Psalm 98 Chapter Study

Psalm 98 sounds like a festival trumpet. It opens with a call for a new song, not to refresh style for its own sake but because the Lord has done “marvelous things,” working salvation by his right hand and holy arm and making that salvation known far beyond Israel’s borders (Psalm 98:1–2). The poem then reaches backward and outward at once: God has remembered his covenant love and faithfulness to Israel, and as a result all the ends of the earth have seen his salvation (Psalm 98:3). Music rises from the courts—harp, singing, trumpets, ram’s horn—because the Lord is King and his deeds deserve public joy (Psalm 98:4–6). The crescendo extends to rivers that clap and mountains that sing, for the King is coming to judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity (Psalm 98:7–9).

Placed within the cluster of royal hymns in Book IV, this psalm pairs the announcement of God’s reign with the unveiling of his righteous judgments, so that worship becomes witness and hope (Psalm 93:1; Psalm 96:10). The vocabulary is thick with memory and mission. “Right hand” and “holy arm” recall the exodus, while “revealed his righteousness to the nations” anticipates the day when Gentiles hear and rejoice in Israel’s God (Exodus 15:6; Isaiah 52:10; Romans 15:8–12). Psalm 98 teaches the church to sing the past into the present for the sake of the future: a new song grounded in old mercies, offered now before the Lord, the King, with an eye toward the day when judgment sets the world right (Psalm 98:1–9).

Words: 2624 / Time to read: 14 minutes

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Historical and Cultural Background

Temple worship shaped the psalm’s soundscape. Harps supported the singers, while trumpets and the ram’s horn signaled royal presence, festival assemblies, and moments when God’s kingship was celebrated before the people (Psalm 98:5–6; Numbers 10:10; Psalm 47:5–7). A Sabbath cadence already ran through Book IV, with morning and evening praise forming a people who learned to name God’s love at dawn and his faithfulness at night; Psalm 98 joins that rhythm with music that teaches doctrine while it delights (Psalm 92:1–2; Psalm 98:4). In that setting, to “shout for joy before the Lord, the King” was to confess publicly that Israel’s true Sovereign was present and active among them (Psalm 98:6; Psalm 95:6–7).

The call for a “new song” sits within a biblical pattern where fresh praise answers fresh deliverance. After victory at the sea, Moses and Miriam sang; after rescue from danger, David sang a new song; prophets later summoned islands and deserts to lift new praise when God bared his holy arm in the sight of the nations (Exodus 15:1–2; Psalm 40:3; Isaiah 42:10; Isaiah 52:10). The phrase “holy arm” evokes a royal power that acts without impurity, the same holiness that once shattered Pharaoh and now gathers worship from far coasts (Exodus 15:6; Psalm 98:1–2). That vocabulary kept Israel’s praise tethered to story: God saves in ways that can be narrated, remembered, and announced.

Covenant terms carry the psalm’s center. The line “He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to Israel” uses the durable pair often translated steadfast love and faithfulness, the same duo revealed at Sinai when the Lord named his character to Moses (Psalm 98:3; Exodus 34:6–7). Remembering in Scripture is more than mental recall; it is God moving in loyalty to his promises, which is why the remembering of Israel yields seeing by the nations: ends of the earth observe what faithful love has done (Psalm 98:3; Psalm 67:1–2). The theological grammar is crucial: particular grace to Israel becomes universal witness to the world.

Creation’s participation fits ancient ways of speaking about God’s rule. Seas resounding, rivers clapping, and mountains singing are not magical pictures but poetic ways to show that the world itself thrives under righteous judgment and suffers under crooked rule (Psalm 98:7–9; Psalm 96:11–13). Israel knew from law and prophets that good judges stabilized communities and that righteousness lifted the poor; Psalm 98 lifts that truth to a cosmic scale, where equity measured by God’s straight standard is the joy of land and people alike (Deuteronomy 16:18–20; Isaiah 11:3–5). The earth’s applause is moral before it is musical.

Biblical Narrative

The song opens by naming the reason for new praise. The Lord has done marvelous things, and his right hand and holy arm have worked salvation; more, he has made that salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations (Psalm 98:1–2). Covenant memory grounds the next line—he has remembered his love and faithfulness to Israel—and a missionary horizon follows—every edge of the world has seen the salvation of our God (Psalm 98:3). The narrative joins past and present in a way that turns private thanksgiving into public testimony (Psalm 105:1–2; Isaiah 52:10).

