Psalm 65:2

Sing ye a psalm to his name; give glory to his praise. (Psalm 65:2 DR)

In light of the future resurrection and the end in Christ to which this Psalm is composed, the Psalmist now rightly brings forth the praises due unto His name.

In the previous verse the inscription was followed by Jubilate Deo omnis terra, which is Shout with joy to God, all the earth. This idea is now expanded in the second verse in a two-fold manner, both in the type of praise to be rendered (a Psalm) and the quality and object of that praise (glory to His name).

In the Vulgate the first clause is psalmum dicite nomini ejus, or, Sing ye a psalm to His name. The term psalmum normally denotes the act of playing upon an instrument of some kind—as psallo means to pluck a string—but the word dicite renders psalmum more as the type of thing to be spoken or—in this case—to be sung.

In the Old Latin that St. Augustine uses, the text reads Psallite autem nomini ejus, which can be rendered as But play ye to His name, with the emphasis on psallite as the action by which this praise is rendered. St. Augustine sees in this playing a somewhat ambiguous expression that requires the modification of autem nomini ejus so that it is properly rendered to God, rather than oneself:

But play ye to His name. What has he said? By you playing let His name be blessed. But what it is to play? To play is also to take up an instrument which is called a psaltery, and by the striking and action of the hands to accompany voices. If therefore ye jubilate so that God may hear; play also something that men may both see and hear: but not to your own name. (St. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, 65, 3).

This clarification exists for two reasons. The first stems from the previous passage, in which the Psalmist declares that one should Shout with joy to God, all the earth. There will thus be an outward expression of this praise which will be given by the one who praises God.

The second reason flows forth from this into this present passage, for the means of this praise is the playing unto the name of God. Such playing—much like the shouting from the previous passage—will be seen in the actions one commits in this world and in the sight of men.

It is here that St. Augustine draws a clarification, for in terms of doing good deeds before men there can be a seeming incongruity in the Scriptures, which on the one hand warn against doing one’s righteousness before men (cf. Matthew 6:1), yet on the other hand specifically command good works to do be done before men (cf. Matthew 5:16):

You will say, ought I, then, to hide my works, that I do them not before men? No. But what says He? Let your works shine before men. In doubt then I shall remain. On one side You say to me, Take heed that you do not your righteousness before men: on the other side You say to me, Let your good works shine before men; what shall I keep? What do? What leave undone? A man can as well serve two masters commanding different things as one commanding different things. (St. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, 65, 3).

The Psalmist clears up the seeming incongruity in that the distinction between the two commandments lies precisely in their end. One can do good or live well or serve God for a wrong end—the serving of one’s own desires or delights—or one can have God’s glory as that end. This end then affects the quality of the works one does before men. If one does good works so as to receive the praise of men, then—as our Lord says—one will have received one’s reward. But if done for His name, then those works are not for oneself but for God’s sake:

I command not, says the Lord, different things. The end observe, for the end sing: with what end you do it, see thou. If for this reason you do it, that you may be glorified, I have forbidden it: but if for this reason, that God may be glorified, I have commanded it. Play therefore, not to your own name, but to the name of the Lord your God. Play ye, let Him be lauded: live ye well, let Him be glorified. For whence have ye that same living well? If for everlasting ye had had it, you would never have lived ill; if from yourselves ye had had it, you never would have done otherwise than have lived well. But play ye to His name. (St. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, 65, 3).

He makes an interesting point in the final portion of that quote, in that our living well is only so if God is glorified. For if we had always lived well or had it within ourselves to live well, then we wouldn’t have ever not lived well. But—as is implied—since we all have the experience of Original Sin and of actual sin, our living well for our own sake is not really a living well at all, since it for ourselves rather than for God, and thus partakes of the same ill-will of pride that caused our fall in the first place. It is only when our good works are for the sake of God and His name—flowing forth from the soul renewed in Baptism and filled with the charity of God—that they become the type of works that glorify our Father in Heaven.

It is this glory that forms the ground of the second clause of this passage, which is give glory His praise. This expands upon the thought of the first clause through the poetic parallelism, as the way in which one plays or sings to His name is now further clarified: such praise has as its end the glory of His praise. The quality of this giving of glory to God is such that it leaves nothing for the one who sings or plays to God; rather, the entirety of the will and affection is fixed upon the Lord:

Our whole attention upon the praise of God he directs, nothing for us he leaves whence we should be praised. Let us glory thence the more, and rejoice: to Him let us cleave, in Him let us be praised.

For the weak things of the world God hath chosen to confound the strong; and the mean things of the world God hath chosen, and those things which are not, as though things that are, that those things which are might be made void. And what followeth? The Apostle hath concluded, That there might not glory before God any flesh. See ye how from us He hath taken away, that He might give glory: hath taken away ours, that He might give His own; hath taken away empty, that He might give full; hath taken away insecure, that He might give solid. How much more strong and firm is our glory, because in God it is? Thou oughtest not therefore in thyself to glory; Truth hath forbidden it; but that which the Apostle saith, Truth hath commanded, He that glorieth, in God let him glory. Give therefore glory to His praise. (St. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, 65, 4).

St. Augustine notes that the emptying out of oneself and one’s glory and such for the Lord is not in the end a matter of self-hatred or any such thing, but rather is the means by which those things in us such as virtue, glory, goodness, etc., are actually brought to their fruition, because they are grounded in and have their source in God Himself, rather than in the frailty of our nature and its faculties. Thus the weak things of the world are chosen to confound the strong, demonstrating those things deemed to be strong to actually be weak, since their strength is merely of a natural rather than a supernatural character.

St. Augustine argues earlier that God chose those who were seemingly simple and weak—such as fishermen—to then allow for those deemed greater in the eyes of the world to come to faith:

But the Lord chose afterwards orators also; but they would have been proud, if He had not first chosen fishermen; He chose rich men; but they would have said that on account of their riches they had been chosen, unless at first He had chosen poor men: He chose Emperors afterwards; but better is it, that when an Emperor has come to Rome, he should lay aside his crown, and weep at the monument of a fisherman, than that a fisherman should weep at the monument of an Emperor. (St. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, 65, 4).

To sing or play to His name is thus to lay aside one’s own strength and pretensions to wisdom and power and riches and all such earthly things, to immolate one’s own desires and will—as it were—such that only God’s remains. Like the Emperor who lays his crown at the feet of the vicar of Christ, we have to lay down our crowns in whatever form they exist, so that he that glorieth, in God let him glory.

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This was a pretty simple animation. I split out the text into letters and made them the same color as the background, and then applied Shadow Studio 3 to them and animated the rotation. I then duplicated them and reversed the direction of the shadow with an expression and changed the color to make it more of a glow to get an interesting look. I finally added in some color correction and noise.

Enjoy.

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