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Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise! He is to be feared above all gods.
Psalms 96:4 · New Living Translation
Parallel translations
  • WEB For great is Yahweh, and greatly to be praised! He is to be feared above all gods.
  • KJV For the LORD is great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods.
  • BSB For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods.
  • NKJV For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods.
  • NASB For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods.

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

The LORD is great and greatly to be praised, to be feared above all gods. God's supreme greatness deserves reverent, wholehearted praise.

Overview

The reason for worldwide praise is the LORD's incomparable greatness, far exceeding any so-called god. He alone is worthy of awe and adoration. This exclusive worship belongs to the one true God, fully revealed in Christ before whom every knee will bow (Philippians 2:10-11; Psalm 145:3).

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 16

  • Ps 145:3Great is Yahweh, and greatly to be praised! His greatness is unsearchable.
  • Jer 10:6–7There is no one like you, Yahweh. you are great, and your name is great in might.
  • Ps 18:3I call on Yahweh, who is worthy to be praised; and I am saved from my enemies.
  • Rev 15:4Who wouldn’t fear you, Lord, and glorify your name? For you only are holy. For all the nations will come and worship before you. For your righteous acts have been revealed.”
  • Ps 95:3For Yahweh is a great God, a great King above all gods.
  • Ps 66:3Tell God, “How awesome are your deeds! Through the greatness of your power, your enemies submit themselves to you.
  • Ps 89:7a very awesome God in the council of the holy ones, to be feared above all those who are around him?
  • Ps 86:10For you are great, and do wondrous things. You are God alone.
  • Ps 48:1A Song. A Psalm by the sons of Korah. Great is Yahweh, and greatly to be praised, in the city of our God, in his holy mountain.
  • Exod 18:11Now I know that Yahweh is greater than all gods because of the thing in which they dealt arrogantly against them.”
  • Luke 12:5But I will warn you whom you should fear. Fear him, who after he has killed, has power to cast into Gehenna. Yes, I tell you, fear him.
  • Ps 66:5Come, and see God’s deeds — awesome work on behalf of the children of men.
  • Neh 9:5Then the Levites, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, “Stand up and bless Yahweh your God from everlasting to everlasting! Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise!
  • Jer 5:22Don’t you fear me?’ says Yahweh ‘Won’t you tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it can’t pass it? and though its waves toss themselves, yet they can’t prevail; though they roar, yet they can’t pass over it.’
  • Ps 76:7You, even you, are to be feared. Who can stand in your sight when you are angry?
  • 1 Sam 4:8Woe to us! Who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods that struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Psalms videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Psalms 96:4YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on PsalmsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 96:4 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.