Psalms — Chapter 100

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1A Psalm of thanksgiving. Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth.

2Serve the LORD with gladness; come into His presence with joyful songs.

3Know that the LORD is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.

4Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and bless His name.

5For the LORD is good, and His loving devotion endures forever; His faithfulness continues to all generations.

1Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.

2Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

3Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

4Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

5For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

1Make a joyful noise unto Jehovah, all ye lands.

2Serve Jehovah with gladness: Come before his presence with singing.

3Know ye that Jehovah, he is God: It is he that hath made us, and we are his; We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

4Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, And into his courts with praise: Give thanks unto him, and bless his name.

5For Jehovah is good; his lovingkindness [endureth] for ever, And his faithfulness unto all generations. Psalm 101 A Psalm of David.

1A thanksgiving psalm. Shout out praises to the Lord, all the earth!

2Worship the Lord with joy. Enter his presence with joyful singing.

3Acknowledge that the Lord is God. He made us and we belong to him, we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

4Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give him thanks. Praise his name.

5For the Lord is good. His loyal love endures, and he is faithful through all generations.

1Shout for joy to Yahweh, all you lands!

2Serve Yahweh with gladness. Come before his presence with singing.

3Know that Yahweh, he is God. It is he who has made us, and we are his. We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

4Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, and bless his name.

5For Yahweh is good. His loving kindness endures forever, his faithfulness to all generations.

Summary
Authorship & Background
Commentary
Videos
Articles
Reflection

Summary

A brief psalm of thanksgiving calling all the earth to worship the LORD with joyful singing and gladness (vv. 1-2). It grounds that praise in the truth that the LORD is God, the one who made his people, who belong to him as the sheep of his pasture (v. 3), and invites entry into his gates and courts with thanksgiving and praise (v. 4). It closes by affirming that the LORD is good, his mercy is everlasting, and his faithfulness endures through every generation (v. 5).

Authorship & Background

Author: Multiple authors — primarily David (73 psalms attributed), plus Asaph (12), Sons of Korah (11), Solomon (2), Moses (1), Heman (1), Ethan (1), and anonymous. The Psalter was compiled over approximately 1000 years and served as Israel's hymnal and prayer book. The book is divided into five 'books' (1-41, 42-72, 73-89, 90-106, 107-150), paralleling the five books of Moses.
Classification: Hymn of Praise / Thanksgiving Psalm
Attributed Author: Anonymous (superscription: "A Psalm of praise/ thanksgiving")
Key Themes: Joyful worship, serving God with gladness, knowing God as Creator and Shepherd, entering His presence with thanksgiving, God's eternal goodness, mercy, and faithfulness
Historical Context: Psalm 100 is one of the most beloved and frequently recited psalms in all of Scripture. Only 5 verses, yet it contains the fullness of worship theology. The superscription identifies it as "A Psalm for thanksgiving" (todah) — likely used when bringing a todah (thank offering) to the temple. It serves as the climactic conclusion to the enthronement psalm series (93-100), summarizing the appropriate response to God's kingship: joyful service, knowing Him rightly, entering His presence, and acknowledging His character. The Jubilate Deo (Latin translation of v.1) has been set to music thousands of times and used in Christian liturgy for two millennia. This is the psalm that captures the heartbeat of worship in five perfect verses.
Serve the LORD with Gladness (vv.1-2): Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Five verses, and it is the best known psalm of praise in the psalter, standing behind All People That on Earth Do Dwell. The superscription calls it a psalm of praise, or of thanksgiving, which in temple use meant it accompanied an offering. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Service and gladness are put in the same clause, so the psalm does not treat duty and pleasure as rivals.
Know Ye That the LORD He Is God (v.3): Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. The middle clause rests on a textual choice. Two Hebrew readings differ by one letter and sound identical, one giving not we ourselves and the other giving and we are his, and the margins of the old English Bibles record both. KJV took the first. Either way the verse denies self-origin and asserts belonging; the second reading simply says it positively.
Enter into His Gates with Thanksgiving (v.4): Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. The geography is the temple's, gates then courts, so the verse describes a movement inward rather than a state of mind. Thanksgiving is named as the thing carried in, which is what an offering psalm would say.
His Mercy Is Everlasting (v.5): For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations. The last verse supplies the reason for the four commands before it, and all three grounds are about durability rather than intensity. That is the psalm's quiet argument: praise is owed not because God is impressive but because he does not run out.

Commentary

  • Enduring Word (David Guzik): enduringword.com Verse-by-verse commentary on this chapter, written for the everyday reader and freely available online.
  • Jamieson-Fausset-Brown (1871): blueletterbible.org A critical and explanatory commentary on the whole Bible, more concise than Matthew Henry and closer to the Hebrew and Greek, with attention to historical and geographical detail. Public domain.
  • Matthew Henry's Exposition (1710): blueletterbible.org A devotional verse-by-verse commentary in the Puritan tradition, still among the most widely read three centuries on. Public domain.

Videos

Psalm 100 | Enter His Gates | Bible Study
Spoken Gospel

Psalm 100 - A Psalm of Thanksgiving for All Lands
David Guzik

Articles

  • GotQuestions.org: gotquestions.org On the whole book: an overview of Psalms -- who wrote it, when, why, and how it fits the rest of Scripture.

Links open on the publisher's own site. Nothing here is reproduced on this page.

Reflection

  • Serving God With Gladness (v.2) — Worship here is tied directly to gladness, not obligation or duty. Does your service to God feel joyful, or has it become a burden you're just carrying?
  • Knowing Who Made You (v.3) — The psalm anchors identity in the fact that God made His people and they belong to Him as His own. Where do you look for identity when you forget that you are God's, not your own?
  • Entering With Thanksgiving First (v.4) — The pattern given is to come into God's presence with gratitude before anything else. Do you tend to lead with complaints in prayer, or with thanks?
  • A Goodness That Never Changes (v.5) — God's goodness, steadfast love, and faithfulness are described as constant across every generation. What circumstance in your life makes it hard to believe God's goodness applies to you right now?