For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.
Psalm 96:5 gives the reason Jehovah must be feared above all gods (v.4). The psalm has commanded a new song because His salvation is to be shown from day to day and His glory declared among the heathen (vv.1-3). The nations already have gods, but those gods are idols. Jehovah is altogether different. They belong to the creation and imagination of men; He made the heavens. Therefore the psalm’s call to the nations is a call to worship: not to add Jehovah to their gods, but to forsake their idols and worship the LORD alone (vv.7-9).
“For.” This word gives the reason for the command and comparison of verse 4: “For the LORD is great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods.” Why is Jehovah to be feared above them? Because they are idols and He is the Creator. Scripture does not place Jehovah at the top of a scale of competing deities. The contrast is absolute. Moses declared, “Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else” (Deuteronomy 4:39). The psalmist gives the nations a reason to forsake their gods and praise Jehovah alone.
“All the gods of the nations.” Every nation had its objects of worship, names, images, temples, priests, sacrifices, and traditions. Men divided lands among imagined gods, but Scripture gathers them all into one sentence. “All” allows no exception. However ancient the religion, impressive the temple, costly the sacrifice, numerous the worshippers, or powerful the nation, a false god does not become true by human devotion. Paul later acknowledged that “there be gods many, and lords many,” meaning those called and treated as gods by men, while immediately confessing the one true God (1 Corinthians 8:5-6). Religious plurality among nations does not prove plurality in deity.
“Are idols.” God names the gods of the nations for what they are. An idol has no true deity. Paul states the doctrine plainly: “we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one” (1 Corinthians 8:4). Men may carve an image, give it a name, tell stories about it, bow before it, fear it, and teach their children to worship it, but none of these acts gives divinity to the object. Isaiah mocks the absurdity of a man using part of a tree for fuel and making the remainder a god before which he falls down (Isaiah 44:14-17). Yet idolatry is not therefore harmless. Paul warns that the sacrifices of the Gentiles were sacrificed “to devils, and not to God” (1 Corinthians 10:20). The idol is no god, but false worship joins men to rebellion against the true God and may involve devils behind the deception.
“But.” This word turns the verse from emptiness to reality. The nations have idols, but Jehovah made the heavens. Human religion produces objects of worship; the true God produces worlds. Idols depend upon craftsmen, materials, worshippers, and traditions for their existence and honour. Jehovah depends upon nothing. Jeremiah gives the same contrast: “The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens” (Jeremiah 10:11). The false gods perish under the heavens they did not make; Jehovah remains their Maker.
“The LORD.” LORD in capitals is the King James Bible’s usual way of representing the ancient Hebrew tetragrammaton, JHVH, the name it writes out in full as JEHOVAH: “That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth” (Psalm 83:18). The Creator is Jehovah, the self-existent and living God. Psalm 96 repeatedly names Him because the issue is worship: sing unto the LORD, bless His name, declare His glory, fear Him, give unto Him glory, worship Him, and tell the nations that He reigns (vv.1-10). The heathen do not need a nameless religious feeling or another object of devotion. They need to know Jehovah. “But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation” (Jeremiah 10:10). His name separates the living God from every invention of man.
“Made the heavens.” Creation proves the immeasurable difference. The heavens that overwhelm man by their height, order, lights, and vastness are God’s workmanship. “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork” (Psalm 19:1). An idol cannot make the hand that carved it; Jehovah made the heavens above every idolater. This truth also explains the worldwide call of the psalm. The One who made the heavens is not a local god belonging to Israel alone. The earth and its nations belong under His dominion, and therefore “all the earth” owes Him the new song (v.1). Creation gives Him universal right to worship, while redemption gives His people greater matter for praise.
The New Testament shows who made the heavens. Hebrews applies a similar description in the Psalms to Jesus Christ: “And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands” (Hebrews 1:10; Psalm 102:25). The heavens that no idol made are the work of His hands, for “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:3). He was made of a woman and became a true man (Galatians 4:4), but in His Godhead He is the Maker of the heavens, not one more god among the gods of the nations. John sets Him against the idols exactly as this verse does: “And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen” (1 John 5:20-21).
Do not treat idolatry as an innocent alternative to truth. Every false god is an idol, and Jehovah alone made the heavens. Test every object of trust, worship, prayer, fear, and religious devotion by this verse. Turn from vanities to the living God, and give the Creator the glory that belongs to Him alone. “O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker” (Psalm 95:6). Let no idol have the heart, lips, fear, or worship that belong to Jehovah.
