I. (33:1–3) Call to Sing Praise. The opening section uses plural imperatives, addressed to the fellow worshipers: “shout for joy . . . give thanks . . . make melody . . . sing . . . play skillfully.” These establish the theme—namely, that this psalm is a song that equips the faithful to celebrate aspects of the Lord’s character. Stringed instruments (“lyre” and “harp of ten strings”) and “loud shouts” accompany this exuberant song of community praise.

The terms “righteous” and “upright” in verse 1 can designate the whole people of God, viewed as his people who have received his covenant and his steadfast love. In other places these terms focus especially on the faithful, those who have embraced from their hearts the grace God offers in his covenant. Here they likely denote the whole people, since the psalm later speaks of this people as having received this distinctive privilege (v. 12). Nevertheless the psalm also reminds its singers of the importance of the heartfelt response of fearing and hoping in the Lord (v. 18).

The term “new song” (cf. 40:3; 96:1; 98:1; 144:9; 149:1; Isa. 42:10; Rev. 5:9; 14:3) need not imply a freshly composed song; instead, it may mean singing this song as a response to a fresh experience of God’s gracious working for his people.

II. (33:4–9) Reason 1: God’s Word Is Upright. The first reason for this kind of praise is God’s “word” (Ps. 33:4, 6; cf. v. 9). God’s word is “upright” (v. 4), that is, it expresses the very best of motives on God’s part; it is part of his “work” that is “done in faithfulness.” God’s word here reflects his will: his love for righteousness and justice, his showing of steadfast love (v. 5), as well as his fashioning of a pleasing creation (vv. 6–7). For this reason all creatures on earth, and especially all the various tribes of man, should honor the Lord (vv. 8–9); that this is the distinct privilege of Israel becomes the theme of the rest of the song.

Verses 6–9 echo the creation account (Genesis 1:1–2:3). In that narrative we have the repeated “and God said” (Hb. verb ʾamar), which the psalm paraphrases as “the word of the Lord” (Hb. noun dabar). In Genesis, on each occasion God “spoke” (ʾamar; Ps. 33:9), what he “commanded” produced its enduring effect. The “breath of his mouth” (ruakh; v. 6) also echoes the presence of “the Spirit of God” (Gen. 1:2; ruakh). The LXX uses the Greek word logos for God’s “word” in Psalm 33:4, 6—and this no doubt lies behind John 1:3, with the Word as the means of creation.288 The Word came more and more to be seen as a personal agent, whom John identifies as Christ himself (John 1:14).289 Psalm 33:6, then, serves as part of the pathway from Genesis 1 to John 1.

III. (33:10–12) Reason 2: God’s Will Prevails. This section stresses how the God who made the world also rules it according to his own purposes. In the creation account God’s purposes always prevail; so it is after the creation. There is no power able to oppose God successfully, because all these powers derive their being and power from him. “It is the Lord alone who did the whole work of creation. . . . It also follows from the creation account that the Lord alone rules all aspects of nature—including the weather and the fertility of animals and humans—which means that the other deities do not. This leaves all the other gods with nothing to do.”290

In view of such majesty, Psalm 33:12 stands out: God rules all humankind and deserves their love, yet there is one particular people whom he has “chosen as his heritage”—namely, Israel (for Israel as God’s inheritance cf. Deut. 4:20; 9:26, 29; 32:9). It is clear from the call of Abram (Gen. 12:1–3) that Israel was called to be God’s means by which the whole world would come to know the one true God; the prophets are eager to show that God rules the nations in order to bring about this very thing. The particular way in which the psalm portrays “the nations” and “the peoples” is suited to much of Israel’s history in the OT. The psalm assumes that they have plans and counsels that run contrary to the Lord’s—perhaps these plans included conquest of Israel (cf. Ps. 33:16–17). The irony of the biblical story, however, is that the thwarting of these plans is the avenue to the ultimate blessing of the Gentiles, namely, their eventual coming to fear the Lord (v. 8).

IV. (33:13–19) Reason 3: God’s Gaze Discerns All. The third reason for celebrating God’s greatness and goodness is that he sees everything that humans do—and even what they think. And thus nothing takes him by surprise, and he can ensure success or failure.

The Lord “sits enthroned” high over the earth, but this does not make him distant; rather, he is so great that he “observes all [the] deeds” of all humankind (“all the inhabitants of the earth”; v. 14). But he goes deeper than simply seeing their deeds; he is the one who “fashions the hearts of them all” (v. 15) and thus knows their plans and counsels (vv. 10–11). This is why a king’s “great army,” a warrior’s “great strength,” and a “war horse” are not in and of themselves the determining factor in a battle’s outcome. As much as the biblical authors honor the place of the proper means to achieve good ends, these means are fruitless without God’s blessing.291

Further, God is near to his own faithful; his “eye . . . is on those who fear him” to care for them as a people (vv. 16–17) and as individuals (v. 19). The “death” and “famine” mentioned in verse 19 are most likely the results of the Gentile invading army that seems to be the assumed situation for this psalm. All the peoples of the earth ought to “fear” the Lord (v. 8). The whole earth is full of the Lord’s steadfast love (v. 5), but the unique privilege of God’s people is that through the covenant they are able actually to fear him, with the proper ground for hoping in that steadfast love.

V. (33:20–22) Therefore We Hope in God. These reasons show why each member of God’s people who sings this, and who takes to heart the greatness and wonder of God, is enabled more and more to rest his soul on the Lord, confident that God’s plans will succeed in the earth, both for his people’s mission and for the well-being of each of the faithful. The words here (“heart . . . trust”) show that the confidence is to go down deep into the personal life of the faithful, who “hope” in the Lord’s “steadfast love” (v. 22, echoing v. 18).