Psalms 96

Psalms 96:1

Augustine of Hippo: Rightly, then, are we stirred by the voice of the psalmist as by the sound of a heavenly trumpet, when we hear, “Sing to the Lord a new canticle; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord and bless his name.” Let us recognize, then, and proclaim the “Day born of the day” who became incarnate on this day. The Day is the Son born of the Father, the eternal Day, God of God, Light of Light; he is our salvation, of whom the psalmist says elsewhere, “May God have mercy on us and bless us: may he cause the light of his countenance to shine on us. That we may know your way on earth; your salvation in all nations.” The idea expressed in “on the earth” he expanded to “in all nations” and the significance of “your way” he repeated in “your salvation.” We recall that the Lord said, “I am the way.” And only recently, when the Gospel was read, we heard that the thrice-blessed old man, Simeon, had received a divine promise that he would not experience death until he had seen Christ the Lord and that, when he had taken the infant Christ into his hands and had recognized the mighty little One, he said, “Now dismiss your servant, O Lord, according to your word, in peace, because my eyes have seen your salvation.” Gladly, then, let us announce his salvation, this Day born of the eternal Day, let us declare “his glory among the Gentiles, his wonders among all people.” He lies in a manger, but he holds the world in his hand; he is nourished at the breast, but he feeds the angels; he is wrapped in swaddling clothes, but he clothes us with immortality; he is suckled but is adored; he does not find room in the inn, but he makes a temple for himself in the hearts of believers. For Strength took on weakness that weakness might become strong. Therefore, let us marvel at rather than despise his human birth; from it let us learn the lowliness that such loftiness assumed for our sake. Then let us enkindle our love so that we may come to his eternal day. — SERMON 190:3

Augustine of Hippo: We have said what house it is; now we must say after what captivity. The psalm shows you this too. Carry on a little: “Sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, bless his name, proclaim from day to day the gospel of his salvation. Proclaim among the nations his wonders, in all peoples his glory. Since all the gods of the nations are demons.” There you are again, that is under whom the house was held in captivity. From the first transgression of the first human being, the whole human race, being born in the shackles of sin, was the property of the devil who had conquered it. After all, if we had not been held in captivity, we would not have needed a redeemer. — SERMON 27:2

Augustine of Hippo: “O sing unto the Lord a new song; sing unto the Lord, all the earth” [Psalms 96:1]. If all the earth sings a new song, it is thus building while it sings: the very act of singing is building: but only, if it sings not the old song. The lust of the flesh sings the old song: the love of God sings the new….Hear why it is a new song: the Lord says, “A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another.” [John 15:12] The whole earth then sings a new song: there the house of God is built. All the earth is the house of God. If all the earth is the house of God, he who clings not to all the earth, is a ruin, not a house; that old ruin whose shadow that ancient temple represented. For there what was old was destroyed, that what was new might be built up….The Apostle binds us together into this very structure, and fastens us when bound together in that unity, saying, “Forbearing one another in love; endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” [Ephesians 4:2-3] Where there is this unity of Spirit, there is one stone; but one stone formed out of many. How one formed out of many? By forbearing one another in love. Therefore the house of the Lord our God is in building; it is this that is being wrought, for this are these words, for this these readings, for this the preaching of the Gospel over the whole world; as yet it is in building. This house has increased greatly, and filled many nations: nevertheless, it has not yet prevailed through all nations: by its increase it has held many, and will prevail over all: and it is gainsaid by those who boast of their being of its household, and who say, it has already lost ground. It still increases, still all those nations which have not yet believed are destined to believe; that no man may say, will that tongue believe? will the barbarians believe? What is the meaning of the Holy Spirit having appeared in the fiery tongues, [Acts 2:3] except that there is no tongue so hard that it cannot be softened by that fire? For we know that many barbarous nations have already believed in Christ: Christ already possesses regions where the Roman empire has never yet reached; what is as yet closed to those who fight with the sword, is not closed to Him who fights with wood. For “the Lord has reigned from the wood.” Who is it who fights with wood? Christ. With His cross He has vanquished kings, and fixed upon their forehead, when vanquished, that very cross; and they glory in it, for in it is their salvation. This is the work which is being wrought, thus the house increases, thus it is building: and that you may know, hear the following verses of the Psalm: see them labouring upon, and constructing the house. “O sing unto the Lord all the earth.” — Exposition on Psalms 96

