Today, If You Hear His Voice

Like Psalm 81, Psalm 95 begins with a hymnic call for praise (vv. 1–7a) and then moves into a prophetic oracle warning the congregation with lessons from the exodus-wilderness period (vv. 7b–11).

95:1–7a The hymnic praise contains two calls to praise, consisting of imperatives addressed to a congregation (vv. 1–2 and v. 6) and two reasons substantiating these imperatives (for in vv. 3–5 and v. 7a). The first imperatives call for “singing,” “shouting” (a ritual action also prominent in the psalms of Yahweh’s kingship, 47:1, 5; 98:4, 6; cf. 89:15), and thanksgiving (which may include thanksgiving sacrifices; see on 116:17). The second imperatives call for prostration (let us bow down and kneel). The reason for the shouting and singing concerns the great King above …