Some psalms must be read at certain times. For example, Psalm 92 is read during the morning service on Friday, which is why it received the nickname “pre-Sabbath.” This chant is dedicated to the Lord, or more precisely, to His reign on earth. This is an important event in the life of Jews and Christians.
Regarding authorship, it is almost impossible to find clear answers here. In the original text in Hebrew, it was not possible to determine the author for certain; the prayer is considered anonymous. But if you study the Latin version, there are certain hints about the involvement of King David.
Text of prayer Psalm 92
The song is performed in both Church Slavonic and Russian. In the first case, the prayer is read in the temple, during the service. At home, you are allowed to use a version of the chant adapted to the Russian language.
In Church Slavonic with accents
In Russian
Why do they read Psalm 93?
The Psalter is a collection of miraculous chants that, at certain periods of a person’s life, can save him from imminent disaster. Psalm 92 is in this category. The psalmist is confident that those who read this prayer will fall under the protection of the Lord. There is no force in the world that is stronger than Him.
The all-powerful and merciful God is always on the side of the righteous. This is one of the reasons why the psalm is popular among believers who need help.
Traditionally, Psalm 92 was a prayer for sailors. The process of applying protection was as follows: they sprinkled holy water on the ship and read a prayer. Such protection did not help godless people, but those who sincerely believe in God did not care about the stormy elements. The sailors returned home safe and sound. Their ships were always filled with expensive goods if they were merchants.
We read the Psalter. Psalm 92
Audio |
Conversation with Archpriest Alexy Ladygin about the Psalter.
Dear brothers and sisters, we continue to study the Psalter and today we’ll talk about the 92nd Psalm, which has the prescriptive message: “on the day before the Sabbath, when the earth was populated, the songs of praise were to David, 92.” This prophecy was composed by the psalmist David in praise of Christ. The pre-Sabbath day is of great importance in the days of creation - on it the Lord created man, and man began to populate the earth. Therefore, it is no coincidence that on the day before the Sabbath the Psalmist prophesies that the Lord will suffer, there will be a new land that Christians will populate, and everything will pass into eternity. The Lord suffered on Friday. And the Lord, by His death, abolished human death. The deepest spiritual meaning is revealed to us, because the Psalmist has been prophesying for many years about Christ, about the path made by the Lord, and the Providence that the Lord has invested in the salvation of the entire human race. “The Lord reigned, and was clothed with beauty; the Lord was clothed with strength, and girded: for He established the world, which cannot move.” Where is the Lord reigning? The Lord is the King of glory, He reigned on earth, instead of the kingdom that existed before His Coming - the kingdom of Satan, for evil flourished on earth, and there was no truth on it, there were completely wild relations between people. This led to the earth ending its existence. And there had to be a new life, a new kingdom, serious changes had to happen. And so the Lord came and reigned. His accession came after He became incarnate from the Most Holy Theotokos.
“The Lord clothed himself with strength and girded himself.” And when did He put on strength and girdle? When the Holy Spirit began to act on earth, when the Church of Christ was founded, when the Lord was Risen, then He girded, that is, He gave man the strength to overcome sin and iniquity that were destroying the earth. “For establish the universe, which cannot move” - the Lord establishes this world. The earth really ceased to exist due to the lawlessness that reigned on it. And today she lives because there is still holiness and righteousness, there is still a person’s desire to fight sin, to overcome passions. This is probably why the Lord still gives the opportunity for life to live on earth. But when holiness ceases, when the height of spiritual life leaves this earth, then the earth will cease to exist. When the Lord reigned, He gave a new affirmation to the earth, gave new life, He established life on earth by His Coming, for the earth was renewed, all nature and human nature were renewed, because man began to be born of water and the Spirit in a new kingdom and for a new kingdom .
“Thy throne is ready from thence: from everlasting art thou art.” The Throne of God, of course, is ready - it was ready even when the Lord was just creating man, that is, when God had the strongest plan for man. He knew that sooner or later man would depart from Him, that he would serve evil more than his Lord. The first divisions began already from the first times: all of humanity began to be divided into the sons of God and the sons of men. Some sought to serve God, others - to themselves and their material well-being. This is the reason for the Tower of Babel, this is why the Lord destroys human plans that are opposed to God.
