Chapter Thirty-Two

This psalm has no heading in the Hebrew Bible. But its position among the psalms inscribed with David’s name, as well as its close connection with the content of the previous psalm, in which David invites the righteous to rejoice in God but does not clarify or give them a respectable basis for following such instruction, and in this psalm the previously unstated reasons are indicated, all this compels us to consider it a continuation Ps 31 and attribute it to David. This is how it is considered in the LXX and in the Vulgate.

The righteous must praise the Lord and sing to Him with instruments (1–3), for He is infallible in His ordinances. He is the creator of all the world, of earth and waters (4–8). He is almighty, all His commands are fulfilled; before Him the nations are powerless (9–11). Blessed is the nation whose Lord watches over! He observes all who live on the earth and no one can struggle against Him (12–17). The Lord protects those who fear Him and will save them from afflictions. May His mercy be upon us (18–22).

Psalm 32:1. Rejoice, O righteous, in the Lord: it is fitting for the upright to praise Him. “It is fitting for the upright to praise Him.” Expressions of this kind are very common in the Psalter. Since God is an all-holy being, those who worship and praise Him can only be those who stand closer to Him in their moral purity, that is, righteous people; sinners cannot worthily praise Him (Sir 15:9).

Psalm 32:2. Praise the Lord on the harp, sing to Him on the ten-stringed psaltery; Harp, ten-stringed psaltery—see about instruments in the introduction to the Psalter.

Psalm 32:3. Sing to Him a new song; sing to Him skillfully with a loud cry, “Sing to Him a new song.” According to the changed subject of the song, the very character of the singing should change. Earlier, when David brought before God the expression of his repentant feeling regarding his sin with Bathsheba and psalms of this kind were distinguished by a sorrowful character, now he invites all to praise God as the Creator and Lawgiver of the world, the Protector of all the righteous, and therefore the song must be “new,” triumphant and grateful.

Psalm 32:4. For the word of the Lord is right and all His works are faithful. Psalm 32:5. He loves righteousness and judgment; the earth is full of the mercy of the Lord. “The word of the Lord is right”—sincere, pure; “His works are faithful”—fully consistent with His word, His command: there is no contradiction between His word and its fulfillment. As the Lord Himself is faithful to righteousness, so on earth “He loves righteousness and judgment,” justice, life according to the highest guidance, and the proper, impartial, assessment of human actions in accordance with the highest truth.

Psalm 32:6. By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host: The Lord is almighty: He created the heavens with His word and “their host,” that is, the luminaries. In patristic literature, “the Word” is understood to mean the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, “the Lord”—the First, and “the Spirit of His mouth”—the Third Person. Such an understanding of this passage is probably explained by the fact that these terms received a strictly defined meaning in the New Testament revelation, with a definite concrete content pointing to the Divine Persons. However, the Psalter does not actually present such a distinction and content of these terms, for “the psalmists in their teaching about the Word of God, as the second Person of the Holy Trinity, wavered between personal and impersonal representation of Him. By the name of the Word of God they called both a Divine Person and God’s revelation to people, and God’s commandment. Similar to the teaching about the Word of God in the psalmists is the teaching about the Spirit of God” (The Doctrine of the Psalter. P. Yungerov, p. 11).

Psalm 32:7. He gathered the waters of the sea as if into heaps, He put the deep waters into storehouses. God is almighty, for by His command such a movable element as water is gathered in one place “as if into heaps.” He preserves it as if in storehouses, in special reservoirs.

Psalm 32:9. For He said, and it was done; He commanded, and it came to pass. Since God is almighty, His word encounters no obstacles: His command finds infallible and exact fulfillment. —“He commanded, and it came to pass,”—this refers to His creation of the world.

Psalm 32:11. But the counsel of the Lord stands forever; the thoughts of His heart are for all generations. Insofar as the plans of people are weak and unfulfilled and are destroyed by God, so eternal and unshakable is every word of the Lord; His counsels and plans (“thoughts”) are immutable and inviolable.

Psalm 32:16. A king is not saved by the multitude of his warriors; a giant will not be protected by great strength. Psalm 32:17. A horse is not reliable for salvation; it will not save by its great strength. If the Lord is always faithful to Himself and almighty, then the most reliable protection can be found by a person only in Him. No means devised by man to secure his well-being can be considered sufficient; “a horse is not reliable for salvation,” man cannot and should not think that by abundance of military force (“horse,” abundance of cavalry) he can win victory: everything depends on God.

Psalm 32:18. Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon those who fear Him and those who hope in His mercy, Psalm 32:19. That He may save their souls from death and feed them in time of famine. God loves (“the eye of the Lord”) only those who fear Him, and to such He will offer sure protection in all their heavy circumstances; “He will save their souls from death” and will feed them during famine.