3 Be certain that the Lord is God; it is he who has made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep to whom he gives food.
<JOD> Your hands have made me, and given me form: give me wisdom, so that I may have knowledge of your teaching.
O come, let us give worship, falling down on our knees before the Lord our Maker. For he is our God; and we are the people to whom he gives food, and the sheep of his flock. Today, if you would only give ear to his voice!
And they will be certain that I the Lord their God am with them, and that they, the children of Israel, are my people, says the Lord. And you are my sheep, the sheep of my grass-lands, and I am your God, says the Lord.
For this reason let those who by the purpose of God undergo punishment, keep on in well-doing and put their souls into the safe hands of their Maker.
Let Israel have joy in his maker; let the children of Zion be glad in their King.
And we are certain that the Son of God has come, and has given us a clear vision, so that we may see him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
Or are you not conscious that your body is a house for the Holy Spirit which is in you, and which has been given to you by God? and you are not the owners of yourselves; For a payment has been made for you: let God be honoured in your body.
All this he let you see, so that you might be certain that the Lord is God and there is no other.
Your hands made me, and I was formed by you, but then, changing your purpose, you gave me up to destruction. O keep in mind that you made me out of earth; and will you send me back again to dust? Was I not drained out like milk, becoming hard like cheese? By you I was clothed with skin and flesh, and joined together with bones and muscles. You have been kind to me, and your grace has been with me, and your care has kept my spirit safe. But you kept these things in the secret of your heart; I am certain this was in your thoughts:
<Maschil. Of Asaph.> Of God, why have you put us away from you for ever? why is the fire of your wrath smoking against the sheep who are your care? Keep in mind your band of worshippers, for whom you gave payment in the days which are past, whom you took for yourself as the people of your heritage; even this mountain of Zion, which has been your resting-place.
My flesh was made by you, and my parts joined together in my mother's body. I will give you praise, for I am strangely and delicately formed; your works are great wonders, and of this my soul is fully conscious. My frame was not unseen by you when I was made secretly, and strangely formed in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book all my days were recorded, even those which were purposed before they had come into being. How dear are your thoughts to me, O God! how great is the number of them! If I made up their number, it would be more than the grains of sand; when I am awake, I am still with you. If only you would put the sinners to death, O God; go far from me, you men of blood. For they go against you with evil designs, and your haters make sport of your name. Are not your haters hated by me, O Lord? are not those who are lifted up against you a cause of grief to me? My hate for them is complete; my thoughts of them are as if they were making war on me. O God, let the secrets of my heart be uncovered, and let my wandering thoughts be tested: See if there is any way of sorrow in me, and be my guide in the eternal way.
We have become as those who were never ruled by you, on whom your name was not named.
Keep watch over the flock of God which is in your care, using your authority, not as forced to do so, but gladly; and not for unclean profit but with a ready mind; Not as lords over God's heritage, but making yourselves examples to the flock. And at the coming of the chief Keeper of the sheep, you will be given the eternal crown of glory.
Give attention to yourselves, and to all the flock which the Holy Spirit has given into your care, to give food to the church of God, for which he gave his blood. I am conscious that after I am gone, evil wolves will come in among you, doing damage to the flock;
But you have no belief because you are not of my sheep. My sheep give ear to my voice, and I have knowledge of them, and they come after me: And I give them eternal life; they will never come to destruction, and no one will ever take them out of my hand.
For this is what the Lord has said: Truly, I, even I, will go searching and looking for my sheep.
You who give good news to Zion, get up into the high mountain; you who give good news to Jerusalem, let your voice be strong; let it be sounding without fear; say to the towns of Judah, See, your God! See, the Lord God will come as a strong one, ruling in power: see, those made free by him are with him, and those whom he has made safe go before him. He will give food to his flock like a keeper of sheep; with his arm he will get it together, and will take up the lambs on his breast, gently guiding those which are with young.
So we your people, and the sheep of your flock, will give you glory for ever: we will go on praising you through all generations.
But now, O Lord our God, give us salvation from his hands, so that it may be clear to all the kingdoms of the earth that you and only you, O Lord, are God.
This day the Lord will give you up into my hands, and I will overcome you, and take your head off you; and I will give the bodies of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth today, so that all the earth may see that Israel has a God; And all these people who are here today may see that the Lord does not give salvation by sword and spear: for the fight is the Lord's, and he will give you up into our hands.
Then at the time of the offering, Elijah the prophet came near and said, O Lord, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, let it be seen this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things by your order. Give me an answer, O Lord, give me an answer, so that this people may see that you are God, and that you have made their hearts come back again. Then the fire of the Lord came down, burning up the offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and drinking up the water in the drain. And when the people saw it, they all went down on their faces, and said, The Lord, he is God, the Lord, he is God.
So today be certain, and keep the knowledge deep in your hearts, that the Lord is God, in heaven on high and here on earth; there is no other God.
They have said, With our tongues will we overcome; our lips are ours: who is lord over us?
For the Lord is a great God, and a great King over all gods.
But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God and an eternal king: when he is angry, the earth is shaking with fear, and the nations give way before his wrath.
I am the good keeper; I have knowledge of my sheep, and they have knowledge of me, Even as the Father has knowledge of me and I of the Father; and I am giving my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep which are not of this field: I will be their guide in the same way, and they will give ear to my voice, so there will be one flock and one keeper.
For when I came by, I was looking at the things to which you give worship, and I saw an altar with this writing on it, TO THE GOD OF WHOM THERE IS NO KNOWLEDGE. Now, what you, without knowledge, give worship to, I make clear to you. The God who made the earth and everything in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, is not housed in buildings made with hands;
Seeing that it is God who said, Let light be shining out of the dark, who has put in our hearts the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
But at that time, having no knowledge of God, you were servants to those who by right are no gods: But now that you have come to have knowledge of God, or more truly, God has knowledge of you, how is it that you go back again to the poor and feeble first things, desiring to be servants to them again?
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 100
Commentary on Psalms 100 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
Call of All the World to the Service of the True God
This Psalm closes the series of deutero-Isaianic Psalms, which began with Ps 91. There is common to all of them that mild sublimity, sunny cheerfulness, unsorrowful spiritual character, and New Testament expandedness, which we wonder at in the second part of the Book of Isaiah; and besides all this, they are also linked together by the figure anadiplosis, and manifold consonances and accords.
The arrangement, too, at least from Psalms 93:1-5 onwards, is Isaianic: it is parallel with the relation of Isaiah 24:1 to Psalms 13:1 . Just as the former cycle of prophecies closes that concerning the nations, after the manner of a musical finale, so the Psalms celebrating the dominion of God, from Psalms 93:1-5 onwards, which vividly portray the unfolded glory of the kingship of Jahve, have Jubilate and Cantate Psalms in succession.
From the fact that this last Jubilate is entirely the echo of the first, viz., of the first half of Psalms 95:1-11, we see how ingenious the arrangement is. There we find all the thoughts which recur here. There it is said in Psalms 95:7, He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the flock of His hand. And in Psalms 95:2, Let us come before His face with thanksgiving ( בּתודה ), let us make a joyful noise unto Him in songs!