Augustine of Hippo: And how many more they have joined, by being given birth to by [the church]? How many members have adhered to the head and are adhering now? And these have been baptized, and others will be baptized, and after us will come others. Then, I say, at the end of the world the stones will attach themselves to the foundation, living stones, holy stones, so that at the end the whole building may be built up out of that church; indeed out of this very church, which is now singing the new song, while the house is being built. That, you see, is what this psalm says, “when the house was being built after the captivity.” What does it say? “Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth.” What a great house it is! But when does it sing the new song? While it is being built? When is it dedicated? At the end of time? Its foundation has already been dedicated, because he has ascended into heaven and dies no more. When we too have risen again, so as never to die anymore, that is when we too will be dedicated. — SERMON 116:7

Augustine of Hippo: As a door leads into a house, so the title of a psalm leads into understanding. Now this one has a heading as follows: “When the house was being built after the captivity.” You ask what house; the psalm shows you straightaway: “Sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord, all the earth.” There you are, that is what house it is. When the whole earth sings a new song, it is the house of God. It is built by singing, its foundations are believing, it is erected by hoping, it is completed by loving. So it is being built now, but it is dedicated at the end of the world. Let the living stones, then, come flocking together to the new song, come flocking all together and be fitted together into the fabric of God’s temple. Let them recognize their Savior and receive him as their occupant. — SERMON 27:1

Augustine of Hippo: The rebaptizing Donatists should not think they belong to the new song. They cannot sing the new song, seeing that with insufferable impiety they have cut themselves off from the church that God willed to exist in every land. After all, the same prophet says somewhere else, “Sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord every land.” So anyone who refuses to sing with every land and does not withdraw from the old man, does not sing the new song and does not play on the ten-stringed harp, because he is an enemy of charity, which alone is the fullness of the law and which we say is contained in the ten commandments that pertain to love of God and of neighbor. — SERMON 33:5

Augustine of Hippo: The baptized have, then, something to do in themselves, that is, in the temple of God that is first built and dedicated at the end. It is built after the captivity, as the title of the psalm indicates: when the enemy who had taken them captive has been expelled. There is something noteworthy in the order of the psalms. The psalm of the dedication of the house precedes in order of numbering the psalm of the building of the house. The psalm of the dedication comes first, because the psalmist is singing of the house of which its Architect says, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The later psalm, when the house was being built after the captivity, foretold the church. Moreover, its opening words are “Sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord all the earth.” Let no one foolishly think that a baptized person is already perfect, therefore, merely because it has been said, “For holy is the temple of God, and this temple you are,” and, “Do you not know that your members are the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have from God?” — AGAINST JULIAN 6:14.42

Bede: “A savior who is Christ the Lord has been born to you today in the city of David.” It is good that [the angel] said “has been born today” and did not say “this night,” for with heavenly light he appeared to those who were conducting the watch by night and brought the good news that day was born, namely, the one concerning whom the psalmist foretold, saying, “Announce well his salvation day from day.” Indeed the salvation of God, that is, the Lord Jesus, is “day from day” because he who appeared temporally in the city of David as a human being from a virgin mother was, in truth, himself born before all time and without spatial limitation, light from light, true God from true God. Because, therefore, the light of life rose for those of us dwelling in the region of the shadow of death, the herald of this rising suitably says, “A savior has been born to you today,” so that being always advised by this word we may recollect that the night of ancient blindness is gone past and the day of eternal salvation has drawn near, and “let us cast off the works of darkness.” And let us walk as children of light, “for the fruit of the light, as the same apostle [Paul] says, is in all justice and holiness.” — Homilies on the Gospels 1:6

Eusebius of Caesarea: In Psalms 95 [LXX] the coming of the Lord to humankind is again foretold, and that a new song, by which is meant the new covenant, will be sung by the whole earth at his coming, not by the Jewish race; and that the good news will no longer be for Israel but for all the nations, since it says that the Lord who is to come will be their King. Who could this be but God the Word, who, intending to judge the world in righteousness and the human race in truth, considers all people in the world equally worthy of his call, and consequently of the salvation of God? — PROOF OF THE GOSPEL 6:5

Justin Martyr: Then Trypho said, “We know that you quoted these because we asked you. But it does not appear to me that this Psalm which you quoted last from the words of David refers to any other than the Father and Maker of the heavens and earth. You, however, asserted that it referred to Him who suffered, whom you also are eagerly endeavouring to prove to be Christ.”

