Psalm 66:1-4

Like Psalm 65, Psalm 66 proclaims Yahweh as the universal king, and calls all peoples of all nations to worship and serve him. Psalm 66 begins with the call to "make a joyful noise (shout for joy) to God" (verse 1), repeating the same idea and phrase in 65:8, 12-13. The author of Psalm 66 addresses "all the earth" (verses 1, 4), declaring to peoples of all nations what Yahweh has done for his chosen people Israel ("we," "our," "us"--verses 6, 8-12), in order to motivate all human beings to worship and serve Yahweh. The thought is: Yahweh can and will do for all humankind what he has already done for his chosen people. In the last part of Psalm 66 (verses 13-20), the psalmist relates a personal experience to encourage his fellow believers (note "I," "my," "me" in every verse of this section of the psalm). "Come and see" (addressed to all nations) in verse 5 corresponds to "Come and hear" (addressed to fellow believers) in verse 16. "Bless our God, O peoples" in verse 8 corresponds to "Blessed be God" in verse 20. Hence, Psalm 66 is a closely knit psalm. The first paragraph is verses 1-4:

"Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth;
sing the glory of his name;
give to him glorious praise.
Say to God, 'How awesome are your deeds!
Because of your great power, your enemies cringe before you.
All the earth worships you;
they sing praises to you,
sing praises to your name."

1. Like Psalm 95:1-7, Psalm 66:1-4 is a "call to worship"--a call for all human beings to come and worship Yahweh, the universal king. The call here is not for quiet, meditative worship (which is certainly appropriate in many situations--a tendency in High Church worship), but for loud, exuberant worship. "Make a joyful noise" means literally "Shout with joy," as in Psalms 95:1-2; 98:4, 6; 100:1. There are times when worship should be loud and boisterous, when the worshipers are so excited about God's rule in their lives and in the world that they want everyone on earth and everything in nature to hear their vociferous praises (a tendency in Low Church worship). God seeks both High Church and