Be thou exalted, O Lord, in thy own strength: we will sing and praise thy power.
ר֣וּמָה יְהוָ֣ה בְּעֻזֶּ֑ךָ נָשִׁ֥ירָה וּֽ֝נְזַמְּרָה גְּבוּרָתֶֽךָ׃
8 Church Fathers comment on this verse
O Lord, You whom they failed to recognize in Your humility, exalted in Your might, which they perceived as frailty. We will sing and glorify Your strength. With our hearts and actions, we will joyfully proclaim and unveil Your wondrous deeds.
Ascend, O Lord, by Your might. This reflects the plea for Your kingdom to arrive, as expressed in Matthew 6:10. It is evident that this prayer anticipates the second coming. Let us sing praises and extol Your mighty works. In that time, every righteous soul, having entered the exalted dwellings, will engage in holy worship.
God does not elevate Himself as a humbled human being, nor does He attain anything that He lacked, but instead, He manifests what is already within Him. Hence, the Prophet aptly proclaimed, “Be exalted, O Lord, by Thy power.” Your greatness is demonstrated by Your unfathomable might, which we will forever celebrate and laud, proclaiming Your marvelous deeds.
Ascend, O Lord, by Thy might. In our interpretation of the seventh Psalm, we have clarified the meaning of ascend. This phrase resonates with the verses that encourage being lifted up amidst enemies. The conclusion of the twelfth Psalm reveals: I will sing and sing. Some, including St. Cyril, relate this Psalm to David, suggesting he sang it in reference to himself. If we embrace this perspective (for it is permissible), we can understand the words differently.
The phrase, “Lord, by thy power shall the king rejoice, and in thy salvation shall he greatly rejoice,” can be seen as David addressing the Lord Christ, who is, as Paul states, the power of God, saying: “...Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.” He is also the Savior, as noted by the Evangelist: “He shall save his people.” Accordingly, we can interpret that the king rejoices in the salvation You have accomplished.
This allows for a dual interpretation of the other phrases, some referring to the Father and others to the Son. David indeed rejoiced, for even after death, he beheld the mystery of God’s incarnation. If he perceived the future with the soul's sight in his physical body, he saw it even more clearly upon death, when he shed his earthly form. The ‘desire of the heart’ signifies David's longing to witness the Savior’s incarnation, of which he only glimpsed a shadow. The ‘desire of the mouth’ denotes his aspiration to continually praise God. Indeed, he perpetually sings through the mouths of Christians, who daily chant the sacred psalms.
He pleaded for life and was granted it, for when he anticipated death from his foes, he overcame them solely through prayer. The great glory of David was Thy salvation, which came from You. He was truly honored, as from his lineage arose our Salvation, the Sovereign and glorious Christ. “Thou wilt make him glad with joy before Thy face,” meaning You will bring him joy through Thy Son; for the Son is the visible manifestation of the Father, as He affirmed, “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.”
The adversaries of God can be seen as those who despise Christ—the Jews—who are cursed and destined for the suffering that follows, with their entire lineage laid waste by the Romans, the crucifiers of the Lord. Only those who had been dispersed into foreign lands managed to escape this destruction. “Thou shalt set them as a burning furnace in the time of thy face,” referring to Thy Son as noted earlier. When Christ took on flesh and declared, “Therefore the kingdom of God is taken away from you,” these tragedies began to befall them. “Upon the remnant of them,” meaning the Hebrews who embraced You, the Son. “Thou wilt prepare,” signifying adornments—You will honor their lineage. The Hebrews experienced the honor of being the ancestors of the apostles, despite being collectively despised.
At times, this Psalm suits another of our righteous kings in addition to the previous one concerning the nations. Theodoret expresses that God elevates without being humiliated, revealing His essence rather than what He lacks. Thus it is fitting to declare: “Be exalted, O Lord, by Thy power,” for Thy majesty is displayed through unsurpassable might, which we shall perpetually sing of and glorify by recounting Thy wonders. In the end times, when they are called, their boldness shall also be granted, for when, according to Paul, the fullness of the Gentiles enters, then Israel shall be saved.
Faith and Actions To sing signifies proclaiming the words of the Lord vocally. Singing the psalms entails embodying God's commandments through righteous actions consistently. At all times, we are called to do two things: to express the glory of God through faithful praise with our lips, and to demonstrate our adherence to His commandments through our deeds.
The prophet ends the psalm with a plea, in which he reiterates that the kingdom referred to is so intertwined with the glory of God that His might is revealed through it. While God displayed His strength in the elevation of David, it was even more fully realized in the elevation of Christ, who was appointed King over us by the heavenly Father, revealing God in human form as well. This divine power, while daunting to the wicked, is a source of great comfort to us, inspiring joy, praise, and gratitude.
The strength found in Christ's humility, which led to His glorification: He willingly submitted to the death on the cross, resulting in God elevating Him (Philippians 2:8). This also references Christ's Ascension into heaven. His might is demonstrated through countless miracles, which, by the proclamation of the Holy Gospel from the apostles, are made known across the world.
For the celebration of Pentecost, the opening verse is drawn from Psalm 20 (verse 14), which forms the basis for the third antiphon of this feast: "Ascend, O Lord, by Your power; we will sing and proclaim Your strength." "Reveal, O Lord, Your triumphant might against those who oppose our salvation; subdue them under Your mighty hand: then we will joyfully proclaim Your power."
THEOSIS