Kol Sefer Tehillim

Psalm 66 — Part 3 Explained — Come and Hear, and I Will Tell

The full verses with a clear explanation for each verse, from the Kol Sefer Tehillim music project.

🎵 Listen to the psalm set to music

Verse 1

"To the choirmaster. A song. A psalm."

"To the choirmaster" directs the song to the one who leads the music. "A song, a psalm" presents the chapter as public praise, meant to be given to the whole gathering.

Verse 15

"I will offer to You burnt offerings of fattened animals, with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams; I will make an offering of bulls and goats. Selah"

The person brings the best and choicest he has. He does not settle for words alone, but brings from what is precious to him as a full expression of thanks. Gratitude here is not only a feeling, but a deed.

Verse 16

"Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what He has done for my soul."

Here the heart opens to others. "Come and hear" — draw near and listen. "I will tell" — I want to recount. The call is addressed to all who fear God, and the testimony is about what God did for the soul — an inner, personal deliverance that deserves to be heard.

Verse 17

"I cried to Him with my mouth, and high praise was on my tongue."

"I cried to Him with my mouth" — I called out aloud, out of distress. "High praise was on my tongue" — the praise was already ready on the tongue. The cry in trouble and the praise that follows come from the same mouth.

Verse 18

"If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened."

Here inner integrity appears. Had I hidden wrongdoing in my heart, the prayer would not have been heard. True prayer requires a clean heart, without a split between the mouth and the heart.

Verse 19

"But truly God has listened; He has attended to the voice of my prayer."

"Truly" — in certainty. God listened. "He has attended to the voice of my prayer" — He inclined His ear and gave heed. After the inner honesty comes the great certainty: the prayer was received.

Verse 20

"Blessed be God, because He has not rejected my prayer or removed His steadfast love from me."

The ending is a blessing. "He has not rejected my prayer" — He did not turn it away. "Nor removed His steadfast love from me" — He did not take His kindness away. As long as the prayer is received, the kindness also remains. This is an ending of wholeness, trust, and thanksgiving.