And I answered, “Attend to me, I beseech you, while I speak of the statement which the Holy Spirit gave utterance to in this Psalm; and you shall know that I speak not sinfully, and that we are not really bewitched; for so you shall be enabled of yourselves to understand many other statements made by the Holy Spirit. ‘Sing unto the Lord a new song; sing unto the Lord, all the earth: sing unto the Lord, and bless His name; show forth His salvation from day to day, His wonderful works among all people.’ He bids the inhabitants of all the earth, who have known the mystery of this salvation, i.e., the suffering of Christ, by which He saved them, sing and give praises to God the Father of all things, and recognise that He is to be praised and feared, and that He is the Maker of heaven and earth, who effected this salvation in behalf of the human race, who also was crucified and was dead, and who was deemed worthy by Him (God) to reign over all the earth. As [is clearly seen] also by the land into which [He said] He would bring [your fathers]; [for He thus speaks]: ‘This people [shall go a whoring after other gods], and shall forsake Me, and shall break my covenant which I made with them in that day; and I will forsake them, and will turn away My face from them; and they shall be devoured, and many evils and afflictions shall find them out; and they shall say in that day, Because the Lord my God is not amongst us, these misfortunes have found us out. And I shall certainly turn away My face from them in that day, on account of all the evils which they have committed, in that they have turned to other gods.’ — Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter LXXIV

Psalms 96:2

Augustine of Hippo: “Sing unto the Lord, bless His Name: be telling good tidings of His salvation from day to day” [Psalms 96:2]. How does the building increase? “Be telling,” he says, “good tidings of His salvation from day to day.” Let it be preached from day to day; from day to day, he says, let it be built; let My house, says God, increase. And as if it were said by the workmen, Where dost Thou command it to be built? Where do You will Your house to increase? Choose for us some level, spacious spot, if Thou wish an ample house built You. Where dost Thou bid us be telling good tidings from day to day? He shows the place: “Declare His honour unto the heathen:” His honour, not yours. O you builders, “Declare His honour unto the heathen.” Should ye choose to declare your own honour, you shall fall: if His, you shall be built up, while you are building. Therefore they who choose to declare their own honour, have refused to dwell in that house; and therefore they sing not a new song with all the earth. For they do not share it with the whole round world; and hence they are not building in the house, but have erected a whited wall. How sternly does God threaten the whited wall? [Ezekiel 13:10] There are innumerable testimonies of the Prophets, whence He curses the whited wall. What is the whited wall, save hypocrisy, that is, pretence? Without it is bright, within it is dirt….A certain person, speaking of this whited wall, said thus: “as, if in a wall which stands alone, and is not connected with any other walls, you make a door, whoever enters, is out of doors; so in that part which has refused to sing the new song together with the house, but has chosen to build a wall, and that a whited one, and not solid, what avails it that it has a door?” If you enter, you are found to be without. For because they themselves did not enter by the door, their door also does not admit them within. For the Lord says, “I am the door: by Me they enter in.” [John 10:9] …“Declare His honour unto the heathen.” What is, unto the heathen? Perhaps by nations but a few are meant: and that part which has raised the whited wall has still somewhat to say: why are not Getulia, Numidia, Mauritania, Byzacium, nations? Provinces are nations. Let the word of God take the word from hypocrisy, from the whited wall, building up the house over the whole world. It is not enough to say, “Declare His honour unto the heathen;” that you may not think any nations excepted, he adds, “and His wonders unto all people.” — Exposition on Psalms 96

