properly · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
serve
עֹ֬בְדֵיoe.dei
H5647
to work (in any sense) · verb, qal active participle, masculine plural construct
images
פֶ֗סֶלFe.sel
H6459
an idol · noun, common masculine singular absolute
boast
הַמִּֽתְהַלְלִ֥יםha.mit.ha.Lim
H1984
to be clear (orig. of sound · definite article + verb, hithpael active participle, masculine plural absolute
idols
בָּאֱלִילִ֑יםba.'e.li.Lim
H457
good for nothing · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
worship
הִשְׁתַּחֲווּhish.ta.cha.vu-
H7812
to depress · verb, hithpael imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
gods
אֱלֹהִֽים'E.lo.Him
H430
gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Jeremiah 10:14 Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no b…
Hebrews 1:6 And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.
Isaiah 42:17 They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, Ye are our gods.
Leviticus 26:1 Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land,…
Revelation 5:11-14 And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thou…
Exodus 20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or th…
Isaiah 41:29 Behold, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their molten images are wind and confusion.
Isaiah 44:9-11 They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they s…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 97:1-7
What was to be said among the heathen in the foregoing psalm (Psa 97:10) is here said again (Psa 97:1) and is made the subject of this psalm, and of psalm 99. The Lord reigns; that is the great truth here laid down. The Lord Jehovah reigns, he that made the world governs it; he that gave being gives motion and power, gives law and commission, gives success and event. Every man's judgment proceeds from the Lord, from his counsel and providence, and in all affairs, both public and private, he performs the thing which he himself has appointed. The Lord Jesus reigns; the providential kingdom is twisted in with the mediatorial and the administration of both is in the hand of Christ, who therefore…
Confounded be all they that serve graven images,.... Images of gold, silver, and stone, graven by art and man's device; to serve and worship which must be the grossest ignorance and stupidity, which, when convinced of, must fill with shame and confusion: this may be considered either as a prayer, that the idolatrous Gentiles might be enlightened to see the vanity of their idols, and their worship of them, and turn to the living God; or as a prophecy that it should be; for it may be rendered, "they are" or "shall be confounded", or "ashamed" (t), as the Targum, Jarchi, and Kimchi; which had its accomplishment in the first times of the Gospel; when, being preached in the Gentile world, multitu…
Psalm 97:6-8
6. The heavens have declared his righteousness, and all the people have seen his glory. 7. Confounded be all those who serve graven images, who glory in their inventions; [98] let all the gods worship before him. 8. Zion heard, and was glad; and the daughters of Judah [99] rejoiced because of thy judgments, O Jehovah!
6 The heavens have declared his righteousness Here he states that there would be such an illustrious display of the righteousness of God, that the heavens themselves would herald it. The meaning is not the same as in the beginning of the nineteenth psalm, "The heavens declare the glory of God," etc. In that psalm David means no more than that the wisdom and power…
The Church Fathers
"Let all be confounded who worship graven images." If the prophet is blessed, being blessed he never knew how to curse; and therefore in that which he says, "Let them be confounded," it is not against them, but for them: for he prays that they may be confounded in their error, and be converted to the true and only God, the Creator.
"Confounded be all they that worship carved images" [Psalm 97:7]. Hath not this come to pass? Have they not been confounded? Are they not daily confounded? For carved images are images wrought by the hand. Why are all who worship carved images confounded? Because all people have seen His glory. All nations now confess the glory of Christ: let those who worship stones be ashamed. Because those stones were dead, we have found a living Stone; indeed those stones never lived, so that they cannot be called even dead; but our Stone is living, and hath ever lived with the Father, and though He died for us, He revived, and liveth now, and death shall no more have dominion over Him. This glory of His the nations have acknowledged; they leave the temples, they run to the Churches. Do they still seek to worship carved images? Have they not chosen to forsake their idols? They have been forsaken by their idols. "Who glory in their idols." But there is a certain disputer who seemeth unto himself learned, and saith, I do not worship that stone, nor that image which is without sense;...I worship not this image but I adore what I see, and serve him whom I see not. Who is that? Some invisible deity, he replieth, who presideth over that image. By giving this account of their images, they seem to themselves able disputants, because they do not worship idols, and yet do worship devils. "The things," brethren, saith the Apostle, "which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice unto devils, and not to God; we know that an idol is nothing: and that what the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God; and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils." Let them not therefore excuse themselves on this ground, that they are not devoted to insensate idols; they are rather devoted to devils, which is more dangerous. For if they were only worshipping idols, as they would not help them, so they would not hurt them; but if thou worship and serve devils, they themselves will be thy masters....
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Graven image — Deut. 27:15; Ps. 97:7 (Heb. pesel), refers to the household gods of idolaters. “Every nation and city had its own gods...Yet every family had its separate household or tutelary god.”
Idol — (1.) Heb. aven, “nothingness;” “vanity” (Isa. 66:3; 41:29; Deut. 32:21; 1 Kings 16:13; Ps. 31:6; Jer. 8:19, etc.). (2.) ‘Elil, “a thing of naught” (Ps. 97:7; Isa. 19:3); a word of contempt, used of…
Idolatry · They who practise: Boast of it — They who practise: Boast of it
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
When the glory of Jahve becomes manifest, everything that is opposed to it will be punished and consumed by its light. Those who serve idols will become conscious of their delusion with shame and terror, Isa 42:17; Jer 10:14. The superhuman powers (lxx ἄγγελοι), deified by the heathen, then bow down to Him who alone is Elohim in absolute personality. השׁתּחווּ is not imperative (lxx, Syriac), for as a command this clause would be abrupt and inconsequential, but the perfect of that which actually takes place. The quotation in Heb 1:6 is taken from Deu 32:43, lxx. In Psa 97:8 (after Psa 48:12) the survey of the poet again comes back to his own nation. When Zion hears that Jahve has appeared,…
At the Lord’s coming, when every god must bow to him, those who worship other gods will face their own folly (see 95:3-5).
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 97:7
Confounded be all they that serve graven images, that boast themselves of idols: worship him, all ye gods.
Confounded be all they that serve graven images, that boast themselves of idols. They shall be so; shame shall cover their faces, they shall blush to think of their former besotted boastings. When a man gravely worships what has been engraved by a man's hand, and puts his trust in a mere nothing and nonentity, he is indeed brutish, and when he is converted from such absurdity, he may well be ashamed. A man who worships an image is but the image of a man, his senses must have left him. He who boasts of an idol makes an idle boast. Worship him, all ye gods. Bow down yourselves, ye fancie…