Psalm 24

Following is the Hebrew text of Psalm 24:

Psalm 24 in a King James Bible

1. The earth is the LORD's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.
2. For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods.
3. Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place?
4. He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.
5. He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
6. This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.
7. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.
8. Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.
9. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.
10. Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah.

In Ashkenazi tradition, Psalm 24 is recited while the Torah scroll is being carried back to the ark on weekdays, Rosh Chodesh, and festivals.

Psalm 24 is designated as the Psalm of the Day for the first day of the week (Sunday) in both the Ashkenazi and Sephardi liturgies. It was sung by the Levites after the offering of the regular daily sacrifice (tamid).[6] This tradition continued into the diaspora, as the psalm is sung on Sundays in synagogues around the world.[7] Ashkenazi Jews also recite the psalm while the Torah scroll is carried back to the ark on weekdays, Rosh Chodesh, festivals, and during the Shabbat afternoon prayer. Both Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews recite it on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur after the evening prayer.[7] In the Siddur Avodas Yisroel, the psalm is also said after Aleinu during the evening prayer on weeknights.[8] Some congregations recite this psalm during the hakafot on Simchat Torah.[9]

Verse 1 is said by the earth in Perek Shirah. Additionally, verses 7–8 are the first call of the rooster, and verses 9–10 are the second call of the rooster, in that ancient text.[8][10]

Verse 5 is a "companion verse" for the word yissa (Hebrew: יִשָּׂא, may He turn) in the Priestly Blessing (Numbers 6:26).[8][11]

Verses 7–10 are included in the ten verses recited during the section of Malchuyot in the Mussaf Amidah on Rosh Hashanah.[12]

Psalm 24 is also recited as a prayer for financial success and to protect from a flood.[13]

Verse 1 is quoted in 1 Corinthians 10:26 of the New Testament.[14]

The dialogue of Psalm 24, verses 7–10, requesting the gates to open for the King of Glory, have been associated with the ascension of Jesus since the second century, when the Christian philosopher Justin described (in Dialog mit dem Juden Tryphon 36,4–6) a dialogue of heavenly lords who did not recognise Jesus because of his human appearance.[15] Charles Spurgeon writes, "He who, fresh from the cross and the tomb, now rides through the gates of the New Jerusalem is higher than the heavens; great and everlasting as they are, those gates of pearl are all unworthy of him before whom the heavens are not pure, and who chargeth his angels with folly. Lift up your heads, O ye gates".[16] Matthew Henry concurs, adding that the Ark being brought up to Jerusalem symbolizes Christ entering into heaven, "and the welcome given to him there".[17]

The same dialogue has also been associated with Advent.

In the pre-Tridentine Divine Office of the Catholic Church, the Psalm was said on Sundays at Prime. It was reassigned to Tuesday at Prime by Pope Pius V. In the current Divine Office promulgated in 1971 (Liturgy of the Hours), with the suppression of Prime, it was reassigned to both Tuesday Week 1 Lauds, and Sunday Week 4 Office of Readings (Matins).[18]

In the Church of England's Book of Common Prayer, this psalm is appointed to be read on the morning of the fifth day of the month,[19] as well as at Evensong on Ascension Day.[20]

The Protestant minister Georg Weissel paraphrased the last section of Psalm 24 as an Advent hymn, "Macht hoch die Tür" (Make the door high) in 1623.[21] It became Number 1 in the current Protestant hymnal Evangelisches Gesangbuch (EG),[21] and appears in most German hymnals including the Catholic Gotteslob (GL 218). Catherine Winkworth translated it as "Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates" in 1853.[22]

The title of the hymn "Come Thou Almighty King", first published in 1757,[23] is based on verse 10 of this psalm.[24]

Christoph Bernhard Verspoell wrote the 1810 hymn "Öffnet eure Tore" (Open your gates) for the Feast of the Ascension. The German text is based on the dialogue in verses 7–10, and a melody was added in a Trier hymnal of 1846.[15]

In the Free Church of Scotland's 2003 Psalter, Sing Psalms, the metrical version of Psalm 24 commences "The world and all in it are God’s, all peoples of the earth" and is set in the common metre. The recommended tunes are Nativity, Praetorius, Winchester and St. George's, Edinburgh.[25]

Heinrich Schütz set the psalm in German for choir as part of his setting of the Becker Psalter as SWV 121, "Die Erd und was sich auf ihr regt" (The Earth and what moves on it).[26] Andreas Hammerschmidt composed a six-part motet, "Machet die Tore weit" (Make the gates wide), setting verses 7–9.[27]

Verses 7–10 are set in Handel's his Messiah in the scene "Ascension" in 1742, in a scene called "Ascension".[28][29]

Henry Desmarest composed a grand motet, "Domini est terra" (unknown date).

Lili Boulanger set the entire psalm in French, La terre appartient à l’Eternel in 1916 for mixed choir, organ, brass ensemble, timpani and 2 harps.[30]