The man wanted to prove to God that he could do something without God. And now a lot of things are not working out, they are being destroyed, although everything is calculated, it would seem, down to the smallest detail - we know how high-precision and high-quality rockets are created to launch satellites into the sky, but either the rocket cannot carry this satellite into orbit, or the satellite cannot can get into the right place and leaves the orbit assigned to this satellite. It would seem that everything has been done, everything has been calculated, a lot of effort has been expended, but a person is constantly shown that if you can penetrate some great secret and achieve something, then, again, only because the Lord is for you gave. And if the Lord does not give it to you, then nothing will work out: the Lord creates and foresees everything through His Providence. Therefore, He creates man special - in His image and likeness.
Why is so much invested in a person? So that it would be possible to save him, to correct what he has done over the centuries and generations. The Lord does not create man as a creation alien to Divine glory, royal dignity, but creates precisely such a person as He can subsequently perceive as His Divinity, therefore He takes upon Himself the human image, accepts human flesh, deifies it by His Ascension to Heaven. This became possible because the Lord saw the fall of man, saw that it would be necessary to help him, to show such love that would help the man get out of a difficult situation. Therefore, the Lord creates man in His image and likeness, wonderfully and very providentially. And, as far as we can see, this is the goodness of the Lord.
“You raised up the rivers, O Lord, you raised up the rivers with their voices.” By rivers we mean the grace of the Holy Spirit, which gives life to the Church, to man, and helps him to overcome trials, difficulties and sins. The voices of the rivers of the Holy Spirit are the holy apostles who preached throughout the universe.
Further, the Psalmist says: “The rivers will swell with their confusion at the sound of many waters.” Channels are called riverbeds - they receive their direction from the riverbed, and they received a certain path along which Christians will go from the holy apostles: it was they who set a certain tone for a person’s service, showed how to serve the Lord, and revealed the Teachings of Christ. And people, in all their abundance and diversity, followed the Lord precisely along the path opened by the holy apostles through the teaching that they preached. The apostles dispersed to all ends of the Universe to teach people, to reveal to them the feat of the Lord, so that the grace of the Holy Spirit would fill man. When the grace of the Holy Spirit fills a person, he can strive for holiness and overcome sinful trials.
“Wonderful are the heights of the sea: marvelous is the Lord in the high.” The wisdom that people have received is called wondrous. The depths of the sea are a huge endless body of water. After the apostolic sermon, a huge number of believers in Christ appeared, they received wisdom and the opportunity to reason about the Lord, to strive for a higher spiritual life. Here the Psalmist says that if people have received such wisdom, in what heights then does the Lord dwell?
“Your testimonies were greatly assured. Holiness befits Thy house, O Lord, throughout the length of days.” Testimonies are the testimonies of the prophets about the Coming of Christ. Indeed, the economy of our salvation was revealed - the Lord, through the prophets, reveals the great mystery and depth of the work that He did so that man could see salvation and come closer to it. “To Thy house holiness is due, O Lord, for the length of days.” Here the Psalmist speaks of the temple of God, to which holiness is due: the temple remains holy, for it is the house of the Lord. Temples are filled with certain decorations, they have only one purpose - worship is performed in them. Everything else is prohibited in the temple of God, for “to Thy house holiness is due, O Lord, for the length of days.” Purity and holiness are inherent in the temple of God. Prayer is also performed in the temple of God - a special prayer, the Divine Liturgy, the Bloodless Sacrifice is offered in the temple of God: the temple is the holiest, purest place on earth, where we can worthily offer our prayers.
But at the same time, the Lord calls us to holiness and purity, because the human body is also called the temple of God. The Apostle Paul says: Therefore glorify God both in your body and in your soul, which are God's - and we must strive in our lives for holiness, receive it and resist all sin and lawlessness.
