I. (93:1–2) The Lord Reigns, So God’s Throne Is Stable. The Lord “reigns” (v. 1), that is, he is King. Because his “throne is established” (v. 2) and secure (“the world is established”; v. 1), that is, it is a stable and reliable place to live. The security of God’s throne is here traced to his awesome and majestic power (he “is robed; he has put on strength as a belt”) and his eternality (he is “from everlasting”).

These verses share ideas found elsewhere. For example, for God’s eternity cf. 90:2. For God’s kingship cf. Section Overview and Outline. For God’s majestic garments see cf. 104:1–2.

Psalm 93:1 says, “the world . . . shall never be moved” (cf. 96:10; 104:5). At one time these passages were taken to support the picture of the universe in which the earth is stationary and everything revolves around it. However, the verse does not imply this, for the term translated “moved” simply implies some kind of instability, and “never be moved” points to God-given security. In other words, the psalmist is not concerned with questions about the kind of motion that physics studies. The expression means that the world’s ongoing order (and the moral principles underlying that order) are faithful and sure, guaranteed by God’s own faithfulness.607

II. (93:3–4) The Lord Is Mightier Than the Raging Sea. The next section portrays what to an Israelite is the most vivid emblem of uncontrollable power, the raging sea (“the floods,” “many waters,” and “the waves of the sea”), assuring its singers that the Lord is even mightier than that.

Both verses use a kind of three-line “building parallelism,” in which each successive line adds to or clarifies the one before it (cf. 92:9). For example, 93:3a has “The floods have lifted up” and then verse 3b explains what they have lifted up (“their voice”), and verse 3c adds the more picturesque “roaring.” Verse 4a carries on from this, with the “thunders” being the thunderous voices of verse 3; verse 4b specifies that these are the waves. From this description a congregation can imagine a rough sea, with wave after wave crashing to the shore, forbidding a landlubber from venturing into the surf. Yet the Lord nevertheless is “on high,” reigning in supreme might and benevolently active love (cf. 7:7; 18:16; 68:16; 71:19; 92:8; 102:19; 144:7).

It would be a mistake, however, to suppose that the psalm presents these mighty waters as in any way opposing God. Other peoples did describe their deities’ reigns through the image of battle, either with other deities or with fundamental and chaotic forces in the world (such as the sea), but in the Bible the entire creation is subject to the will of the Creator and expressive of his goodness and power.608

III. (93:5) God’s Decrees Are Trustworthy. God’s “decrees are very trustworthy,” and “holiness befits [his] house,” for the moral order of the universe reflects his own character and is therefore stable and reliable. The “decrees,” the laws given to Israel (often rendered “testimonies”; Deut. 4:45; 6:17, 20; Pss. 25:10; 78:56; 99:7; 119:2, etc.; 132:12), are based on this stable moral order. Israel’s calling is to be God’s renewed humanity after the fall of Adam and Eve, and thus it is a fixed point that only those who constantly pursue holiness will constantly enjoy God.

Not only does Israel enjoy this calling, but it has also received the Lord’s “house”—the place that is made holy by its consecration to the God who is infinitely pure and that makes the faithful worshipers holy by administering both forgiveness of their sins and instruction in the decrees.

The trustworthiness of the decrees, the holiness of the house, and the benevolence of God to humanity last “forevermore” (or “to length of days”; cf. 21:4; 23:6; 91:16) to match the enduring reign of God, who is “from everlasting” (93:2).