Make a joyful noise unto God. "In Zion, "where the more instructed saints were accustomed to profound meditation, the song was silent unto God, and was accepted of him; but in the great popular assemblies a joyful noise was more appropriate and natural, and it would be equally acceptable.

Sing forth the honour of his name. The noise is to be modulated with tune and time, and fashioned into singing, for we adore the God of order and harmony. The honour of God should be our subject, and to honour him our object when we sing. To give glory to God is but to restore to him his own.

Say unto God. Turn all your praises to him. Devotion, unless it be resolutely directed to the Lord, is no better than whistling to the wind. How terrible art thou in thy works.

All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee. All men must even now prostrate themselves before thee, but a time will come when they shall do this cheerfully; to the worship of fear shall be added the singing of love.

Come and see the works of God. Such glorious events, as the cleaving of the Red Sea and the overthrow of Pharaoh, are standing wonders, and throughout all time a voice sounds forth concerning them—"Come and see." Even till the close of all things, the marvellous works of God at the Red Sea will be…

He turned the sea into dry land. It was no slight miracle to divide a pathway through such a sea, and to make it fit for the traffic of a whole nation. He who did this can do anything, and must be God, the worthy object of adoration.

He ruleth by his power for ever. He has not deceased, nor abdicated, nor suffered defeat. The prowess displayed at the Red Sea is undiminished: the divine dominion endures throughout eternity. His eyes behold the nations.

O bless our God, ye people. Ye chosen seed, peculiarly beloved, it is yours to bless your covenant God as other nations cannot. Ye should lead the strain, for he is peculiarly your God. First visited by his love, ye should be foremost in his praise. And make the voice of his praise to be heard.

Which holdeth our soul in life. At any time the preservation of life, and especially the soul's life, is a great reason for gratitude but much more when we are called to undergo extreme trials, which of themselves would crush our being.

For thou, O God, hast proved us. He proved his Israel with sore trials. David had his temptations. All the saints must go to the proving house; God had one Son without sin, but he never had a son without trial.

Thou broughtest us into the net. The people of God in the olden time were often enclosed by the power of their enemies, like fishes or birds entangled in a net; there seemed no way of escape for them.

Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads. They stormed, and hectored, and treated us like the mire of the street. Riding the high horse, in their arrogance, they, who were in themselves mean men, treated the Lord's people as if they were the meanest of mankind.

I will. The child of God is so sensible of his own personal indebtedness to grace, that he feels that he must utter a song of his own. He joins in the common thanksgiving, but since the best public form must fail to meet each individual case, he makes sure that the special mercies received by him…

I will offer unto thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings. The good man will give his best things to God. No starveling goat upon the hills will he present at the altar, but the well fed bullocks of the luxuriant pastures shall ascend in smoke from the sacred fire.

Come and hear. Before, they were bidden to come and see. Hearing is faith's seeing. Mercy comes to us by way of ear gate. "Hear, and your soul shall live." They saw how terrible God was, but they heard how gracious he was. All ye that fear God.

I cried unto him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue. It is well when prayer and praise go together, like the horses in Pharaoh's chariot. Some cry who do not sing, and some sing who do not cry: both together are best.

If I regard iniquity in my heart. If, having seen it to be there, I continue to gaze upon it without aversion; if I cherish it, have a side glance of love toward it, excuse it, and palliate it; The Lord will not hear me.

But verily God hath heard me. Sure sign this that the petitioner was no secret lover of sin. The answer to his prayer was a fresh assurance that his heart was sincere before the Lord.

Blessed be God. Be his name honoured and loved. Which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me. He has neither withdrawn his love nor my liberty to pray. He has neither cast out my prayer nor me. His mercy and my cries still meet each other. The psalm ends on its key note.

Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands: Hebrew, all the earth; shout aloud for joy, as the people did at the return of the ark, so that the earth rang again.

Make his praise glorious. Another meaning is, give or place glory, that is, your glory to his praise, be fully persuaded when you praise him that it will redound to your own glory, regard this as your own glory; praise him in such a way that all your praises may be given to glorify God; or, let…

Say. Dicite, say, says David, delight to speak of God; Dicite, say something. There was more required than to think of God. Consideration, meditation, contemplation upon God and divine objects, have their place and their season; but this is more than that, and more than admiration too; for all…

Come and see the works of God. An indirect censure is here passed upon that almost universal thoughtlessness which leads men to neglect the praises of God. John Calvin. Come and see.

He turned the sea into dry land. The psalmist refers to the passage through the Red Sea and the Jordan, not as to transactions which took place and were concluded at a given period of time, but as happening really in every age.

His eyes behold the nations. The radical meaning of the word hku is augazein, to shine, and metonymically to examine with a bright eye; to inspect with a piercing glance, and thence to behold, for either good or evil, as Pr 15:3: "The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the…

Which holdeth our soul in life. As the works of creation at first, and upholding all by his power and providence, are yoked together as works of a like wonder, vouchsafed the creation in common, Heb 1:2-3; so just in the like manner we find regeneration and perseverance joined, as the sum of all…

Thou, O God, hast proved us. It is not known what corn will yield, till it come to the flail; nor what grapes, till they come to the press. Grace is hid in nature, as sweet water in rose leaves; the fire of affliction fetcheth it out.—Thou hast tried us as silver.

Thou broughtest us into the net, etc. Our enemies have pursued us (like to wild beasts taken by the hunter) into most grievous straits (1Sa 13:6). They have used us like beasts of burden, and laid sore loads upon us, which they have fast bound upon our backs. Thou laidest affliction upon our loins.

Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads. The agents are men. Man is a sociable living creature, and should converse with man in love and tranquillity.

You see all the parts of this song; the whole concert or harmony of all is praising God. You see quo loco, in his house; quo modo, with burnt offering; quo animo, paying our vows. Thomas Adams. Burnt offerings.

Which my lips have uttered. Hebrew, have opened; that is which I have uttered, diductis labiis, with lips wide open. Videmus qualiter vota nuncupari soleant, saith Vatablus.

I will offer, etc. Thou shalt have the best of the herd and of the fold. Adam Clarke. Fatlings. For as I will not come empty into thy house, so I will not bring thee a niggardly present; but offer sacrifices of all sorts, and the best and choicest in every kind. Symon Patrick. Bullocks with goats.

Come and hear, all ye that fear God. One reason why the saints are so often inviting all that fear God to come unto them is, because the saints see and know the great good that they shall get by those that fear God.

This verse may be rendered thus:—I cried unto him with my mouth, and his exaltation was under my tongue; that is, I was considering and meditating how I might lift up and exalt the name of God, and make his praise glorious.

If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. The very supposition that "if he regarded iniquity in his heart, the Lord would not hear him, "implies the possibility that such may be the state even of believers; and there is abundant reason to fear that it is in this way their prayers…