Psalms 96:4

Augustine of Hippo: “For the Lord is great, and cannot worthily be praised” [Psalms 96:4]. What Lord, except Jesus Christ, “is great, and cannot worthily be praised”? You know surely that He appeared as a Man: ye know surely that He was conceived in a woman’s womb, you know that He was born from the womb, that He was suckled, that He was carried in arms, circumcised, that a victim was offered for Him, that He grew; lastly, you know that He was buffeted, spit upon, crowned with thorns, was crucified, died, was pierced with a spear; ye know that He suffered all these things: “He is great, and cannot worthily be praised.” Despise not what is little, understand what is great. He became little, because you were such: let Him be acknowledged great, and in Him you shall be great….For what can a small tongue say towards the praise of the Great One? By saying, Beyond praise, he has spoken, and has given to imagination what it may conceive: as if saying, What I cannot utter, do thou reflect on; and when you shall have reflected, it will not be enough. What no man’s thought utters, does any man’s tongue utter? “The Lord is great, and cannot worthily be praised.” Let Him be praised, and preached: His honour declared, and His house built. — Exposition on Psalms 96

Psalms 96:5

Augustine of Hippo: But that God, whom the Hebrew sages worshipped, forbids sacrifice to be offered even to the holy angels of heaven and divine powers, whom we, in this our pilgrimage, venerate and love as our most blessed fellow-citizens. For in the law which God gave to his Hebrew people he utters this menace, as in a voice of thunder: “he that sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the Lord only, he shall be utterly destroyed.” And that no one might suppose that this prohibition extends only to the very wicked demons and earthly spirits, whom this philosopher calls very small and inferior,—for even these are in the Scripture called gods, not of the Hebrews, but of the nations, as the Septuagint translators have shown in the psalm where it is said, “For all the gods of the nations are demons,”—that no one might suppose, I say, that sacrifice to these demons was prohibited, but that sacrifice might be offered to all or some of the celestials, it was immediately added, “save unto the Lord alone.” — City of God 19.23

Basil of Caesarea: But, if he is of too little importance, according to their reasoning, to be capable of the partnership of the term “Godhead” with the Father and the Son, he is not worthy of sharing any other of the terms proper to God. For, if the terms are considered and compared with each other according to the significance observed in each, none will be found to be inferior to the title of “God.” And a proof of this is that many inferior things also are called by this name. Moreover, the divine Scripture does not refrain from using this equivocal term, not even in inconsistent matters, as when it calls images by the name of “God.” “For,” it says, “let the gods who did not make the heaven and the earth be destroyed and be cast under the earth.” It also says, “All the gods of the Gentiles are devils.” And the witch with her magic arts summoning up the souls sought by Saul said that she saw gods. Furthermore, even Balaam, a certain diviner and soothsayer, who bore his oracles in his hand, as the Scripture says, and who successfully procured for himself instruction from the demons through his divining trickery, is related by the Scripture to have taken counsel with God. And, it is possible, collecting many such passages from the divine Scriptures, to allege that this name has no precedence above the other appellations proper to God, since, as it has been said, we even find it used equivocally in incongruous matters. But the name of holiness, and of eternity, and of righteousness and of goodness, we are taught by the Scriptures, is nowhere communicated to things that are unfit. Therefore, if they do not deny that the Holy Spirit shares with the Son and the Father in the names piously used exclusively in the case of the divine nature alone, what reason is there to try to make out that he has no partnership in this one alone that both evil spirits and idols have been shown to share through a certain equivocal use? — LETTER 189

Origen of Alexandria: And it is not we alone who speak of wicked demons, but almost all who acknowledge the existence of demons. Thus, then, it is not true that all observe the law of the most High; for all who fall away from the divine law, whether through heedlessness, or through depravity and vice or through ignorance of what is right, all such do not keep the law of God, but, to use a new phrase that we find in Scripture, “the law of sin.” I say, then, that in the opinion of most of those who believe in the existence of demons, some of them are wicked; and these, instead of keeping the law of God, offend against it. But, according to our belief, it is true of all demons that they were not demons originally, but they became so in departing from the true way; so that the name “demons” is given to those beings who have fallen away from God. Accordingly, those who worship God must not serve demons. We may also learn the true nature of demons if we consider the practice of those who call on them by charms to prevent certain things or for many other purposes. For this is the method they adopt, in order by means of incantations and magical arts to invoke the demons and induce them to further their wishes. Wherefore, the worship of all demons would be inconsistent in us who worship the supreme God; and the service of demons is the service of so-called gods, for “all the gods of the pagans are demons.” The same thing also appears from the fact that the dedication of the most famous of the so-called sacred places, whether temples or statues, was accompanied by curious magical incantations, which were performed by those who zealously served the demons with magical arts. Hence we are determined to avoid the worship of demons even as we would avoid death; and we hold that the worship, which is supposed among the Greeks to be rendered to gods at the altars, and images and temples, is in reality offered to demons. — AGAINST CELSUS 7:69

