Psalm 99
The Lord is holy!
99:1This is the last of the six Royal Psalms. It tells us that God is a fair and honest king. He has shown his own people, the Israelites, who he is. One day, everyone will see that God is the great king!
1 The Lord rules as king!
People on earth should shake with fear!
The Lord sits on his throne as king
above the cherubs!
99:1This is a picture of God on his throne. In the Most Holy Place, in the tabernacle, and in the temple, there were gold statues of cherubs. Cherubs were special angels. God's throne is above these angels.
The earth itself should shake!
2 The Lord is a great king in Zion.
He rules with power
over all the world's nations.
3 So they should all praise your great name.
It is a name that brings fear!
The Lord is holy!
4 You are a strong king who loves justice.
You have made fair rules,
so that people in Israel do what is right.
5 Praise the Lord our God!
Worship him as king.
He is holy!
6 Moses and Aaron were two of his priests.
99:6This is the only place in the Bible where it says that Moses was a priest. Priests were God's special servants. They all came from the family of Aaron, who was Moses' brother.
Samuel was among those who prayed to him.
They prayed to the Lord
and he answered them.
7 He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud.
99:7The pillar of cloud led the Israelites across the wilderness from Egypt to Canaan.
They obeyed his rules and his commands.
8 Yes, you answered them, Lord our God.
You forgave the sins of your people.
But when they did wrong things,
you punished them.
99:8Even when God forgave his people, he still needed to punish them when they did wrong things.
9 Praise the Lord our God!
Go and worship him on his holy hill,
because the Lord our God is holy!