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Psalm 98:8

Let the rivers clap their hands. Let the mountains sing for joy together.

6With trumpets and sound of the ram’s horn, make a joyful noise before the King, the LORD.
7Let the sea roar with its fullness; the world, and those who dwell therein.
8Let the rivers clap their hands. Let the mountains sing for joy together.
9Let them sing before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.
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← Psalm 98:7Psalm 98:9 →
Notice

Rivers with hands and mountains with voices make praise feel larger than human song, as the whole landscape joins the joy before its King.

Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.

What do you notice when rivers and mountains become fellow worshipers in this poem?

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How does the promise of judgment in verse 9 shape your reading of the mountains’ joy?

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Connect

Where else Scripture says this

7 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.

This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Isaiah 55:12For you shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace. The mountains and the hills will break out before you into singing; and all the trees of the fields …Both poems describe mountains singing and creation clapping its hands, joining the celebration through human gestures of joy.
Psalm 89:12You have created the north and the south. Tabor and Hermon rejoice in your name.Psalm 98 pictures mountains singing together; Psalm 89 names Tabor and Hermon rejoicing in God’s name.
Psalm 65:12–13The wilderness grasslands overflow. The hills are clothed with gladness.Mountains sing for joy in Psalm 98, while hills wear gladness like clothing in Psalm 65.
Psalm 47:1For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by the sons of Korah. Oh clap your hands, all you nations. Shout to God with the voice of triumph!Psalm 47 tells the nations to clap their hands; Psalm 98 extends that gesture of praise to rivers.
Psalm 93:3The floods have lifted up, LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice. The floods lift up their waves.Both psalms portray moving waters with human expression: rivers clap their hands, and floods lift their voice.
Joel 2:21Land, don’t be afraid. Be glad and rejoice, for the LORD has done great things.Joel addresses the land as capable of rejoicing, much as Psalm 98 addresses rivers and mountains as participants in joy.
2 Kings 11:12Then he brought out the king’s son, and put the crown on him, and gave him the covenant; and they made him king and anointed him; and they clapped their hands, …Clapping accompanies the crowning of the king’s son in Kings and creation’s praise before the LORD as King in Psalm 98.
Where this verse fits

Praise and worship. gratitude. sermon or Bible study notes.

What the Bible says about worship →What the Bible says about gratitude →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Read Psalm 98:8-9 aloud beside a window

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Encouragement

The mountains’ song has a reason: YHWH comes to judge with righteousness and equity. Creation’s joy belongs to the King whose rule is just.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 98:8. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.

Keep goingPsalm 98 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).