Psalms 93-96 from my new book:

A NEW LOOK AT THE OLD PSALMS

Praying the Psalms: a modern interpretation

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I present here a new perspective on the psalms. I have rewritten them from a New 
Testament Christ-centered point of view. I did not try to capture the poetry of the 
psalms – I leave that to more gifted writers – but I attempted to capture their message
with a more modern interpretation.

God bless,

John

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Psalm 93

J

esus is King and has reigned since before time began. But when men fell from grace, he had to incarnate to save them. Just as Jesus emerged from his baptism in the Jordan River, renewed in spirit and prepared to begin his public ministry, we emerge reborn through our own baptism, ready to live the life of Christ in his Church.

We lift our voice in thanksgiving to the Father for all he has done for us. We trust in the Lord because his word is truth. And holiness is not an option. As members of Christ’s Church, we are expected to lead a holy life. Jesus said, “You are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Matt: 5:48 (NLT)⁴⁵

Psalm 94

W

e praise you, Lord, for you are the God of justice who will judge the ungodly for their misdeeds. How long must we endure the arrogant boasting of sinners, their evil acts and words, their lawlessness? They have persecuted your Church, humiliated and mistreated us, and murdered the innocent and the defenseless. They brag of your indifference to our plight. But the foolish and the ignorant do not understand that you hear and see everything. They ignore the lessons of history where you were forced to chastise your people to teach them obedience. No man can hide his thoughts from you. Blessed are those who follow your teachings. You will save them from the wicked, for you will not abandon your Church as long as unrighteousness exists in the world.

Who among men will defend me against the ungodly? Who will fight with me against the wicked? It is the Lord who helped me. If not for him, my soul would have been lost. When I felt myself falling, I called upon the Lord with a repentant heart, and mercifully he saved me.

God will not tolerate corrupt lawmakers and their unjust laws which punish the righteous and condemn the innocent. He is a refuge for the persecuted, and I trust that he will protect me. Judgment Day is coming for unrepentant sinners, and their souls will perish.⁴⁶

Psalm 95

C

ome and let us worship the Lord and joyfully sing praises to the God who saves us. Let us give him thanks and bless his name, for he is a mighty God, the King of the universe. He holds the whole world in his hands. The land and the seas belong to him because he created them. So let us bow and worship the Lord with tears of joy and a repentant heart, for he is our shepherd and we are his sheep.

Let us not reject the Lord as the Israelites did when they rebelled against him at Meribah and Masseh. He punished them by making them wander in the desert for forty years before allowing them to enter the Promised Land.  

Psalm 96

(A vision of the second coming.)

L

et the Church of Jesus Christ lift its voice every day with a song to celebrate the salvation he obtained for us. Let all nations praise him, for his Church includes all peoples of the earth. The Lord is awesome and worthy to be praised. Demons boast of their great power, but they fear the Lord who created the universe. We give him thanks for the beauty, majesty, and holiness of his Church.

Let all nations honor and glorify the Lord and exalt his name. Bring your offerings and worship him in his Church. Let all people stand in awe of the Lord and proclaim him King, for he created the world and will protect it as a sovereign defends his kingdom. And he will judge his people fairly.

Let heaven and earth rejoice. Let the waves of the seas and oceans teaming with life come crashing down in delight. Let the fields and their crops, the trees in the forests, and all that lives shout with joy on that fateful day when Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead with justice and truth.⁴⁷

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Cover image: Christ the Saviour (Pantokrator)." Web. 25 Sept 2016.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spas_vsederzhitel_sinay.jpg
"Creative Commons License." Web. 18 May 2016.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

⁴⁵The Orthodox Study Bible. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2008), 744.

⁴⁶Ibid.

⁴⁷Ibid., p. 746

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Scriptural quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, 

copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois
60189. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2016 by John P. Gross. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this material must 

be done in its entirety with the copyright notice intact. This book is not for sale, but is 

offered to the public free of charge for the glory of God.