A Festival Procession for Giving Thanks 

This psalm uniquely combines corporate hymnic praise (vv. 1–4, 22–24, 29), individual thanksgiving (vv. 5–18, 21, 28; which includes a victory song [vv. 14–16]), a petition (v. 25), and a processional liturgy of entering the temple gates and processing to the altar (vv. 19–20, 26–27). It alternates between referring to Yahweh in the third person and addressing him in the second person, and between hymnic sections, spoken by “we,” and thanksgiving sections, spoken by “I.” The “gate liturgy” (vv. 19–20, 26) illustrates that we cannot distinguish sharply between the individual and the group. A speaker commands, “Open for me” and “I will enter,” but the psalm then points to a group: “This is the gate of the LORD through which the righteous may enter.” La…