Psalms 29:9

Doth - To do; to produce; make.

Hinds - Deer or mountain goats.

Maketh the hinds to calve - Strikes terror through all the tribes of animals; which sometimes occasions those which are pregnant to cast their young. This, I believe, to be the whole that is meant by the text. I meddle not with the fables which have been published on this subject both by ancients and moderns.

Discovereth the forests - Makes them sometimes evident in the darliest night, by the sudden flash; and often by setting them on fire.

And in his temple - Does this refer to the effect which a dreadful thunder-storm often produces? Multitudes run to places of worship as asylums in order to find safety, and pray to God. See on Psalm 29:2 (note).

The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve - The deer. The object of the psalmist here is to show the effects of the storm in producing consternation, especially on the weak and timid animals of the forest. The effect here adverted to is that of fear or consternation in bringing on the throes of parturition. Compare Job 39:1, Job 39:3. No one can doubt that the effect here described may occur in the violence of a tempest; and perhaps no image could more vividly describe the terrors of the storm than the consternation thus produced. The margin here is, "to be in pain." The Hebrew means "to bring forth," referring to the pains of parturition.

And discovereth the forests - The word used here means "to strip off, to uncover;" and, as used here, it means to strip off the leaves of the forest; to make the trees bare - referring to an effect which is often produced by a violent storm.

And in his temple doth every one speak of his glory - Margin, "every whit of it uttereth," etc. The word here rendered "temple" does not refer in this place to the tabernacle, or to the temple at Jerusalem, but rather "to the world itself," considered as the residence or dwelling-place of God. Perhaps the true translation would be, "And in his temple everything says, Glory!" That is, in the dwelling-place of God - the world of nature - the sky, the earth, the forests, the waters, everything in the storm, echoes "glory, glory!" All these things declare the glory of God; all these wonders - the voice of God upon the waters; the thunder; the crash of the trees upon the hills; the shaking of the wilderness; the universal consternation; the leaves stripped from the trees and flying in every direction - all proclaim the majesty and glory of Yahweh.

29:9 To calve - Through the terror it causes, which hastens the birth.He names the hinds, because they bring forth their young with difficulty, Job 39:1 ,2.Discovereth - Heb. maketh bare, of its trees, which it breaks or strips of their leaves. Glory - Having shewed the terrible effects of God's power in other places, he now shews the blessed privilege of God's people, that are praising God in his temple, when the rest of the world are trembling under the tokens of his displeasure.