Psalm 149, like Psalms 45 and 17, turned up in a worship service I planned this summer (not as part of last year’s Psalms for All Seasons Sunday School class). The prayer book I use—Book of Common Worship: Daily Prayer—has Psalm 149 one of the seven laudate psalms (145-150 with 147 split in half) assigned for each morning office so it feels to me like a stalwart psalm despite its rare appearance in the lectionary and in CRC hymnals.
Praise the Lord.
Sing to the Lord a new song,
his praise in the assembly of his faithful people.
Let Israel rejoice in their Maker;
let the people of Zion be glad in their King.
Let them praise his name with dancing
and make music to him with timbrel and harp.
After the opening call the praise, this short psalm anticipates God’s victory over his enemies and calls for his people “to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples.” Psalms for All Seasons includes a long note (reprinted here) discussing the imprecatory nature of the psalm. It offers three interpretive options: (1) spiritualizing the warfare imagery; (2) “a prophetic call to ensure that every military action is done in light of and in praise for God’s longing for justice, peace, and reconciliation”; and (3) “an example of OT experience that is challenged by the NT’s call for peacemaking and reconciliation.”
The lectionary assigns Psalm 149 to a Sunday after Pentecost (Sept. 4-10, Year A) as a response to the institution of Passover (Exodus 12:1-14) and to All Saint’s Day (Year C) as a response to Daniel’s dream of four beasts (Daniel 7:1-3, 15-18).
The only Psalm 149 hymn in Psalms for All Seasons, Lift Up Your Hearts and the gray Psalter Hymnal is “Give Praise to Our God” (PFAS #149B/LUYH #566/PH87 #149/PH57 #306/PH34 #323).
The hymn appeared in the 1912 Psalter and first two Psalter Hymnals as “O Praise Ye the Lord.” The lyrics were revised for the gray Psalter Hymnal. The most interesting change is in the fourth stanza (covering vv. 6-9): “For this is His word:/His strength shall not fail,/But over the earth/Their power shall prevail” becomes “For this is God’s word:/the saints shall not fail,/but over the earth/the humble prevail.” Here’s the revised first stanza:
Give praise to our God, and sing a new song.
amid all the saints God’s praises prolong;
a song to your maker and ruler now raise,
all children of Zion, rejoice and give praise.
The 1912 Psalter set the hymn to HOUGHTON, the three Psalter Hymnals use HANOVER, and LUYH and PFAS use LAUDATE DOMINUM. (We sang it as an opening song to HANOVER-sound-alike LYONS [“O Worship the King”].)
The first two Psalter Hymnals also include another Psalm 149 hymn from the 1912 Psalter, “Ye Who His Temple Throng” (PH57 #306/PH34 #324), which has three stanzas covering verses 1-5.
Ye who his temple throng, Jehovah’s praise prolong, New anthems sing;
Ye saints, with joy declare Your Maker’s loving care, And let the children there Joy in their King.
The responsorial setting in Psalms for All Seasons is an abbreviated version of “Holy God, We Praise Your Name” (PFAS #149A), which is based on the Te Deum. [The full version is LUYH #540/PH87 #504.] The alternative is “Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia” (PFAS #149A-alt).
(This is the 28th post in my continuing series on the Psalms for All Seasons Sunday school class I co-teach with Andrew Friend. Each week we sing psalm settings from Psalms for All Seasons, Lift Up Your Hearts, and other CRC hymnals. Previous posts is the series focused on Psalm 121, Psalm 122, Psalms 2/99, Psalm 72, Psalm 95, Psalm 147, Psalm 112, Psalm 29, Psalm 40, Psalm 23, Psalm 27, Psalm 130, Psalm 15, Psalm 51, Psalm 6, Psalm 32, Psalm 143, Psalms 38/102, Psalm 31, Psalm 116, Psalm 16, Psalm 22, Psalm 118, Psalms 47/93, Psalm 66, Psalm 45, Psalm 104, and Psalm 17.)