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Psalm 92 · a question people ask

Why is this psalm "for the Sabbath day"?

In the text

The psalm doesn't say. Its title is only "A Psalm. A song for the Sabbath day" (92:1); it doesn't say who sang it, where or when, and these notes don't supply it. What the psalm itself does is give thanks (92:1), "in the morning" and "every night" (92:2), and sing of the LORD's work (92:4-5). The Sabbath command rests the day on the LORD's making and resting (Exodus 20:11), but the psalm doesn't draw that line itself. Whether and how Christians keep the Sabbath today is Exodus 20's honest question, which sets out the main views; these notes don't repeat them.

The verses

“A Psalm. A song for the Sabbath day. It is a good thing to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name, Most High, to proclaim your loving kindness in the morning, and your faithfulness every night, with the ten-stringed lute, with the harp, and with the melody of the lyre. For you, LORD, have made me glad through your work. I will triumph in the works of your hands. How great are your works, LORD! Your thoughts are very deep.”
Psalm 92:1-5 · World English Bible
““Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. You shall labor six days, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. You shall not do any work in it, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your livestock, nor your stranger who is within your gates; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy.”
Exodus 20:8-11 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Psalm 92

Psalm 92: Fruit in old age

In Psalm 92 the wicked "spring up as the grass" (92:7) and the righteous "flourish like the palm tree" (92:12) with one Hebrew verb, parach. What differs is what lasts: the wicked "will be destroyed forever" (92:7), and the righteous "will still produce fruit in old age" (92:14).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions