Psalm 95:2

Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(2) Come before.—Literally, go to meet. It is the word rendered “prevent” in Psalm 18:5, where see Note.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

95:1-7 Whenever we come into God's presence, we must come with thanksgiving. The Lord is to be praised; we do not want matter, it were well if we did not want a heart. How great is that God, whose the whole earth is, and the fulness thereof; who directs and disposes of all!, The Lord Jesus, whom we are here taught to praise, is a great God; the mighty God is one of his titles, and God over all, blessed for evermore. To him all power is given, both in heaven and earth. He is our God, and we should praise him. He is our Saviour, and the Author of our blessedness. The gospel church is his flock, Christ is the great and good Shepherd of believers; he sought them when lost, and brought them to his fold.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Let us come before his presence - Margin, as in Hebrew, "prevent his face." The word in Hebrew means literally to come before; to anticipate. It is the word which is commonly rendered "prevent." See Job 3:12, note; Psalm 17:13, note; Psalm 59:10, note; 1 Thessalonians 4:15, note. Here it means to come before, in the sense of "in front of." Let us stand before his face; that is, in his very presence.

With thanksgiving - Expressing our thanks.

And make a joyful noise unto him - The same word which occurs in Psalm 95:1.

With psalms - Songs of praise.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2. come … presence—literally, "approach," or, meet Him (Ps 17:13).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

His presence; which he will then afford us in a singular manner, in his Son the Messiah, in and by whom he will be visibly present with the sons of men.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving,.... Come with the sacrifice of praise, there being no other in the days of the Messiah, all ceremonial sacrifices being put an end to when his sacrifice was offered up; so Arama observes, that the offering of thanksgiving shall remain, or be left in the days of the Messiah; come with this to Christ as a priest, to offer it by him to God his Father, to whom it is acceptable through him, and with this to himself for the great salvation he has wrought out: "to come before his presence", or "face" (b), supposes his being come in the flesh, his being God manifest in it, and also as clear and free from the veil of types and shadows; these all being gone now he is come, and to be beheld with open face; and likewise his having done his work as a Saviour, and now upon his throne as a King; into whose presence chamber saints are admitted to make their acknowledgments to him, and profess their allegiance and subjection to him, and their gratitude for favours received. It signifies an attendance on him in his house and ordinances, where he shows his face, and grants his presence; and intends not merely bodily exercise, or a presentation of our bodies only to him, but a drawing nigh to him with true hearts, and serving him in a spiritual manner:

and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms; with a melodious voice, and grace in the heart, with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; this belonging to Gospel times shows that singing of psalms vocally in a musical way is an ordinance of Christ, to be performed to him under the Gospel dispensation, Ephesians 5:19.

(b) "faciem ejus", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version, &c.

Geneva Study Bible

Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

2. Let us present ourselves before his face with thanksgiving,

Let us shout unto him with psalms.

Let us present ourselves before Him in His Temple, bringing with us the sacrifice of thanksgiving. Cp. Micah 6:6; Psalm 50:14; Psalm 50:23.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 2. - Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving. Our first duty, when we come before God's presence, is to thank him (see the Exhortation in the Order for Daily Prayer). And make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. A "psalm" is properly a "song of praise" - the natural concomitant of thanksgiving. Psalm 95:2

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Jahve is called the Rock of our salvation (as in Psalm 89:27, cf. Psalm 94:22) as being its firm and sure ground. Visiting the house of God, one comes before God's face; קדּם פּני, praeoccupare faciem, is equivalent to visere (visitare). תּודה is not confessio peccati, but laudis. The Beth before תודה is the Beth of accompaniment, as in Micah 6:6; that before זמרות (according to 2 Samuel 23:1 a name for psalms, whilst מזמר can only be used as a technical expression) is the Beth of the medium.