The psalm opens with a command to the people to Sing aloud and shout for joy to God; the two verbs are used synonymously (see 20.5 and comments on “shout”). Our strength means “our defender” or “our protector”; for God of Jacob see 20.1 and comments. The two noun phrases, God our strength and God of Jacob may have to be recast in some languages as verb phrases; for example, “to God who defends us from our enemies” and “to God whom the descendants of Jacob worship” or “to God whom the people of Israel worship.”

The music (verse 2) is both vocal and instrumental. Raise a song may be vocal music (see Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “Sing to the sound of the tambourine”), but the Hebrew verb may mean to start the instrumental music that accompanied the singing. New International Version has “Begin the music.” According to some, “tambourines” (Good News Translation; Revised Standard Version timbrel; see 68.25 and comment) were not allowed to be played inside the Temple; if this is so, the music was played as the people approached the Temple. For lyre and harp see comments on 33.2. Revised Standard Version the sweet lyre is an odd phrase in English; it is the music that has the sweet quality. Something like “melodious” or “tuneful” would be better, or else Good News Translation‘s restructuring is useful.

For trumpet see 47.5 and comments. It should be noted that here the trumpet is not being used to play a tune, but to give the signal for the festival to begin. Blow the trumpet … on our feast day (Good News Translation “Blow the trumpet for the festival”) means to blow the trumpet to begin the festival, and in many languages the expression will have to be rendered in some such manner.

The new moon and the full moon probably indicate the first and the fifteenth days of the lunar month. The Festival of Shelters (also known as Sukkoth) began on the 15th of Tishri, the seventh month of the Jewish calendar; in later times there was a blowing of trumpets on the first day of this month (see Num 29.1). Most commentators believe that the Festival of Shelters (our feast day) is the one referred to here; some believe it was Passover. Many Hebrew manuscripts (also Syriac and Targum) have the plural “our festivals.”

Many commentators take verse 1 to be directed to the people, verse 2 to the Levites, and verse 3 to the priests (see a similar scheme in 150.3-5).

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on the Book of Psalms. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1991. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .