Introduction to Psalm 24
Text of Psalm 24: 'the earth is the Lord's' and the ascent to the holy mountain
Ps 24 opens with the most universally cosmological declaration in the Psalter: le-YHWH ha-aretz u-melo'ah tevel ve-yoshvei vah — «The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell in it» (Ps 24:1). The verse grounds divine lordship over all creation, even before speaking of Israel. Paul cites this verse in 1 Cor 10:26 as the foundation of Christian freedom: everything sold in the market may be eaten because tou Kyriou he ge kai to pleroma autes.
The motivation for this lordship is in vv. 1-2: ki hu al-yammim yesadah ve-al-neharot yekhoneneha — «for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers» (Ps 24:2). The image of the earth founded upon the seas evokes the biblical cosmology of the primordial chaos (Gen 1:2, tehom) subdued by the creative word. Ps 24 thus places divine lordship within the framework of creation itself: the God who brought order to chaos is the legitimate owner of all.
| Verse (MT) | Key Hebrew term | Theological meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Ps 24:1 | le-YHWH ha-aretz (לַיהוָה הָאָרֶץ) | The earth is the Lord's |
| Ps 24:3 | mi ya'aleh be-har YHWH (מִי יַעֲלֶה בְהַר יְהוָה) | Who shall ascend the mountain of the Lord? |
| Ps 24:4 | neqi khappayim u-var levav (נְקִי כַפַּיִם וּבַר לֵבָב) | Clean hands and a pure heart |
| Ps 24:7 | se'u she'arim rasheikhem (שְׂאוּ שְׁעָרִים רָאשֵׁיכֶם) | Lift up your heads, O gates |
| Ps 24:8 | melekh ha-kavod (מֶלֶךְ הַכָּבוֹד) | The King of glory |
Commentary on Psalm 24: 'who shall ascend the mountain of the Lord' and the conditions of access
Verses 3-6 form a Torah of entrance (entrance liturgy), a classic literary genre that fixes the ethical conditions for accessing the sanctuary. The question mi ya'aleh be-har YHWH u-mi yaqum bi-meqom qodsho — «who shall ascend the mountain of the Lord, and who shall stand in his holy place?» (Ps 24:3) — receives its answer in four parallel lines:
- neqi khappayim — clean hands (does not shed innocent blood)
- u-var levav — a pure heart (not inwardly divided)
- asher lo nasa la-shav nafsho — does not lift up the soul to what is false (no idolater)
- ve-lo nishba le-mirmah — does not swear deceitfully
The four conditions constitute a reduced moral decalogue, parallel to Ps 15 (the other entrance Torah of the Psalter). Mishnah Tamid 7:4 establishes that Ps 24 was sung in the Temple on the first day of the week (the Sunday of the Hebrew calendar), as part of the weekly Levitical psalter. This Tannaitic attestation confirms the processional and cultic character of the psalm, originally linked to the ascent to the Temple of Jerusalem.
Explanation of Psalm 24: 'who is this King of glory?'
The final part of the psalm (vv. 7-10) is the most dramatic and theatrical section of the Psalter: a liturgical dialogue between two choirs. The first choir calls out: se'u she'arim rasheikhem ve-hinnase'u pitchei olam ve-yavo melekh ha-kavod — «lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in!» (Ps 24:7). The second choir responds: mi zeh melekh ha-kavod — «who is this King of glory?». The first choir replies: YHWH izzuz ve-gibbor YHWH gibbor milchamah — «YHWH, strong and mighty, YHWH, mighty in battle».
The dialogue repeats with a variant: the second time the response is YHWH tzeva'ot hu melekh ha-kavod selah — «YHWH of hosts, he is the King of glory, selah» (Ps 24:10). The term YHWH tzeva'ot (Lord of hosts) is the cultic title of the Temple of Jerusalem, particularly linked to the ark of the covenant (1 Sam 4:4). The Jewish and Christian exegetical tradition has read this psalm as the liturgy of the entry of the ark, originally at the time of David (2 Sam 6) and projected eschatologically onto the coming of the Messiah.