1 Yahweh, hath become king, Let the peoples, tremble, He is enthroned on the cherubim, Let the earth, shake.
Jerome · AD 420 The Lord has reigned, let the peoples be angry. Three psalms have the same beginning: the ninety-second, the ninety-sixth, and the ninety-eighth. But although they have the same beginning in the opening verse, at the end they are different. For how does it read in the ninety-second?
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "The Lord is King, be the people angry" [Psalm 99:1]. For our Lord Jesus Christ began to reign, began to be preached, after He arose from the dead and ascended into heaven, after He had filled His disciples with the confidence of the Holy Spirit, that they should not fear death, which He had already killed in Himself.
2 Yahweh, in Zion, is great, And, high, is he over all the peoples.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "The Lord is great in Sion, and high above all people" (ver. 2). ...He whom I spoke to thee of as above the Cherubims, is great in Sion. Ask thou now, what is Sion? We know Sion to be the city of God.
3 Let them thank his Name—great and reverend, Holy, is he!
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 All these very people, over whom Thou art great in Sion, "Let them confess unto Thy Name, which is great" (ver. 3). Thy Name was little when they were enraged: it hath become great; let them now confess. In what sense do we say, that the Name of Christ was little, before it was spread abroad to so great an extent? Because His report is meant by His Name.
4 Yea, with the strength of a king—justice, he loveth,—Thou, hast established equity, Justice and righteousness in Jacob, thou, hast wrought.
Jerome · AD 420 And the king's honor loves judgment. Whoever is a sinner fears the judgment of God: for he does not want to know a judge, but a merciful one. But whoever is holy, and hears God, and glorifies him in his body, this man does not fear the judge, but loves him.
5 Exalt Yahweh our God, And bow down at his footstool, Holy, is he!
Ambrose of Milan · AD 397 And the apostles worshiped, and, therefore, they who bore the testimony of the faith received authority of faith. And the angels worshiped God, of whom it is written: "And let all his angels worship him."But they worship not only his Godhead but also his footstool, as it is written: "And worship his footstool, for it is holy." Or, if they deny that in Christ the mysteries also…
Jerome · AD 420 And adore the footstool of his feet, for it is holy. What is this footstool of the feet of Jesus, which is holy? We read in another place: 'Heaven is my throne, but the earth is the footstool of my feet.' And now it is said, Adore the footstool of his feet.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "O magnify the Lord our God" [Psalm 99:5]. Magnify Him truly, magnify Him well. Let us praise Him, let us magnify Him who has wrought the very righteousness which we have; who wrought it in us, Himself. For who but He who justified us, wrought righteousness in us?
6 Moses and Aaron, [were] among his priests, And, Samuel, [was] among them who were calling upon his Name, Who were calling upon Yahweh, and, he, used to answer them:
Jerome · AD 420 Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among those who call upon his name. Many err, and think that blessed Samuel was a priest. He was not a priest, he was a Levite. Finally, even his garment was not made as for a priest, but as for a Levite. For it is written: 'And his mother made for him,' it says, 'an ephod bad garment.' Ephod means garment, but bad means linen.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "Moses and Aaron among His priests, and Samuel among such as call upon His Name: these called upon the Lord, and He heard them" (ver. 6). "He spake unto them out of the cloudy pillar" (ver. 7). ...Of Moses it is not there stated that he was a priest. But if he was not this, what was he? Could he be anything greater than a priest?
7 In the pillar of cloud, used he to speak unto them, They kept his testimonies, and the statute he gave them.
8 O Yahweh our God! thou, answeredst them,—A pardoning GOD, thou becamest to them, Yet one bringing vengeance on their deeds.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "You heard them," he says, "O Lord our God: You were forgiving to them, O God" [Psalm 99:8]. God is not said to be forgiving toward anything but sins: when He pardons sins, then He forgives. And what had He in them to punish, so that He was forgiving in pardoning them? He was forgiving in pardoning their sins, He was also forgiving in punishing them. For what follows?
9 Exalt Yahweh our God, And bow down towards his holy mountain, For, holy, is Yahweh our God.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "O magnify the Lord our God!" (ver. 9). Again we magnify Him. He who is merciful even when He striketh, how is He to be praised, how is He to be magnified? Canst thou show this unto thy son, and cannot God? For thou art not good when thou dost caress thy son, and evil when thou strikest him.