O let the nations be glad and sing for joy: for thou shalt judge the people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth. Selah.
Parallel translations
- WEB Oh let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you will judge the peoples with equity, and govern the nations on earth. Selah.
- BSB Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for You judge the peoples justly and lead the nations of the earth. Selah
- NKJV Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy! For You shall judge the people righteously, And govern the nations on earth. Selah
- NASB May the nations be glad and sing for joy; For You will judge the peoples with fairness And guide the nations on the earth. Selah
- NLT Let the whole world sing for joy, because you govern the nations with justice and guide the people of the whole world. Interlude
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Let the nations be glad and sing for joy because God judges and guides them justly. It grounds the nations' joy in God's righteous rule.
Overview
The psalmist calls the nations to rejoice because God judges with equity and governs them on earth. God's just and gracious rule is cause for global gladness, marked by 'Selah.' This righteous reign is established in Christ, the King who will judge the world in righteousness.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Ps 98:9Before the LORD; for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity.
- Rom 15:10–11And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people.
- Ps 9:8And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness.
- Isa 42:10–12Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof.
- Ps 138:4–5All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O LORD, when they hear the words of thy mouth.
- Ps 82:6I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.
- Isa 24:14–16They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the LORD, they shall cry aloud from the sea.
- Deut 32:43Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people.
- Ps 96:10Say among the heathen that the LORD reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people righteously.
- Rom 2:5But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
- Ps 2:8Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
- Gen 18:25That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?
- Isa 55:4Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people.
- Acts 17:31Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.
- Rev 11:15–17And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
- Gal 4:27For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.
- Isa 54:1Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD.
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 67:4 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.