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Psalm 95
1 Come, let us sing to the Lord; *
let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving *
and raise a loud shout to him with psalms.
3 For the Lord is a great God, *
and a great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the caverns of the earth, *
and the heights of the hills are his also.
5 The sea is his, for he made it, *
and his hands have molded the dry land.
6 Come, let us bow down, and bend the knee, *
and kneel before the Lord our Maker.
7 For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. *
Oh, that today you would hearken to his voice!
8 Harden not your hearts,
as your forebears did in the wilderness, *
at Meribah, and on that day at Massah,
when they tempted me.
9 They put me to the test, *
though they had seen my works.
10 Forty years long I detested that generation and said, *
"This people are wayward in their hearts;
they do not know my ways."
11 So I swore in my wrath, *
"They shall not enter into my rest."
The Psalm appointed for this Sunday is arguably one of the most familiar. The earliest detailed accounts of the daily office in the Western Church indicate that Psalm 95 introduced the psalmody of Matins (the midnight portion of the daily office) every day except on certain special days.
When the Anglican Prayer Book was developed in the 16th century, its authors continued this practice including Psalm 95 in the Morning Prayer service. Later, when the prayer book was amended, the final verses of the Psalm were replaced with verses from Psalm 96. This Psalm is known as the Venite, from the Latin ‘Come, ye’ which is the first word of the Psalm.
The 1545 Primer of Henry VIII calls the Venite a ‘song stirring to the praise of God.’ Marion Hatchett says, ‘The first two verses are a call to praise God with psalms; the next verses give the reasons: He is our sovereign, our provider, our creator’ (Commentary on the Prayer Book p.105).
I hope you’ll join us this Sunday as we ‘sing praises to the Lord’ and break bread together.
--George
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