Tertullian: True, Scripture says, “Make no mention of the name other gods, neither let it be heard out of your mouth.” What it stipulates is that we should not call them gods. For in the first part of the law it says, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain,” that is, apply it to an idol. So anyone who honors an idol with the name of God falls into idolatry. If I am compelled to mention gods, I must add something to show that I do not call them gods. Scripture uses the name “gods” but adds “their” or “of the pagans,” as when David, having used the name “gods,” says “but the gods of the pagans are demons.” — ON IDOLATRY 20

Psalms 96:6

Augustine of Hippo: “Confession and beauty are before Him” [Psalms 96:6]. Do you love beauty? Wishest thou to be beautiful? Confess! He said not, beauty and confession, but confession and beauty. You were foul; confess, that you may be fair: you were a sinner; confess, that you may be righteous. You could deform yourself: you can not make yourself beautiful. But of what sort is our Betrothed, who has loved one deformed, that he might make her fair? How, says some one, loved He one deformed? “I came not,” said He, “to call the righteous, but sinners.” [Matthew 9:13] Whom callest Thou? sinners, that they may remain sinners? No, says He. And by what means will they cease to be sinners? “Confession and beauty are before Him.” They honour Him by confession of their sins, they vomit the evils which they had greedily devoured; they return not to their vomit, like the unclean dog; [2 Peter 2:22] and there will then be confession and beauty: we love beauty; let us first choose confession, that beauty may follow. Again, there is one who loves power and greatness: he wishes to be great as the Angels are. There is a certain greatness in the Angels; and such power, that if the Angels exert it to the full, it cannot be withstood. And every man desires the power of the Angels, but their righteousness every man loves not. First love righteousness, and power shall follow you. For what follows here? “Holiness and greatness are in His sanctification.” You were before seeking for greatness: first love righteousness: when you are righteous, you shall also be great. For if you preposterously dost wish first to be great, you fall before you can rise: for thou dost not rise, you are raised up. Thou risest better, if He raise you who falls not. For He who falls not descends unto you: you had fallen: He descends, He has stretched forth His hand unto you; you can not rise by your own strength, embrace the hand of Him who descends, that you may be raised up by the Strong One. — Exposition on Psalms 96

Psalms 96:7

Augustine of Hippo: What then? If “confession and beauty are before Him: holiness and greatness in His sanctification” [Psalms 96:7]. This we declare, when we are building the house; behold, it is already declared unto the heathen; what ought the heathen to do, to whom those who have cleared away the wood have declared the Lord’s honour? He now says to the heathen themselves, “Ascribe unto the Lord, O you kindreds of the people: ascribe unto the Lord worship and honour.” Ascribe them not unto yourselves: because they also who have declared it unto you, have not declared their own, but His honour. Do ye then “ascribe unto the Lord worship and honour;” and say, “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us: but unto Your Name give the praise.” Put not your trust in man. If each of you is baptized, let him say: He baptizes me, of whom the friend of the Bridegroom said, “He baptizes with the Holy Ghost.” For when you say this, you ascribe unto the Lord worship and honour: “Ascribe unto the Lord worship and honour.” — Exposition on Psalms 96

Eusebius of Caesarea: And if they say that they were chosen to act as priests and to offer worship to God, it can be shown that the Word promised that he would give to the Gentiles an equal share in his service, when he said, “Render to the Lord, O you kindreds of the nations, render to the Lord glory and honor: bring sacrifices and come into his courts.” To which the oracle in Isaiah may be conjoined: “There shall be an altar to the Lord in the land of Egypt … and the Egyptians will know the Lord. And they shall sacrifice, and say prayers to the Lord and make offering.” And in this you will understand that it is prophesied that an altar will be built to the Lord away from Jerusalem in Egypt and that the Egyptians will there offer sacrifice, say prayers and give gifts to the Lord. Yes, and not only in Egypt, but in the true Jerusalem itself, whatever it is thought to be, all the nations, including the Egyptians indeed, the most superstitious of them all, are invited to keep the feast of tabernacles, as a feast of the heart. — PROOF OF THE GOSPEL 2:3

