Psalm 96:9 NKJV
Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness!
Tremble before Him, all the earth.
God’s holiness – His “set-apart-ness” – has a wonderful and distinct beauty about it. It is beautiful that God is God and not man, that He is more than the greatest man or a super-man. His holy love, grace, justice, and majesty are beautiful. (Guzik)
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“0 worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” This is the only beauty which he cares for in our public services, and it is one for which no other can compensate. Beauty of architecture and apparel he does not regard; moral and spiritual beauty is that in which his soul delighteth. Worship must not be rendered to God in a slovenly, sinful, superficial manner; we must be reverent, sincere, earnest, and pure in heart both in our prayers and praises. Purity is the white linen of the Lord’s choristers, righteousness is the comely garment of his priests, holiness is the royal apparel of his servants.
“Fear before him, all the earth.” “Tremble” is the word in the original, and it expresses the profoundest awe, just as the word “worship” does, which would be more accurately translated by “bow down.” Even the bodily frame would be moved to trembling and prostration if men were thoroughly conscious of the power and glory of Jehovah. Men of the world ridiculed “the Quakers” for trembling when under the power of the Holy Spirit; had they been able to discern the majesty of the Eternal they would have quaked also. There is a sacred trembling which is quite consistent with joy, the heart may even quiver with an awful excess of delight. The sight of the King in his beauty caused no alarm to John in Patmos, and yet it made him fall at his feet as dead. Oh, to behold him and worship him with prostrate awe and sacred fear! (Spurgeon)
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O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness – This verse is literally taken from 1 Chronicles 16:29-30. The margin here is, “in the glorious sanctuary.” The Septuagint, ἐν αὐλῇ ἁγίᾳ en aulē hagia – “in his holy court.” So the Latin Vulgate. On the meanings of the expression, see the notes at Psalms 29:2.
Fear before him, all the earth – All lands; all people. The word rendered “fear” means properly to writhe, to twist, to be in pain; and then, to tremble, to quake, to be afraid. The word “tremble” would perhaps best express the idea here. It is that solemn awe produced by the sense of the divine presence and majesty which causes trembling. It denotes profound reverence for God. (Barnes)
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Hosea 3:5 NIV
5 Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the Lord and to his blessings in the last days.
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Psalm 96:9 Geneva Bible 1560
9 Worship the Lord in the glorious Sanctuary: tremble before him all the earth.
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