Why read Psalm 97?
Read Psalm 97 to give thanks for God's help and share your joy. Its new song and the participation of all creation celebrate His saving work and justice.
You can read this psalm when its themes speak to your circumstances, or as part of your regular reading of the Psalter. This explanation draws on the text itself; the psalm is not reserved for one particular need.
The full text of Psalm 97 (11 verses), from the 13th Kathisma of the Psalter. The opening words — “Sing to the Lord a new song, for things...” — are also the psalm’s traditional “name”: our grandmothers did not say “Psalm 97”, but called it by name, using its first words.
The text of Psalm 97
1. Sing to the Lord a new song, for the Lord has done wonderful things.
2. His right hand and His holy arm have saved him.
3. The Lord made His salvation known; before the nations He revealed His righteousness.
4. He remembered His mercy towards Jacob and His truth towards the house of Israel;
5. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
6. Shout to God, all the earth; sing, rejoice and sing.
7. Sing to the Lord with the lute, with the lute and the sound of the psaltery;
8. With trumpets and the sound of the horn, shout before the King and Lord.
9. Let the sea and its fullness be shaken, the world and those who dwell in it.
10. The rivers shall clap their hands together, the mountains shall rejoice before the face of the Lord, for He comes, comes to judge the earth.
11. He shall judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with impartiality.
When Psalm 97 is read
- in the joy of salvation.
- At the end of each psalm, tradition adds: «Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.».
Adjacent psalms
Read also
The numbering follows the Orthodox Psalter (Septuagint). The same psalm may have a different number in other Bible editions.
