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Fire goes before him,
    consuming his foes on every side.
His lightening illumines the world;
    the earth sees and trembles.(A)

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Psalm 99[a]

The Holy King

I

The Lord is king, the peoples tremble;
    he is enthroned on the cherubim,[b] the earth quakes.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 99 A hymn to God as the king whose grandeur is most clearly seen on Mount Zion (Ps 99:2) and in the laws given to Israel (Ps 99:4). Israel is special because of God’s word of justice, which was mediated by the revered speakers, Moses, Aaron, and Samuel (Ps 99:6–8). The poem is structured by the threefold statement that God is holy (Ps 99:3, 5, 9) and by the twice-repeated command to praise (Ps 99:5, 9).
  2. 99:1 Enthroned on the cherubim: cherubim were composite beings with animal and human features, common in ancient Near Eastern art. Two cherubim were placed on the ark (or box) of the covenant in the holy of holies. Upon them God was believed to dwell invisibly, cf. Ex 25:20–22; 1 Sm 4:4; 2 Sm 6:2; Ps 80:2.

[a](A)Lord, when you went out from Seir,
    when you marched from the plains of Edom,
The earth shook, the heavens poured,
    the clouds poured rain,
The mountains streamed,
    before the Lord, the One of Sinai,
    before the Lord, the God of Israel.

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Footnotes

  1. 5:4–5 The Lord himself marches to war in support of Israel. Storm and earthquake are part of the traditional imagery of theophany; cf. Ex 19:16, 18–20; Dt 33:2–3; Ps 18:7–15; 77:17–20; 144:5–7.

Chapter 64

As when brushwood is set ablaze,
    or fire makes the water boil!
Then your name would be made known to your enemies
    and the nations would tremble before you,

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    where your ancestors tested and tried me
        and saw my works(A) 10 for forty years.
    Because of this I was provoked with that generation
        and I said, “They have always been of erring heart,
        and they do not know my ways.”
11     As I swore in my wrath,
        “They shall not enter into my rest.”’”

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