liturgies. The psalm begins with a call to the sons of God, that is, to the celestial beings who form God’s court. The people of the Old Testament had not renounced the assembly of the gods of their pagan neighbors, but since Yahweh reigned above them all, these were no more than angels and cosmic powers.