A very small psalm, but deep, revealing to us a great secret! The Psalmist, long before the Coming of Christ to earth, prophesies about Him, speaks of the great wisdom that the Lord puts into man and into the earth, about the great Providence of the Lord. The Lord takes care that the earth does not perish, so that man can live on it for a long time and glorify God and enjoy the great beauty and peace that the Lord gave him: He always cared about man, he created him so wisely, but already at the time of creation he understood that man cannot resist that he needs help, support, and not only support, but also strong intervention in order to save a person: without Him it would be impossible to make the change, the correction that the Lord brought with His Coming through His suffering, death on the cross, Resurrection and Ascension.
The Psalmist David describes in great detail the stages of the Coming of Christ the Savior to earth: “The Lord reigns, clothed in beauty” - He is clothed in beauty and reigns through His Incarnation from the Most Holy Theotokos. Of course, the Lord gains enormous power and gives renewal to the world after His Resurrection, sends down the grace of the Holy Spirit - it revitalizes the earth, gives a person the opportunity to be transformed, filled and flourish - to become spiritually beautiful, morally beautiful. We know how the first Christians especially lived - how they shunned everything pagan (from pagan victims to customs that were strange to them), strived only for holiness, did not seek any material well-being, did not seek pleasure, although the world was filled with such opportunities. One could clearly see how the world was changing, how it was acquiring completely different relationships.
We call this world civilized because there is a place for every person here: those who are lost have the opportunity to correct themselves, those who are poor are entrusted to the care of the rich. Social programs appear, opportunities to see love from another person - the Lord commanded about this. This is starting to come true in life. The world, of course, is transformed, a person’s life and he himself rise to a higher level, and no matter what his position, he is treated, taking into account his dignity, the fact that in him there is the image and likeness of God. This is, of course, a great secret.
And one cannot help but be struck in this psalm by the profound revelation of the Psalmist, why man is created precisely in the image and likeness of God, why there is so much beautiful, amazing, wonderful in him - from his external to his internal state: the Lord makes it possible for Himself to come to Heaven. He could not come in some other form - the Lord cannot enter into something unworthy, darken or somehow desecrate His Divine essence. But He takes on a human face, He comes to earth in the form of a Man.
When a baby is born, we see how wonderful, amazing, beautiful he is - we always want to take him in our arms, hug him, press him, kiss him: there is nothing more beautiful, purer, gentler and brighter than a child on earth, we understand that this is truly God's creation. And then we see how a person develops... If he lives a virtuous life, fills his life with righteousness, then we see both beauty and purity, despite the old age that he assumes. Such a person is always pleasant to talk to, you always hear wise words from him, and you don’t want to leave him - just as the disciples could not leave the elders, being imbued with spiritual wisdom and learning from them a virtuous life.
But a child can grow into a person who will become like the enemy of the human race in his actions and in life. He will have hatred for everything that surrounds him, hate loved ones and exude evil himself. It is very difficult to communicate with such a person. And many do not want to communicate with such people; they leave them, knowing that you will get nothing but anger from them.
The Lord creates an amazing, lofty man and thereby gives Himself the opportunity to one day sacrifice His highest dignity on earth and stoop to His creation in order to elevate man to the Divine abodes, about which He will later say: “ In My Father’s house there are many mansions.” This is amazing, wonderful! This is how the Lord loved this world. And this love further turns into His suffering on the cross, into His Resurrection, He renews life. But, again, He renews life not without human participation. And the best representatives, or voices of the river of God (as He will then say: “I raised up the rivers, O Lord, raised up the rivers of His voices”) are the holy apostles, disciples of the apostles, saints of the Church of Christ, who to this day preach the word of Divine truth, filling people with the great Divine wisdom. These sermons give a person the opportunity to see the path he should follow, which will lead to the Kingdom of Heaven.
“Wonderful are the heights of the sea”: many people receive this wisdom and intelligence, raising themselves to the heights of Heaven, because this is what human life consists of - to cognize the wisdom of God, the Providence of God for man and strive to follow the path that was revealed by the apostles of Christ. And people walk in all their diversity, wondering: “Lord, how much You give us, how many wondrous things You reveal to us! And how much of this wondrous and wise thing is in You!” Who can know this? No one can know - we can only admire, wonder and thank God for His great mercy towards us.