For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.
Psalm 96:5 gives the reason Jehovah must be feared above all gods (v.4). The psalm has commanded a new song because His salvation is to be shown from day to day and His glory declared among the heathen (vv.1-3). The nations already have gods, but those gods are idols. Jehovah is altogether different. They belong to the creation and imagination of men; He made the heavens. Therefore the psalm’s call to the nations is a call to worship: not to add Jehovah to their gods, but to forsake their idols and worship the LORD alone (vv.7-9).
“For.” This word gives the reason for the command and comparison of verse 4: “For the LORD is great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods.” Why is Jehovah to be feared above them? Because they are idols and He is the Creator. Scripture does not place Jehovah at the top of a scale of competing deities. The contrast is absolute. Moses declared, “Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else” (Deuteronomy 4:39). The psalmist gives the nations a reason to forsake their gods and praise Jehovah alone.
“All the gods of the nations.” Every nation had its objects of worship, names, images, temples, priests, sacrifices, and traditions. Men divided lands among imagined gods, but Scripture gathers them all into one sentence. “All” allows no exception. However ancient the religion, impressive the temple, costly the sacrifice, numerous the worshippers, or powerful the nation, a false god does not become true by human devotion. Paul later acknowledged that “there be gods many, and lords many,” meaning those called and treated as gods by men, while immediately confessing the one true God (1 Corinthians 8:5-6). Religious plurality among nations does not prove plurality in deity.
“Are idols.” God names the gods of the nations for what they are. An idol has no true deity. Paul states the doctrine plainly: “we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one” (1 Corinthians 8:4). Men may carve an image, give it a name, tell stories about it, bow before it, fear it, and teach their children to worship it, but none of these acts gives divinity to the object. Isaiah mocks the absurdity of a man using part of a tree for fuel and making the remainder a god before which he falls down (Isaiah 44:14-17). Yet idolatry is not therefore harmless. Paul warns that the sacrifices of the Gentiles were sacrificed “to devils, and not to God” (1 Corinthians 10:20). The idol is no god, but false worship joins men to rebellion against the true God and may involve devils behind the deception.
“But.” This word turns the verse from emptiness to reality. The nations have idols, but Jehovah made the heavens. Human religion produces objects of worship; the true God produces worlds. Idols depend upon craftsmen, materials, worshippers, and traditions for their existence and honour. Jehovah depends upon nothing. Jeremiah gives the same contrast: “The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens” (Jeremiah 10:11). The false gods perish under the heavens they did not make; Jehovah remains their Maker.
“The LORD.” LORD in capitals is the King James Bible’s usual way of representing the ancient Hebrew tetragrammaton, JHVH, the name it writes out in full as JEHOVAH: “That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth” (Psalm 83:18). The Creator is Jehovah, the self-existent and living God. Psalm 96 repeatedly names Him because the issue is worship: sing unto the LORD, bless His name, declare His glory, fear Him, give unto Him glory, worship Him, and tell the nations that He reigns (vv.1-10). The heathen do not need a nameless religious feeling or another object of devotion. They need to know Jehovah. “But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation” (Jeremiah 10:10). His name separates the living God from every invention of man.
“Made the heavens.” Creation proves the immeasurable difference. The heavens that overwhelm man by their height, order, lights, and vastness are God’s workmanship. “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork” (Psalm 19:1). An idol cannot make the hand that carved it; Jehovah made the heavens above every idolater. This truth also explains the worldwide call of the psalm. The One who made the heavens is not a local god belonging to Israel alone. The earth and its nations belong under His dominion, and therefore “all the earth” owes Him the new song (v.1). Creation gives Him universal right to worship, while redemption gives His people greater matter for praise.
The New Testament shows who made the heavens. Hebrews applies a similar description in the Psalms to Jesus Christ: “And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands” (Hebrews 1:10; Psalm 102:25). The heavens that no idol made are the work of His hands, for “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:3). He was made of a woman and became a true man (Galatians 4:4), but in His Godhead He is the Maker of the heavens, not one more god among the gods of the nations. John sets Him against the idols exactly as this verse does: “And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen” (1 John 5:20-21).
Do not treat idolatry as an innocent alternative to truth. Every false god is an idol, and Jehovah alone made the heavens. Test every object of trust, worship, prayer, fear, and religious devotion by this verse. Turn from vanities to the living God, and give the Creator the glory that belongs to Him alone. “O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker” (Psalm 95:6). Let no idol have the heart, lips, fear, or worship that belong to Jehovah.