God speaks through the tempest. It is there that he shows his power and his glory.
① 1Give the Lord, O sons of God,
give the Lord glory and strength,
2give the Lord the glory due his name;
worship the Lord in great liturgy.
3The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the Lord thunders over vast waters.
4How powerful is the voice of the Lord,
How splendorous is the voice of the Lord.
5The voice of the Lord tears up the cedars,
the Lord is shattering the cedars of Lebanon.
6He makes Lebanon skip like a calf,
and Sirion like a young wild bull.
7The voice of the Lord breaks forth with flashes of fire,
8the voice of the Lord makes the wilderness quake,
The Lord is shaking the wilderness of Kadesh.
9The voice of the Lord makes the oaks shudder,
the Lord strips the forests bare,
and in his temple all cry, “Glory!”
10Over the flood the Lord was sitting;
the Lord is king and he reigns forever.
11May the Lord give his people strength;
may the Lord bless his people with peace!
- 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.