A summons then rolls through the congregation. “Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth; burst into jubilant song with music,” the psalm commands, and it names instruments to teach that worship is embodied and communal, not merely inward (Psalm 98:4–6). Singing and strings carry confession; trumpets and ram’s horn announce the King; joy is not noisy for its own sake but matched to the presence of the Lord before whom the people stand (Psalm 98:6; 2 Samuel 6:15). The movement from reason to response models wise praise: theology first, then doxology in full voice (Psalm 47:6–8).

The camera pans wider until creation itself enters the choir. Seas and all that fills them resound; the world and all who live in it join; fields of water clap; mountains sing together for joy, and the chorus gains a cause: let them sing before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth (Psalm 98:7–9). Judgment here is not dread for the faithful; it is relief that someone with straight scales weighs the world and applies equity to peoples (Psalm 98:9; Psalm 96:10). The psalm closes with that promise, leaving worshipers oriented toward a coming that makes joyful noise reasonable and right.

Echoes from elsewhere in Scripture widen the narrative. The wording about God’s holy arm revealed to the nations matches Isaiah’s announcement that the Lord has bared his holy arm before all peoples, a line that later voices hear fulfilled as salvation is proclaimed in the name of the Servant who brings light to the Gentiles (Isaiah 52:10; Luke 2:30–32). The picture of creation rejoicing before the Judge links with Paul’s vision of creation’s groaning and future liberation when the children of God are revealed (Psalm 98:8–9; Romans 8:19–21). Psalm 98 thus tells a short story with long lines.

Theological Significance

God’s salvation is public, not private. The psalm insists that the Lord has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations, which means grace is not a secret to guard but a work to proclaim (Psalm 98:2; Psalm 96:2–3). The new song is a missionary act as well as a liturgical one: praise becomes a megaphone by which the knowledge of God spreads beyond Israel’s courts (Psalm 98:1–3; Psalm 67:1–4). When communities keep this balance—adoration that declares—they mirror the psalm’s vision and honor the God who acts in ways the world can see.

Covenant particularity sustains universal invitation. “He has remembered his love and faithfulness to Israel” is not a narrow line; it is the path by which ends of the earth see salvation, because the God who binds himself by promise to the fathers keeps those promises in a way that blesses the nations (Psalm 98:3; Genesis 12:3). Later revelation makes this logic explicit: the Messiah serves to confirm the promises to the patriarchs so that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy, as prophets foresaw (Romans 15:8–12; Isaiah 42:6). Israel and the nations are not collapsed into one undifferentiated mass, nor are they left separate without hope; rather, one Savior holds together God’s stages of work and extends blessing to all who believe (Ephesians 2:14–18; Romans 11:25–29).

Judgment is cause for joy because it is righteous and equitable. Psalm 98 dares to tell rivers to clap and mountains to sing precisely because the Judge comes with right standards and faithful character, which means wrongs are addressed and peace is not built on sentiment but on justice (Psalm 98:9; Psalm 89:14). In a world that often fears judgment as threat, Scripture calls it relief for the humble and warning to the cruel, the necessary frame for lasting joy (Psalm 96:10–13; Isaiah 32:16–18). To love the coming of this Judge is to love a healed world where equity is not theory but practice (Acts 17:31; Revelation 19:11).

The “new song” signals the forward edge of God’s plan. Under Moses’s administration, Israel sang new songs after deliverance; in the fullness of time, God’s holy arm is revealed in the Servant who brings salvation to the ends of the earth, and the church answers with a new song centered on the work of the Lamb (Exodus 15:1–2; Isaiah 52:10; Revelation 5:9–10). This does not erase the earlier songs; it fulfills them by naming their subject and widening their chorus to include peoples from every nation (Psalm 98:1–3; Luke 24:46–47). The same God who once split the sea now opens a way for nations to enter his courts by faith.

Worship is the engine of mission. The psalm moves from declaring what God has done to commanding instruments and voices to celebrate before the King, then outward to creation’s joy before the coming Judge (Psalm 98:1–9). That sequence becomes a pattern: behold salvation, lift praise, and speak with clarity so that neighbors can join the song (Psalm 96:2–3; Psalm 98:4). When congregations sing with reasons and then scatter with witness, they embody the psalm’s ecology of grace, where liturgy fuels proclamation and proclamation returns as new worshipers entering the courts (Psalm 98:8–9; 1 Peter 2:9–10).

