1. Shout for joy in Yahweh, O you righteous.
For the upright praise is comely.
2. Give thanks to Yahweh with a lyre.
With a harp of ten strings hymn to Him.
3. Sing to Him a new song.
Play skillfully with a loud cry,
4. Because upright is the word of Yahweh,
And all His works are in truth.
5. He loves righteousness and judgment.
The earth is full of the lovingkindness of Yahweh.
6. By the word of Yahweh the heavens were made,
And by the breath of His mouth all their host.
7. He gathers as a heap the waters of the sea.
He puts the depths into storehouses.
8. Let all the earth fear Yahweh.
Of Him let all the inhabitants of the world be afraid,
9. Because He spoke and it was.
He commanded and it stood fast.
10. Yahweh breaks the counsel of the nations.
He nullifies the plans of the peoples.
11. The counsel of Yahweh will stand fast forever,
The plans of His heart to generation after generation.
12. Blessed is the nation whose God is Yahweh,
The people he has chosen for an inheritance for Himself.
13. From the heavens Yahweh looks.
He sees all the sons of man.
14. From the place of His habitation He gazes
On all the inhabitants of the earth.
15. He forms alike their hearts.
He understands all their works.
16. The king is not saved by the greatness of a force.
A mighty man is not delivered by greatness of strength.
17. The horse is a deception for salvation.
By the greatness of his force he will not obtain escape for any.
18. Behold, the eye of Yahweh is on those who fear Him,
On those who hope for His lovingkindness,
19. To deliver their soul from death,
And to keep them alive in famine.
20. Our soul waits for Yahweh.
Our help and our shield is He,
21. Because our heart in Him will rejoice,
Because in His holy name we have trusted.
22. Let Your lovingkindness, O Yahweh, be upon us
According as we hope in You.
The most obvious way to find the Lord Jesus Christ in Psalm 33 is to compare verse 6 with John 1:3. “By the word of Yahweh the heavens were made,” and “All things were made through Him [the Word], and without Him nothing was made that was made.” The Word in John 1 is the one who was with God, was God, was in the beginning with God, and was made flesh to dwell among us. “His name is called The Word of God” (Rev. 19:13). Jesus, precisely because He is the eternal God, is the Word by whom Yahweh made the heavens. Yahweh’s work of creating the heavens was not by an impersonal Word, but by the Word who is also a person, the second person of the ineffable Trinity.
But there are other ways to see Jesus in this psalm. Verse 3 commands us to sing to Yahweh a new song. A new song is a song associated with new evidences of the Yahweh’s greatness and mercies, and such a new song is fitting also for the saints in glory. “You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals, For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood” (Rev. 5:9). They sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb: “Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are Your ways, O King of the saints! Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You along are holy. For all nations shall come and worship before You, For Your judgments have been manifested” (Rev. 15:3–4). The Lord reveals His kingship over the nations in the ascension of Jesus to His own right hand. He is the Anointed to whom Yahweh has said, “You are my Son. Today I have begotten You” (Ps. 2:7), and He receives the nations as His inheritance.
Therefore also the earth should “fear the Lord” and all the inhabitants of the world should “stand in awe of Him” (Ps. 33:8). “Every creature which is heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them praise Jesus saying, “Blessing and honor and glory and power Be to Him who sits on the throne And to the Lamb, forever and ever” (Rev. 5:13).
Furthermore, “the eye of Yahweh is on those who fear Him, On those who hope in His mercy, To deliver their soul from death” (Psalm. 33:18–19). The first martyr of the New Testament church bore witness to it. “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God! (Acts 7:56). And then, as he was dying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (Acts 7:59).
Finally, the psalm commands us to rejoice in Yahweh: “Rejoice in Yahweh, O you righteous” (v. 1). “Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready” (Rev. 19:7).
The psalm was and is being fulfilled in our Lord Jesus Christ now exalted to the right hand of the Majesty on high and carrying out all His purposes in the heavens and on earth. In it we praise Him, for He is Yahweh our God. “Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God! (Rev. 19:1).