Psalms 96:8

Augustine of Hippo: “Ascribe unto the Lord glory unto His Name” [Psalms 96:8]. Not unto the name of man, not unto your own name, but unto His ascribe worship….Confession is a present unto God. O heathen, if you will enter into His courts, enter not empty. “Bring presents.” What presents shall we bring with us? The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, “O God, shall not Thou despise.” Enter with an humble heart into the house of God, and you have entered with a present. But if you are proud, you enter empty. For whence would you be proud, if you were not empty? For if you were full, you would not be puffed up. How couldest thou be full? If you were to bring a present, which you should carry to the courts of the Lord. Let us not retain you much longer: let us run over what remains. Behold the house increasing: behold the edifice pervade the whole world. Rejoice, because you have entered into the courts; rejoice, because you are being built into the temple of God. For those who enter are themselves built up, they themselves are the house of God: He is the inhabitor, for whom the house is built over the whole world, and this “after the captivity.” “Bring presents, and come into His courts.” — Exposition on Psalms 96

Psalms 96:9

Augustine of Hippo: “O worship the Lord in His holy court” [Psalms 96:9]: in the Catholic Church; this is His holy court. Let no man say, “Lo, here is Christ, or there. For there shall arise false prophets.” [Matthew 24:23-24] Say this unto them, “There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” You are calling me to the whited wall; I adore my God in His holy court. “Let the whole earth be moved before His face.” — Exposition on Psalms 96

Psalms 96:10

Augustine of Hippo: “Tell it out among the nations, that the Lord reigns from the wood: and that it is He who has made the round world so fast that it cannot be moved” [Psalms 96:10]. What testimonies of the building of the house of God! The clouds of heaven thunder out throughout the world that God’s house is being built; and the frogs cry from the marsh, We alone are Christians. What testimonies do I bring forward? That of the Psalter. I bring forward what you sing as one deaf: open your ears; you sing this; you sing with me, and you agree not with me; your tongue sounds what mine does, and yet your heart disagrees with mine. Do you not sing this? Behold the testimonies of the whole world: “Let the whole earth be moved before His face:” and do you say, that you are not moved? “Tell it out among the heathen, that the Lord has reigned from the wood.” Shall men perchance prevail here, and say they reign by wood, because they reign by means of the clubs of their bandits? Reign by the Cross of Christ, if you are to reign by wood. For this wood of yours makes you wooden: the wood of Christ passes you across the sea. You hear the Psalm saying, “He has set aright the round world, that it cannot be moved;” and you say it has not only been moved since it was made fast, but has also decreased. Do you speak the truth, and the Psalmist falsehood? Do the false prophets, when they cry out, “Lo, here is Christ, and there,” [Matthew 24:23] speak truth; and does this Prophet lie? Brethren, against these most open words ye hear in the corners rumours like these; “such an one was a traditor,” and, “such an one was a traditor.” What do you say? Are your words, or the words of God, to be heard? For, “it is He who has set aright the round world, that it cannot be moved.” I show unto you the round world built: bring your present, and come into the courts of the Lord. You have no presents: and on that account you are not willing to enter. What is this? If God were to appoint unto you a bull, goat, or ram, for a present, you would find one to bring: He has appointed a humble heart, and you will not enter; for you find not this in yourself, because you are swollen with pride. “He has set aright the round world, that it cannot be moved: and He shall judge the people righteously.” Then shall they mourn, who now refuse to love righteousness. — Exposition on Psalms 96

Justin Martyr: And from the ninety-fifth (ninety-sixth) Psalm they have taken away this short saying of the words of David: “From the wood.” For when the passage said, “Tell ye among the nations, the Lord hath reigned from the wood,” they have left, “Tell ye among the nations, the Lord hath reigned.” Now no one of your people has ever been said to have reigned as God and Lord among the nations, with the exception of Him only who was crucified, of whom also the Holy Spirit affirms in the same Psalm that He was raised again, and freed from [the grave], declaring that there is none like Him among the gods of the nations: for they are idols of demons. — Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter LXXIII

