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Psalm 97 Bible study: Light is sown
Psalm 97's clouds, thick darkness, fire and lightning are the same Hebrew words the Law uses of the day at the mountain (Exodus 19:16, Deuteronomy 4:11). And near its end the psalm doesn't say light shines on the righteous: it says light is sown for them, like seed (97:11).
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“Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.”
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“Psalm 97:11 says light is sown for the righteous.”
Is that in Psalm 97, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
The LORD reigns, and the earth is told to rejoice
Psalm 97 has no title. It opens, "The LORD reigns! Let the earth rejoice! Let the multitude of islands be glad!" (97:1) (tap reigns). Psalms 93, 97 and 99 open with the same words, and Psalm 47's study of reigns, malakh, follows the verb through the six psalms that have it. Here the first thing that follows is joy, sent out to the earth and to "the multitude of islands" (97:1). Halfway through, the psalm turns to the LORD and tells what happened: "Zion heard and was glad. The daughters of Judah rejoiced because of your judgments, LORD" (97:8). In Hebrew 97:8's was glad and rejoiced are the two verbs of 97:1, be glad and rejoice. And the last verse has be glad again: "Be glad in the LORD, you righteous people!" (97:12). The earth is called to rejoice (97:1), Zion is glad (97:8), and the righteous are called to be glad (97:12).
Where it leads to Jesus
"Let all the angels of God worship him"
Psalms 97:7leads toHebrews 1:6
Hebrews opens by saying that God "has at the end of these days spoken to us by his Son" (Hebrews 1:2). Then it says, "When he again brings in the firstborn into the world he says" (Hebrews 1:6), "Let all the angels of God worship him" (Hebrews 1:6). Hebrews names the Son: "Jesus, the Son of God" (Hebrews 4:14). Psalm 97 says, "Worship him, all you gods!" (Psalm 97:7), and to the LORD, "You are exalted far above all gods" (Psalm 97:9). The WEB words differ (all you gods, all the angels of God), and Hebrews doesn't name the Scripture it quotes, so setting the two together is a reading, and these notes don't claim that Hebrews 1:6 quotes this psalm. It rests on a shared subject, a call to worship him given to "all you gods" (Psalm 97:7) and to "all the angels of God" (Hebrews 1:6), not on the English words worship him alone. One reading hears in Hebrews 1:6 the call of Psalm 97:7, said by Hebrews of the firstborn, the Son. Another sets the two side by side for their shared subject only, since Hebrews doesn't say where its words come from, and draws no line from the psalm to him. These notes don't choose between them, and neither reading says who the psalm's "all you gods" are (Psalm 82's honest question sets out the main readings of "the gods" there).
Honest questions
Questions people ask about Psalm 97
That was a taste
The rest of Psalm 97 is waiting in Favor
- Clouds, fire and lightning: the words of the mountain
- Idols shamed, and the gods told to worship
- From darkness around him to light sown
- "The Lord of the whole earth"
- Lines Psalm 97 shares with other psalms
- 7 questions as you read
- 13 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
Favor reads the Bible in order, so you'll reach Psalm 97 with everything before it in view. First week free, then $10 a month per person.
The Hebrew word behind it
זָרַעzara'say za-RA
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "sow, scatter seed". Strong's: "to sow; figuratively, to disseminate, plant, fructify". "Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart" (97:11): is sown is zarua, a form of this verb. The Psalms have it three times in Hebrew. The other two are of sowing seed in the ground: "sow fields, plant vineyards" (Psalm 107:37), and "Those who sow in tears will reap in joy" (Psalm 126:5).
For your group
Psalm 97 Bible study questions
- 1"Clouds and darkness are around him" (97:2), and "Light is sown for the righteous" (97:11). Which of these two lines speaks more to where you are right now, and why?
- 2"Let all them be shamed who serve engraved images, who boast in their idols" (97:7). What do people around you boast in, and what are you most tempted to boast in?
- 3"You who love the LORD, hate evil!" (97:10). What would loving the LORD and hating evil look like in an ordinary week for you?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Psalm 97 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home