Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy! For You shall judge the people righteously, And govern the nations on 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.
- KJV O let the nations be glad and sing for joy: for thou shalt judge the people righteously, and govern the nations upon 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
- 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 98:9Let them sing before Yahweh, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.
- Rom 15:10–11Again he says, “Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people.”
- Ps 9:8He will judge the world in righteousness. He will administer judgment to the peoples in uprightness.
- Isa 42:10–12Sing to Yahweh a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is therein, the islands and their inhabitants.
- Ps 138:4–5All the kings of the earth will give you thanks, Yahweh, for they have heard the words of your mouth.
- Ps 82:6I said, “You are gods, all of you are sons of the Most High.
- Isa 24:14–16These shall lift up their voice. They will shout for the majesty of Yahweh. They cry aloud from the sea.
- Deut 32:43Rejoice, you nations, with his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants. He will take vengeance on his adversaries, and will make atonement for his land and for his people.
- Ps 96:10Say among the nations, “Yahweh reigns.” The world is also established. It can’t be moved. He will judge the peoples with equity.
- Rom 2:5But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath, revelation, and of the righteous judgment of God;
- Ps 2:8Ask of me, and I will give the nations for your inheritance, the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession.
- Gen 18:25Be it far from you to do things like that, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be like the wicked. May that be far from you. Shouldn’t the Judge of all the earth do right?”
- Isa 55:4Behold, I have given him for a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander to the peoples.
- Acts 17:31because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.”
- Rev 11:15–17The seventh angel sounded, and great voices in heaven followed, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ. He will reign forever and ever!”
- Gal 4:27For it is written, “Rejoice, you barren who don’t bear. Break out and shout, you that don’t travail. For more are the children of the desolate than of her who has a husband.”
- Isa 54:1“Sing, barren, you who didn’t give birth; break out into singing, and cry aloud, you who did not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife,” says Yahweh.
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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.