Tertullian: Come now, when you read in the words of David that “the Lord reigns from the tree,” I want to know what you understand by it. Perhaps you think some wooden king of the Jews is meant—and not Christ, who overcame death by his suffering on the cross and thence reigned! Now, although death reigned from Adam even to Christ, why may not Christ be said to have reigned from the tree, from his having shut up the kingdom of death by dying on the tree of his cross? Likewise Isaiah also says, “For unto us a child is born.” But what is there unusual in this, unless he speaks of the Son of God? “To us is given he whose government is on his shoulder.” Now, what king is there who bears the ensign of his dominion on his shoulder, and not rather upon his head as a diadem or in his hand as a scepter, or else as a mark in some royal apparel? But the one new King of the new ages, Jesus Christ, carried on his shoulder both the power and the excellence of his new glory, even his cross; so that, according to our former prophecy, he might thenceforth reign from the tree as Lord. — AGAINST MARCION 3.19

Psalms 96:11

Augustine of Hippo: “Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad” [Psalms 96:11]. Let the heavens, which declare the glory of God, rejoice; let the heavens rejoice, which the Lord made; let the earth be glad, which the heavens rain upon. For the heavens are the preachers, the earth the listeners. “Let the sea be stirred up, and the fullness thereof.” What sea? The world. The sea has been stirred up, and the fullness thereof: the whole world was roused up against the Church, while it was being extended and built over all the earth. Concerning this stirring up, you have heard in the Gospel, “They shall deliver you up to councils.” [Mark 13:9] The sea was stirred up: but how should the sea ever conquer Him who made it? — Exposition on Psalms 96

Hippolytus of Rome: “Let the Sea Roar (Be Moved), and the Fulness Thereof.” By these words it is signified that the preaching of the Gospel will be spread abroad over the seas and the islands in the ocean, and among the people dwelling therein, who are here called “the fulness thereof.” And that word has been made good. For churches of Christ fill all the islands, and are being multiplied every day, and the teaching of the Word of salvation is gaining accessions. — Fragments from Commentaries on Various Books of Scripture - On the Words in Psalm XCVI. 11

John Damascene: Furthermore, let no one maintain that the heavens or the heavenly bodies are animate, for they are inanimate and without feeling. So, even though sacred Scripture says, “Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad,” it is really calling on the angels in heaven and the people on earth to rejoice. Of course, Scripture can personify inanimate things and talk about them as if they were alive, as for example, “The sea saw and fled; Jordan was turned back,” and, “What ailed you, O sea, that you did flee? and you, O Jordan, that you were turned back?” and again, “Mountains and hills are asked the reason for their skipping.” In just the same way it is customary for us to say that “the city was gathered together,” not intending to mean the houses but the occupants of the houses. Still again, “the heavens show forth the glory of God” not by speaking in voice audible to sensible ears but by manifesting to us through their own greatness the power of the Creator, and when we make comments about their beauty, we give glory to their Maker as the best of all artificers. — ORTHODOX FAITH 2:6

Psalms 96:12

Augustine of Hippo: “The plains shall be joyful, and all things that are in them” [Psalms 96:12]. All the meek, all the gentle, all the righteous, are the “plains” of God. “Then shall all the trees of the woods rejoice.” The trees of the woods are the heathen. Why do they rejoice? Because they were cut off from the wild olive, and engraffed into the good olive. [Romans 11:17] “Then shall all the trees of the woods rejoice:” because huge cedars and cypresses have been cut down, and undecaying timbers have been bought for the building of the house. They were trees of the woods; but before they were sent to the building: they were trees of the woods, but before they produced the olive. — Exposition on Psalms 96

Gregory the Dialogist: When the Lord invites certain ones from villages and streets to the supper, He clearly designates that people who had known how to keep the law under civilized society; but when He commands His guests to be gathered from highways and hedges, He doubtless seeks to gather a rustic people, that is, the Gentiles, of whose signification it is said through the Psalmist: “Then shall all the trees of the forest rejoice before the face of the Lord, because He comes.” For the trees of the forest are called the Gentiles, because in their unbelief they were always twisted and unfruitful. Those therefore who were converted from that rustic way of life came to the Lord’s supper as if from hedges. — Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 36