Psalms 29 KJV
The Voice of the Lord
About This Psalm
God's voice in a thunderstorm - powerful, majestic, breaking cedars. Nature at its most violent reveals God at His most powerful.
1ive unto the LORD, O ye mighty, give unto the LORD glory and strength.
2 Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.
3 The voice of the LORD is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the LORD is upon many waters.
4 The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.
5 The voice of the LORD breaketh the cedars; yea, the LORD breaketh the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn.
7 The voice of the LORD divideth the flames of fire.
8 The voice of the LORD shaketh the wilderness; the LORD shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh.
9 The voice of the LORD maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forests: and in his temple doth every one speak of his glory.
10 The LORD sitteth upon the flood; yea, the LORD sitteth King for ever.
11 The LORD will give strength unto his people; the LORD will bless his people with peace.
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Did You Know?
Psalm 29 likely adapts an older Canaanite hymn to Baal, transferring storm-god attributes to Yahweh while retaining Ugaritic poetic phrasing such as the sevenfold repetition of qol YHWH.
The geographical sequence traces a thunderstorm from the Mediterranean "many waters" eastward across Lebanonโs cedars and finally to the desert of Kadesh, mapping Yahwehโs sovereignty onto the full extent of the Levant.
The closing image of Yahweh enthroned "upon the flood" reworks ancient Near Eastern combat myths by placing the victorious deity not in conflict but in serene, eternal kingship that then grants shalom to Israel.
Verse 9โs claim that the divine voice "maketh the hinds to calve" draws on ancient observations linking thunder to synchronized animal births and forest renewal through lightning-induced fires.
The psalmโs theophany deliberately echoes Sinai traditions yet replaces fire and earthquake with auditory storm imagery, shifting emphasis from visual revelation to the irresistible, creative power of divine speech alone.