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Psalm 95[a]

A Call to Praise and Obedience

I

Come, let us sing joyfully to the Lord;
    cry out to the rock of our salvation.(A)
Let us come before him with a song of praise,
    joyfully sing out our psalms.
For the Lord is the great God,
    the great king over all gods,(B)
Whose hand holds the depths of the earth;
    who owns the tops of the mountains.
The sea and dry land belong to God,
    who made them, formed them by hand.(C)

II

Enter, let us bow down in worship;
    let us kneel before the Lord who made us.
For he is our God,
    we are the people he shepherds,
    the sheep in his hands.(D)

III

Oh, that today you would hear his voice:(E)
    Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah,
    as on the day of Massah in the desert.[b]
There your ancestors tested me;
    they tried me though they had seen my works.(F)
10 Forty years I loathed that generation;
    I said: “This people’s heart goes astray;
    they do not know my ways.”(G)
11 Therefore I swore in my anger:
    “They shall never enter my rest.”[c]

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 95 Twice the Psalm calls the people to praise and worship God (Ps 95:1–2, 6), the king of all creatures (Ps 95:3–5) and shepherd of the flock (Ps 95:7a, 7b). The last strophe warns the people to be more faithful than were their ancestors in the journey to the promised land (Ps 95:7c–11). This invitation to praise God regularly opens the Church’s official prayer, the Liturgy of the Hours.
  2. 95:8 Meribah: lit., “contention”; the place where the Israelites quarreled with God. Massah: “testing,” the place where they put God to the trial, cf. Ex 17:7; Nm 20:13.
  3. 95:11 My rest: the promised land as in Dt 12:9. Hb 4 applies the verse to the eternal rest of heaven.

Psalm 95

Come,(A) let us sing for joy(B) to the Lord;
    let us shout aloud(C) to the Rock(D) of our salvation.
Let us come before him(E) with thanksgiving(F)
    and extol him with music(G) and song.

For the Lord is the great God,(H)
    the great King(I) above all gods.(J)
In his hand are the depths of the earth,(K)
    and the mountain peaks belong to him.
The sea is his, for he made it,
    and his hands formed the dry land.(L)

Come, let us bow down(M) in worship,(N)
    let us kneel(O) before the Lord our Maker;(P)
for he is our God
    and we are the people of his pasture,(Q)
    the flock under his care.

Today, if only you would hear his voice,
“Do not harden your hearts(R) as you did at Meribah,[a](S)
    as you did that day at Massah[b] in the wilderness,(T)
where your ancestors tested(U) me;
    they tried me, though they had seen what I did.
10 For forty years(V) I was angry with that generation;
    I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray,(W)
    and they have not known my ways.’(X)
11 So I declared on oath(Y) in my anger,
    ‘They shall never enter my rest.’”(Z)

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 95:8 Meribah means quarreling.
  2. Psalm 95:8 Massah means testing.

95 O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.

Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.

For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.

In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also.

The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.

O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker.

For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice,

Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.

10 Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:

11 Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.