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Psalm 99 · a question people ask

"Worship at his footstool" (99:5). What is the LORD's footstool?

In the text

The psalm doesn't say. It sets two lines side by side that match in Hebrew until they name where: "Exalt the LORD our God. Worship at his footstool" (99:5), and "Exalt the LORD, our God. Worship at his holy hill" (99:9). The Hebrew word for footstool here, hadom, comes six times in the Hebrew Bible (tap footstool). David speaks of building "a house of rest for the ark of the LORD’s covenant, and for the footstool of our God" (1 Chronicles 28:2). Psalm 132 has 99:5's words: "We will go into his dwelling place. We will worship at his footstool" (Psalm 132:7). Lamentations says the Lord "hasn’t remembered his footstool in the day of his anger" (Lamentations 2:1), in a verse about "the daughter of Zion". And the LORD says, "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool" (Isaiah 66:1). Psalm 99 doesn't say which of these it means, and these notes don't either.

The verses

“Exalt the LORD our God. Worship at his footstool. He is Holy!”
Psalm 99:5 · World English Bible
“Exalt the LORD, our God. Worship at his holy hill, for the LORD, our God, is holy!”
Psalm 99:9 · World English Bible
“Then David the king stood up on his feet and said, “Hear me, my brothers and my people! As for me, it was in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the LORD’s covenant, and for the footstool of our God; and I had prepared for the building.”
1 Chronicles 28:2 · World English Bible
““We will go into his dwelling place. We will worship at his footstool.””
Psalm 132:7 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Psalm 99

Psalm 99: He is holy

Psalm 99 says three times that the LORD is holy (99:3, 99:5, 99:9). It is the only psalm that names Samuel (99:6). And in one line it calls the LORD "a God who forgave them" and says "you took vengeance for their doings" (99:8), with the verb Psalms 8 and 44 use for the avenger beside the enemy.

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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