Psalms 93:1 Explained in Context

Selected verse

Verse 1. The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself: the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved.

King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions

Quick Meaning

Psalm 93:1: Within “The LORD reigns over roaring waters,” the line “The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty” supplies one distinct parallel claim, image, address, or response.

The LORD reigns, clothed, while floods lift their voice

This verse is one part of that explanation in Psalms 93:1–5. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.

Read It With

Psalms 93:1–5

Read Psalms 93:1 with 93:1–5. Read alone, “The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty” could lose the communal voice, the parallel line or movement it develops, and the psalm's outcome. The complete movement establishes: Within Psalms 93:1–5, the communal voice carries the movement “The LORD reigns over roaring waters” as part of “The LORD reigns over roaring waters.” Its divine-kingship-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 93:1–5 opens Psalm 93 with “The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded…” and establishes the communal voice and “The LORD reigns over roaring waters” movement before later lines develop or answer it. Within that relationship, Psalm 93:1 states or addresses a claim about divine character or action through “The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty” inside this poetic voice.

Follow the Context

Identify the communal voice, address, and parallel lines in Psalms 93:1–5; do not make every “I”, “we,” king, enemy, or worshiper interchangeable.
Within Psalms 93:1–5, the communal voice carries the movement “The LORD reigns over roaring waters” as part of “The LORD reigns over roaring waters.” Its divine-kingship-hymn form and poetic parallelism hold the petitions, images, memories, or praise together before any single line is applied.
This reading does not authorize the following misuse: Divine kingship confronts chaos imagery; it does not validate divine-right human government or authoritarian politics.

What This Verse Is Not Saying

Psalms 93:1 does not allow “The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty” to become an independent promise, command, accusation, doctrine, or authorization. This verse states or addresses a claim about divine character or action through “The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty” inside this poetic voice. The complete movement is “The LORD reigns over roaring waters.” This reading does not authorize the following misuse: Divine kingship confronts chaos imagery; it does not validate divine-right human government or authoritarian politics.

What Remains True

Read “The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty” as part of the communal voice in “The LORD reigns over roaring waters.” Creation's order, dependence, danger, abundance, and praise place human life inside accountable creaturely limits rather than at the center of everything. The local movement is “The LORD reigns over roaring waters.” The unit's reviewed limit is: Divine kingship confronts chaos imagery; it does not validate divine-right human government or authoritarian politics.

Teach It Back

Retell Psalm 93:1 as one step in Book IV. Name the movement “The LORD reigns over roaring waters,” explain “The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty,” keep Jewish meaning and any later reception distinguishable, give one fitting response, and reject this overreach: This reading does not authorize the following misuse: Divine kingship confronts chaos imagery; it does not validate divine-right human government or authoritarian politics.

Explain the verse in context

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Continue in Context

Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.

Read Psalms 93:1–5 — The LORD reigns over roaring waters

Sources 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 93:1–5, 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 93:1–5

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 93:1–5.

Exact location: Official NET Bible Psalm 93 HTML, translator, textual, and study notes attached to Psalms 93:1–5

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, Introductory Issues: genres and psalm pairs; Theological Themes: kingship, Zion, and covenant; applied to Psalms 93:1–5

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 93 for Psalms 93:1–5

Open NETS Psalms ↗

Open the complete thought-unit research record