Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Psalms 100:3 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 3. 3Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Psalm 100:3: Within “All lands invited into thankful service,” the line “Know ye that the LORD he is God” supplies one distinct parallel claim, image, address, or response.
Read It With
- Psalms 100:1–5
Read Psalms 100:3 with 100:1–5. Read alone, “Know ye that the LORD he is God” could lose the communal voice, the parallel line or movement it develops, and the psalm's outcome. The complete movement establishes: Within Psalms 100:1–5, the communal voice carries the movement “All lands invited into thankful service” as part of “All lands invited into thankful service.” Its thanksgiving-hymn form and poetic parallelism hold the petitions, images, memories, or praise together before any single line is applied.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Psalms 100:1–5 opens Psalm 100 with “Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands” and establishes the communal voice and “All lands invited into thankful service” movement before later lines develop or answer it. Within that relationship, Psalm 100:3 adds the distinct poetic line “Know ye that the LORD he is God” within “All lands invited into thankful service,” where its parallel neighbors determine emphasis and scope.
Follow the Context
- Identify the communal voice, address, and parallel lines in Psalms 100:1–5; do not make every “I”, “we,” king, enemy, or worshiper interchangeable.
- Within Psalms 100:1–5, the communal voice carries the movement “All lands invited into thankful service” as part of “All lands invited into thankful service.” Its thanksgiving-hymn form and poetic parallelism hold the petitions, images, memories, or praise together before any single line is applied.
- Joyful service and belonging cannot be coerced; shepherd and ownership language never makes people property of human institutions.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
Psalms 100:3 does not allow “Know ye that the LORD he is God” to become an independent promise, command, accusation, doctrine, or authorization. This verse adds the distinct poetic line “Know ye that the LORD he is God” within “All lands invited into thankful service,” where its parallel neighbors determine emphasis and scope. The complete movement is “All lands invited into thankful service.” Joyful service and belonging cannot be coerced; shepherd and ownership language never makes people property of human institutions.
What Remains True
Read “Know ye that the LORD he is God” as part of the communal voice in “All lands invited into thankful service.” Praise remembers concrete divine character and action, gathers many voices, and remains honest about grief rather than demanding one emotional performance. The local movement is “All lands invited into thankful service.” The unit's reviewed limit is: Joyful service and belonging cannot be coerced; shepherd and ownership language never makes people property of human institutions.
How It Can Shape Life
- Start with the line's work inside “All lands invited into thankful service”—Psalm 100:3 adds the distinct poetic line “Know ye that the LORD he is God” within “All lands invited into thankful service,” where its parallel neighbors determine emphasis and scope. Then join the praise around “Know ye that the LORD he is God” in a form your community can receive, while leaving honest space for silence, lament, and disability.
Teach It Back
Retell Psalm 100:3 as one step in Book IV. Name the movement “All lands invited into thankful service,” explain “Know ye that the LORD he is God,” keep Jewish meaning and any later reception distinguishable, give one fitting response, and reject this overreach: Joyful service and belonging cannot be coerced; shepherd and ownership language never makes people property of human institutions.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Psalms 100:1–5 — All lands invited into thankful serviceSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Psalms 100:1–5, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Psalms
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Ps.xml, OSIS 100:1–5
Open the fixed Hebrew Psalms file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible Notes: Psalms 1-150
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, current official online edition
Supports: Verse-level controls for poetic syntax, imagery, older KJV language, textual issues, headings, and alternatives in Psalms 100:1–5.
Exact location: Official NET Bible Psalm 100 HTML, translator, textual, and study notes attached to Psalms 100:1–5
Open the official NET Psalms notes ↗modern scholarly book course
Psalms course: summary, outline, background, introductory issues, theological themes, and Bible in the world
Fred Gaiser; revised by Nicholas Schaser
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, revised May 2024
Supports: Five-book, genre, poetic, historical, theological, liturgical, communal, and reception synthesis with visible limits.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Psalms course, Summary, Outline, Introductory Issues, and Theological Themes; applied to Psalms 100:1–5
Open the Enter the Bible Psalms course ↗ancient greek text translation and introduction
A New English Translation of the Septuagint: Psalms
Albert Pietersma
International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies; Oxford University Press, 2009
Supports: Ancient Greek wording, numbering, division, and superscription evidence where it materially clarifies translation or reception.
Exact location: NETS Psalms, Pietersma introduction pp. 542–543 and exact Greek translation headed Ps 100 for Psalms 100:1–5
Open NETS Psalms ↗