Come let us praise the Lord with joy: let us joyfully sing to God our saviour.

“"O come, let us sing unto the Lord" (ver. 1). He calleth us to a great banquet of joy, not one of this world, but in the Lord. For if there were not in this life a wicked joy which is to be distinguished from a righteous joy, it would be enough to say, "Come, let us rejoice;" but he has briefly distinguished it. What is it to rejoice aright? To rejoice in the Lord. Thou shouldest piously joy in the Lord, if thou dost wish safely to trample upon the world. But what is the word, "Come"? Whence doth He call them to come, with whom he wisheth to rejoice in the Lord; except that, while they are afar, they may by coming draw nearer, by drawing nearer they may approach, and by approaching rejoice? But whence are they afar? Can a man be locally distant from Him who is everywhere? ...It is not by place, but by being unlike Him, that a man is afar from God. What is to be unlike Him? it meaneth, a bad life, bad habits; for if by good habits we approach God, by bad habits we recede from God. ...If therefore by unlikeness we recede from God, by likeness we approach unto God. What likeness? That after which we were created, which by sinning we had corrupted in ourselves, which we have received again through the remission of sins, which is renewed in us in the mind within, that it may be engraved a second time as if on coin, that is, the image of our God upon our soul, and that we may return to His treasures. ...”

“O come, let us sing unto the Lord,.... To Jehovah the Messiah, the Lord our righteousness; setting forth, in songs of praise, the glory of his person, the riches of his grace, and our thankfulness to him for spiritual mercies by him: Christ is to be the subject of our spiritual songs, and is the person to whose honour and glory they should be directed: in the New Testament we are instructed to sing unto the Lord, the Lord Christ, Eph 5:19, and this is what Pliny (a) tells Trajan, the Roman emperor, the Christians in his time did; they sung a hymn to Christ, as to a God: let us make a joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation; to Christ, the Rock, Co1 10:4, a Rock, for height, being higher than the saints, than the kings of the earth, than the angels in heaven, than the heavens themselves; for strength, being the mighty God, and mighty Saviour; for shelter, being the saints security from avenging justice and wrath to come: a Rock, on which the church and all believers are built, and which endures for ever; "the Rock of salvation", being the author of spiritual and eternal salvation, and the strength and security of it; not only is he strong to do it, but, being done by him, it is safe in him; wherefore shouts of joy and songs of praise are due unto him. This shows that vocal singing is meant, singing with an harmonious and musical voice; and that social singing, or singing in concert together, is intended. The Septuagint renders it, "to God our Saviour", Luk 1:47. (a) Ep. l. 10. ep. 97.”

“Himself, as David wrote it by inspiration. (Worthington) — Complutensian Septuagint, “It is without a title in Hebrew.” St. Paul (Hebrews iv. 7.) quotes it as the work of David. But this is only done incidentally, and it may have been written by the descendants of Moses, (Psalm lxxxix.; Calmet) as the apostle only says, in David, (Haydock) referring to the psalter, which the common opinion attributed to him. (Calmet) — This opinion, it must be owned, acquires hereby great authority, (Haydock) as an inspired writer could not mistake; and Calmet himself, on the epistle to the Hebrews, doubts not but as the drift of the apostle requires, he attributed this psalm to David. (Berthier, T. vi.) — It might be used in the removal of the ark (Muis) and contains an exhortation to the Jews to return to the service of God, under king Josias, (Theodoret) or after the captivity, (Calmet) or at the preaching of the gospel. (Eusebius) — The Church adopts the version of the Roman psalter in her office books, as they were corrected by St. Pius V, and this psalm was considered as a hymn at the beginning of matins, though the Vulgate is retained in other parts. (Calmet) — The variations are not material. (Haydock) — But this shews that the Church does not condemn every deviation from the Vulgate. (Bellarmine, Diss.) — Saviour. St. Jerome, “to the rock, our Jesus.” (Haydock) — He who created us, has also been our Saviour. (Worthington)”