“To Thy house shall be holiness, O Lord, throughout the length of days” - indeed, all that is holy is accomplished in the temple of God, and we preserve this place as a place of special service, as a place of purification and elevation of man to spiritual and moral heights. But at the same time, the Psalmist emphasizes our desire with you, dear brothers and sisters, to be pure and holy; each of us is prepared to be a chosen vessel for the Holy Spirit and a home in which the Lord Himself dwells, and we taste the Body and Blood of Christ.
But first, why is there a need for Confession? We cleanse ourselves, we must first become clean, so that the Lord can then enter into us and sanctify us with His presence. This is the height that man was awarded from the moment of creation, when the Lord thought about him in order to save us from our tyranny, and now He strives for us to be holy and pure, so that we are always worthy not only of a high title, but also worthy so that He Himself dwelt in us: if the Lord dwells with us here on earth, it means that He will accept us into His abodes in eternity.
Amazing psalm! And, of course, when we pray, we must always remember these words; we hear them at evening services, and when we read the Psalter, the deepest world of the economy of salvation of the entire human race opens up for us.
Recorded by Nina Kirsanova
Interpretation
Researchers cannot provide accurate information regarding the authorship of the chant. There is an assumption that it was written during the life of the prophet Isaiah. Usually the theme of the psalm is tied together with the sorrows of the Jewish people. It’s different with this psalm. There are no horrific events or complaints here.
Every verse is permeated with love and deep respect for God. For the psalmist, there is nothing better than serving the Lord - as the just judge and ruler of this world. Ordinary people just need to believe in Him and pray in His honor. Only then will they live in happiness and peace. Psalm 92 contains only 5 verses, which makes the prayer simple and memorable.
- Verse 1-2. These verses say that the Lord is the ruler not only of the earth’s firmament, but also of everything beyond it. There is a hint here that the Universe exists according to His will. He is the creator of not only the Earthrealm, but also everything that exists beyond its borders. His will is capable of transforming everything around. At the same time, the Creator is capable not only of independent creativity, but also of allowing someone to modify matter within acceptable limits. Only a person is capable of this.
- Verse 3-4. To confirm thoughts about an almighty and just God, the author recalls an event that occurred during the reign of King Josiah. At that time, Judah was at war with a dangerous enemy who could cause irreparable harm to the people of Israel. The situation in the country worsened when it became clear that the Israeli military units were weak against the enemy army. At that moment, Josiah believed in victory, relying not on the skill of the Jerusalem commanders, but on the mercy of the Lord, who can judge righteous and sinful intentions. He bet on sincere faith and ultimately won.
- Verse 5: In the final verse the author reminds us of the importance of God's laws. Happiness rests on observing them. The Jewish people who deny Divine providence will be punished for their disobedience. The truth that was given to the Israelites can make them happy or unhappy. And the Lord always keeps his promises. There is no one stronger than God, which means that no matter what the army is, no matter how many victories it wins, it cannot withstand His wrath.
