Chapter Ninety-Nine

In the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin Bibles, this psalm has no inscription with the name of its author. By the close connection of its content with the preceding psalms, beginning with Ps 92, it should be considered written at the same time as the latter, that is, during the reign of King Josiah.

Sing praise to the Lord and serve before Him (1–2). Be assured that He is our Creator and Shepherd, and therefore enter His temple to glorify His great name, since the eternity of His great promises to His people depends on your service and faithfulness to Him (3–5).

Psalm 99:2. Serve the Lord with joy; come before His face with a shout of praise! “Come before His face with a shout of praise” – come to His altar with songs of praise.

Psalm 99:3. Know that the Lord is God, that He made us, and we are His, His people and the sheep of His pasture. “Know that... we are... His people and the sheep of His pasture,” that is, from all the history of God’s guidance, be assured that He especially favors you and especially cares for you, as a shepherd cares for his sheep.

Psalm 99:5. For the Lord is good: His mercy is forever, and His truth endures forever. The Lord is unchanging and constant in His great promises made to His people. The non-fulfillment of them depends not on God, but on man. If the latter will always be faithful to Him, then his well-being is assured, inalienable. Here, as in the preceding psalm, the writer, full of religious enthusiasm and faith in Jehovah, invites the people to unite with him in faithfulness to His law and reverence before His great name. The constancy of such a mood in the people will be the source of their well-being on earth and the bulwark of their power.