11 Be glad in Yahweh, and rejoice, you righteous! Shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart!
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
Be glad in Jehovah. After teaching how ready and accessible true happiness is to all the godly, David, with much reason, exhorts them to gladness. He commands them to rejoice in the Lord, as if he had said, There is nothing to prevent them from assuring themselves of God's favor, seeing he so liberally and so kindly offers to be reconciled to them. In the meantime, we may observe that this is the incomparable fruit of faith which Paul likewise commends, namely, when the consciences of the godly being quiet and cheerful, enjoy peace and spiritual joy. Wherever faith is lively, this holy rejoicing will follow. But since the world's own impiety prevents it from participating in this joy, David, therefore, addresses the righteous alone, whom he denominates the upright in heart, to teach us that the external appearance of righteousness which pleases men is of no avail in the sight of God. But how does he call those righteous, whose whole happiness consists in the free mercy of God not imputing their sins to them? I answer, that none others are received into favor but those who are dissatisfied with themselves for their sins, and repent with their whole heart; not that this repentance merits pardon, but because faith can never be separated from the spirit of regeneration. When they have begun to devote themselves to God, he accepts the upright disposition of their hearts equally as if it were pure and perfect; for faith not only reconciles a man to God, but also sanctifies whatever is imperfect in him, so that by the free grace of God, he becomes righteous who could never have obtained so great a blessing by any merit of his own.
Be glad in the Lord - Rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice that there is a God; rejoice that he is such as he is; rejoice in his favor; find your joy - your supreme joy - in him. Compare Philippians 3:1, note; Philippians 4:4, note.
Ye righteous - You who are willing to go to him and confess your sins; you who are willing to serve and obey him. See the notes at Psalm 32:6. The meaning is, that those who are disposed to confess their sins, and are willing to submit to him without being compelled by force, as the horse and the mule are, will find occasion for rejoicing. They will find a God who is worthy of their love, and they will find true happiness in him.
And shout for joy - Give expression to your joy. Let it not remain merely in the heart; but give it utterance in the language of song. If any of the dwellers on earth have occasion for the loud utterances of praise, they are those who are redeemed; whose sins are forgiven; who have the hope of heaven. If there is any occasion when the heart should be full of joy, and when the lips should give forth loud utterances of praise, it is when one pressed down with the consciousness of guilt, and overwhelmed with the apprehensions of wrath, makes confession to God, and secures the hope of heaven.
All ye that are upright in heart - That is, who are sincere in your confession of sin, and in your desires to secure the favor of God. Such have occasion for joy, for to such God will show himself merciful, as He did to the psalmist when He made confession of sin; to such God will give the tokens of his favor, and the hope of heaven, as he did to him. The experience of the psalmist, therefore, as recorded in this psalm, should be full of encouragement to all who are burdened with a sense of sin. Warned by his experience, they should not attempt to conceal their transgressions in their own bosom, but they should go at once, as he was constrained at last to go, and make full and free confession to God. So doing, they will find that God is not slow to pardon them, and to fill their hearts with peace, and their lips with praise.
Be glad - and rejoice - Let every righteous soul rejoice and glory, but let it be in the Lord. Man was made for happiness, but his happiness must be founded on holiness: and holiness, as it comes from God, must be retained by continual union with him. Probably this verse belongs to the next Psalm, and was originally its first verse.
Be glad in the LORD, and (k) rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all [ye that are] upright in heart.
(k) He shows that peace and joy of conscience in the Holy Spirit is the fruit of faith.
Be glad in the Lord,.... The Targum renders it, "in the Word of the Lord"; in Christ the essential Word; in him as the Lord their righteousness, and because of his righteousness imputed to them, by which they become righteous; and in him as their Saviour and Redeemer, and because of the salvation which he has wrought out for them; see Isaiah 61:10;
and rejoice, ye righteous; in the Lord, as before; for this is not a carnal, but spiritual joy, which is here exhorted to, the same as in Philippians 4:4; and "righteous" ones, who are excited to it, are such who are not righteous in appearance only, or in their own conceit, or by the deeds of the law, or in and of themselves; for there is none righteous this way: but who are made righteous by the obedience of Christ, and are righteousness itself in him; under a sense of which grace they live soberly, righteously, and godly; and these have great reason to rejoice and be glad;
and shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart: who have the truth of grace, and the root of the matter in them, oil in the vessels of their hearts, with their lamps; whose faith is unfeigned, whose hope is without hypocrisy, and whose love is without dissimulation; and who worship the Lord in spirit and in truth, and draw nigh to him with true hearts, and call upon him in the simplicity of them; these ought to rejoice, and even shout for joy, because of the grace that is wrought in them, and bestowed upon them, and the glory they shall be partakers of; for both grace and glory are given to these, and no good thing is withheld from them; the end of these upright souls is peace; and when they have done their work, they shall lie down and rest in their beds, and each one shall walk in his uprightness, Psalm 84:11.
The righteous and upright, or those conforming to the divine teaching for securing the divine blessing, may well rejoice with shouting.
After the doctrine of the Psalm has been unfolded in three unequal groups of verses, there follows, corresponding to the brief introduction, a still shorter close, which calls upon those whose happy state is there celebrated, to join in songs of exultant joy.
*More commentary available at chapter level.