Psalm 92
The entire group of psalms from 92 to 99 in the Hebrew Bible does not have an inscription of the author's name, in the Greek Bible and in the Vulgate seven consecutive psalms, starting from 92 and ending with 98, are attributed to David, but Psalm 99 and in these Bibles there are no inscriptions of the author's name It has. In all of these psalms there is no historical indication of the time they were written. But there is much in common between them, this is a grateful and laudatory tone of presentation, chanting of the greatness of God, a depiction of the expected coming of His kingdom and, hence, an appeal to people to follow and obey Him. All this points to the origin of the psalms from one era and forces us to assume the same author. Since the content of the psalms is very similar to the prophecies of Isaiah, set out in the last part (chap. 40–66) of his book (see about this in Priest Vishnyakov: The Origin of the Psalms, pp. 441–442)), writing the psalms is necessary date back to a time close to the prophet Isaiah. The psalms nowhere speak of the destruction of Jerusalem, the devastation of Judea by pagan peoples, the destruction of the temple; on the one hand, on the other hand, the writer of the psalms shows an upsurge of religious feeling, combined with faith in the coming of the kingdom of the Lord, which (faith) he preaches publicly, with the aim of instilling and instilling it in their compatriots and thereby promoting their spiritual revival; From all this, one can think that the time of writing the psalms could have been an era when there were still no signs of the imminent destruction of Judea and when an upsurge was noticed in the religious and moral life of the people, which caused and made possible the appearance of the said psalms. There was only one such era, this was the time of the reign of Josiah, during which the autograph of the Law of Moses was found and read publicly, preaching which the prophet Jeremiah went to the people, and during which the king’s intense concerns were aimed at restoring true worship and religious and moral revival people. For pious poets, this time was the most favorable for psalmody and composing hymns.
Psalm 92 in the Greek text, as well as in the Vulgate, is called pre-Sabbath, which indicates the time of its liturgical performance. The psalm now appears in Jewish prayer books as morning prayer on Friday. The further continuation of the inscription - “when the earth is inhabited” - indicating, apparently, a connection between the content of the psalm and the biblical narrative about the fifth day of the creation of the world, when the crown of creation - man, appeared - in fact has no such connection.
The Almighty and Eternal Lord is the King of the world, therefore the Universe “will not be moved” (1–2). Rivers and seas raise their waves, but they are insignificant before God (3–4). All His promises will be fulfilled and the house of God will not be broken (5).
Ps.92:1. The Lord reigns; He is clothed with majesty, the Lord is clothed with power [and] girded: therefore the universe is solid, it will not be moved.
Ps.92:2. Thy throne is established from time immemorial: Thou art from everlasting.
The Lord is portrayed as the powerful King of the Universe, which exists and is governed by His immutable laws. No one except the Lord himself can change these laws, therefore the Universe is “solid”. It cannot “move”, no limited being can make any changes on it, unless it is the will of the Lord, and since, despite His omnipotence, the Lord is eternal, then this order of the structure of the life of the world is also eternal and unchangeable (2).
Ps.92:3. The rivers lift up their voices, O Lord, the rivers lift up their waves.
Ps.92:4. But greater than the sound of many waters and the mighty waves of the sea, the Lord is mighty in the highest.
By the rise of river waves and sea waves we must understand hostile movements during the time of King Josiah and which could threaten many dangers and military clashes with them and Judah. Josiah was aware of the weakness of his military forces to repel the enemy and successfully fight him, but faith in the help of the Lord strengthened him and he wanted to instill this faith in the person of the author of the psalm to all the people when he said that the Lord is “mightier ... than the noise ... of waves,” that With Divine help, Jews have nothing to fear from numerous and powerful enemies.
Ps.92:5. Your revelations are undoubtedly true. To your house, O Lord, belongs holiness for many days to come.
If the Jews are faithful to the covenant with God, then the enemies will not be able to harm both the people themselves and the holy temple. This is because the Lord, faithful to his promises to the Jews, has, as almighty, the power to always fulfill them; the strength of the enemies is nothing before Him.
Reading rules
As part of the Psalter, the chant is read at almost every service. The Church Slavonic language is especially combined with Psalm 92. This viscous and melodic language gives the chant confidence and grandeur. This traditional option will help alleviate pain or anxiety. For believers, it is like a treat for the ears, which creates the necessary atmosphere. In this case, attention is focused on the process, worldly concerns cease to worry the mind.
Reading prayers at home is allowed in Russian. From the point of view of understanding the meaning, this option is adequate, since the person praying will be able to imagine the events in his head and enter the desired state for prayer.
Traditionally, icons and candles are used. Light a candle and focus your attention on the holy image. Stop the flow of thoughts associated with routine activities. Maintain peace of mind and relaxation.
If your desire is sincere and your motives are pure, the Lord will definitely respond to your request and become your faithful protector from troubles.