Creation belongs inside salvation’s horizon. Seas, rivers, and mountains are invited to rejoice because God’s judgment will straighten what has been twisted, not only among peoples but also within the groaning order itself (Psalm 98:7–9; Romans 8:19–21). The psalm is not baptizing nature-worship; it is praising the Maker whose rule brings creatures into their proper joy under human stewardship and divine care (Psalm 24:1–2; Psalm 8:5–8). In that light, care for the world becomes an act of hope rather than panic, a sign of allegiance to the King whose equity blesses land and life.

The revelation of righteousness carries ethical weight. When God makes his righteousness known to the nations, he is not merely displaying power; he is unveiling the standard by which the world is measured and the character by which his people are shaped (Psalm 98:2; Psalm 19:7–11). Under the law, Israel learned those ways through commandments and sacrifices; in the present stage, the Spirit writes those ways within so that praise grows into integrity at home, at work, and in the gate (Deuteronomy 4:5–8; Jeremiah 31:33; 2 Corinthians 3:5–6). The song in church should become straight scales in the marketplace.

The now-and-future cadence of the kingdom pervades the psalm. Salvation is already made known; righteousness is already revealed; the King already reigns; and yet he comes to judge the earth with a fullness that will leave no corner untouched (Psalm 98:2–3, 9; Revelation 11:15). Believers taste this order now by the Spirit and live toward its public unveiling, which keeps hope active without naivete and courage gentle without despair (Hebrews 6:5; Romans 8:23). Joy today is anchored in the certainty that the Judge will not be late.

Spiritual Lessons and Application

Let worship tutor witness. The psalm begins with reasons and then orders music and shout before the King; after the benediction on Israel’s remembered mercy comes the widening to the nations who see God’s salvation (Psalm 98:1–6). In practice, that means rehearsing recent mercies in gathered prayer, singing with specificity about God’s works, and then naming those works to neighbors with humility and clarity so that others may hear and consider (Psalm 105:1–2; Colossians 4:5–6). Praise that declares is not performance; it is love.

Rejoice in judgment as hope for the vulnerable. Rivers clap and mountains sing not because punishment is pleasant but because equity finally prevails under a righteous King (Psalm 98:8–9; Psalm 96:10). Let that shape public life by resisting crooked scales, telling the truth, keeping covenants, and defending those easily overlooked, confident that such ordinary obedience fits the world God will openly rule (Micah 6:8; Psalm 15:1–2). Joy grows honest when it is yoked to justice.

Receive covenant memory as a stabilizer. The psalm says God remembered his love and faithfulness to Israel, and that stance steadies hearts tempted to doubt when seasons change (Psalm 98:3; Psalm 77:11–12). Make a practice of naming how the Lord has kept you, your family, and your church, then ask him to let that memory fuel new song and fresh courage to speak of his salvation where you live (Psalm 40:3; Psalm 34:3). Gratitude becomes courage when it is told.

Let creation’s joy train stewardship. If rivers clap and mountains sing before the coming Judge, then work given to caring for land and creature can become an act of worship under his rule (Psalm 98:7–9; Genesis 2:15). This is not fear-driven panic; it is hopeful labor offered to the Lord who owns the earth and will set it right, work that anticipates the day when equity and righteousness are the air the world breathes (Psalm 24:1; Romans 8:19–21). Small acts in that direction are not small to him.

Conclusion

Psalm 98 gathers story, song, and hope into one movement. The story is that the Lord has acted with a holy arm to save, remembering love and faithfulness to Israel and making salvation visible to the ends of the earth (Psalm 98:1–3; Isaiah 52:10). The song is that instruments and voices answer with jubilant praise before the King, because theology belongs in the body and joy belongs in public (Psalm 98:4–6; Psalm 47:6–8). The hope is that creation itself joins the choir because the Judge is coming, and his verdicts will be righteous and equitable, good news for fields and families alike (Psalm 98:7–9; Psalm 96:13). Worship here is not escape; it is alignment with the King whose deeds and judgments hold the world together.

For the church today, this psalm offers a way of life. Remember covenant mercies until gratitude becomes a new song; let that song become witness among neighbors and nations; and carry the promise of righteous judgment into the week as the antidote to both cynicism and naïveté (Psalm 98:1–3, 9; Romans 15:8–12). The Savior’s work is already revealed, and the King’s coming is sure, so seas can resound and mountains can sing in hope, and communities can practice equity now as citizens of the reign that will soon be public in full (Psalm 98:7–9; Revelation 11:15). Until that day, keep the festival trumpet near and the story on your lips.

“Let the sea resound, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it.
Let the rivers clap their hands,
let the mountains sing together for joy;
let them sing before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
and the peoples with equity.” (Psalm 98:7–9)