Christianity

Psalms 100Enter His Gates with Thanksgiving

Summary

Psalm 100, headed a psalm of praise or thanksgiving, is a short call for all lands to make a joyful noise to the LORD, serve him with gladness and come before him with singing. It confesses that the LORD is God, that he made us, and that we are his people and the sheep of his pasture. It invites worshippers to enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise, for his mercy is everlasting and his truth endures to all generations.

Key verse

“Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.”

Psalms 100:4

Themes

Joyful Worship
God as Maker and Shepherd
Thanksgiving
Enduring Faithfulness

Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.

Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

Know 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.

Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

Text: King James Version (1611/1769), public domain.

Across traditions

Judaism
Psalm 100 in the JPS 1917 Tanakh
Psalm 100, known as Mizmor Letodah, is recited in the Jewish weekday morning service but traditionally left out on the Sabbath and most festivals, because it was linked with the thanksgiving offering.
Islam
Surah Al-Fatiha (1): Praise to the Lord of the Worlds
Al-Fatiha opens with praise to the Lord of the Worlds, the Beneficent, the Merciful. Like Psalm 100 it is a brief act of worship acknowledging God as Lord of all, though it moves from praise to a request for guidance on the straight path.
Christianity
Psalm 95: The Sheep of His Hand
Psalm 95:7 also calls God's people the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand, joining worship of the Maker with trust in the Shepherd.

Questions about Psalms 100

Why is Psalm 100 called the Old Hundredth?

The name belongs to a sixteenth-century Genevan hymn tune set to William Kethe's paraphrase of Psalm 100, All People That on Earth Do Dwell. The same tune is widely used for the Doxology, Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow.

Does Psalm 100:3 say 'not we ourselves' or 'we are his'?

The KJV reads it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves, following the written Hebrew text. A traditional Jewish reading note substitutes a word that sounds the same, giving and we are his, which many modern translations prefer.