Psalm 118:24: Is "This Is the Day" About Today β or a Specific Day?
Quick Answer: Psalm 118:24 declares that a particular day of God's deliverance β likely a military victory or temple restoration β is cause for communal rejoicing. The central debate is whether "the day" refers to a specific historical event, the arrival of the Messiah, or every new morning.
What Does Psalm 118:24 Mean?
"This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." (KJV)
This verse is a communal declaration of celebration following divine intervention. The speaker β likely a king or worship leader β has just survived a life-threatening crisis and entered the temple gates to give thanks. "The day the LORD has made" refers to the day God acted decisively to rescue his people, not a generic statement about every sunrise.
The key insight most readers miss: the Hebrew verb "made" (Χ’ΦΈΧ©ΦΈΧΧ, asah) does not mean "created" in the sense of crafting a 24-hour period. It means "brought about" or "accomplished" β this is the day the LORD acted. The verse celebrates divine agency in a specific event, not the existence of time itself.
Interpretations split along three lines. Jewish liturgical tradition, following the Talmudic association with Sukkot and Passover, reads this as Israel's collective thanksgiving for national deliverance. Christian messianic interpretation, rooted in the New Testament's application of Psalm 118:22-23 to Jesus (Matthew 21:42, Acts 4:11), identifies "the day" as Easter or the day of Christ's vindication. Popular devotional usage, widespread since the twentieth-century praise music movement, treats it as a daily affirmation of gratitude β a reading that strips the verse of its narrative context.
Key Takeaways
- "The day" refers to a specific moment of divine rescue, not every morning
- The Hebrew behind "made" means "brought about" or "accomplished"
- Three major readings compete: national deliverance, messianic fulfillment, and daily gratitude
- The verse is communal ("we will rejoice"), not individual
At a Glance
| Aspect | Detail |
|---|---|
| Book | Psalms β Book V (the final Hallel collection) |
| Speaker | A king or worship leader entering the temple after deliverance |
| Audience | Assembled worshippers at a thanksgiving procession |
| Core message | God has acted decisively; this day of rescue demands communal celebration |
| Key debate | Does "the day" point to a past event, a messianic fulfillment, or every new day? |
Context and Background
Psalm 118 is the final psalm in the Egyptian Hallel (Psalms 113-118), sung at Passover, Sukkot, and Shavuot. Its position matters: it closes the liturgical sequence that begins with the Exodus and ends with thanksgiving at the temple gates. Verse 24 sits inside a dramatic narrative arc β the speaker was pushed to the point of death (v. 13), cried out to God (v. 5), and was answered (v. 21). Verses 19-20 describe entering the temple gates; verses 22-23 introduce the rejected stone that became the cornerstone; verse 24 is the congregation's response to that reversal.
The immediate literary context is crucial. Verse 23 declares, "This is the LORD's doing; it is marvellous in our eyes." Verse 24's "this is the day" directly continues that thought β this is the day of that doing. Reading verse 24 in isolation, as most devotional contexts do, severs it from the stone-rejection metaphor that gives it theological weight. The Mishnah (Sukkah 3:9) records that Psalm 118 accompanied the lulav procession during Sukkot, anchoring the psalm to Israel's festival calendar rather than individual morning devotions.
The dating of the psalm remains disputed. Some scholars, including Hermann Gunkel, classified it as a royal thanksgiving psalm from the pre-exilic monarchy. Others, such as Hans-Joachim Kraus, placed it in the post-exilic period, connecting it to the rededication of the Second Temple. The dating affects whether "the day" refers to a king's battlefield survival or the restoration of national worship after Babylonian exile.
Key Takeaways
- Verse 24 responds directly to the "rejected stone" metaphor in verses 22-23
- The psalm belongs to the Hallel collection sung at Israel's major festivals
- Isolating verse 24 from its narrative of near-death and rescue fundamentally changes its meaning
- Pre-exilic vs. post-exilic dating shifts whether the occasion is royal victory or temple restoration
How This Verse Is Commonly Misunderstood
Misreading 1: "Every day is a gift from God β rejoice in each new morning." This is the dominant popular interpretation, reinforced by praise songs and wall art. But the Hebrew text uses a demonstrative pronoun β zeh hayom, "THIS day," pointing to a particular day, not a universal category. The verb asah throughout the Hallel psalms refers to God's specific saving acts (Psalm 115:3, 135:6), not routine creation. Tremper Longman III notes in his Psalms commentary that reducing this to daily gratitude evacuates the verse of its theological content β God's dramatic reversal of a desperate situation.
Misreading 2: "This is purely about Christ's resurrection." While the New Testament applies Psalm 118:22 to Jesus as the rejected cornerstone (1 Peter 2:7), reading verse 24 as exclusively about Easter collapses the psalm's original meaning into a single referent. Craig Keener argues that the NT authors employed typological reading β seeing a pattern repeated, not replacing the original sense. The psalm had meaning for its original audience before any messianic application existed. Augustine, by contrast, did read "the day" as the day of resurrection, establishing a tradition that dominated Western Christianity for centuries.
Misreading 3: "This is an individual's private declaration of joy." The verb forms in verse 24 are first-person plural β "we will rejoice." The psalm's liturgical setting involves antiphonal exchange between a worship leader and congregation (visible in the shifting between "I" and "we" throughout the psalm). Walter Brueggemann classifies Psalm 118 as a psalm of "new orientation" β communal worship after communal crisis β not private meditation.
Key Takeaways
- The Hebrew demonstrative "THIS day" points to a specific occasion, not every morning
- NT messianic application builds on, rather than replaces, the original national meaning
- The plural "we will rejoice" marks this as communal worship, not individual affirmation
How to Apply Psalm 118:24 Today
This verse has been legitimately applied to moments of recognized deliverance β times when a community or individual can point to a specific occasion and say, "God acted here." Recovery milestones, answered prayers after prolonged crisis, and collective celebrations of survival all mirror the psalm's original context. The verse gives language for the moment after the storm, not during it.
The limits are equally important. Psalm 118:24 does not promise that every day will feel like a celebration, nor does it command forced positivity. Using it to dismiss grief or suffering β "just rejoice, this is the day the Lord has made" β inverts the psalm's logic. The speaker rejoices because the suffering ended, not despite ongoing pain. Applying it during active crisis, as if joy were an obligation regardless of circumstances, misuses the text.
Practical scenarios where the verse fits its original weight: A congregation celebrating the end of a difficult chapter β a building project completed, a community health crisis survived, a long-sought reconciliation achieved. An individual marking a turning point β the day sobriety began, the diagnosis that came back clear, the adoption finalized. A nation recognizing deliverance from disaster. In each case, the emphasis falls on identifying the specific act of God and responding with communal gratitude, not on manufacturing daily enthusiasm.
Key Takeaways
- The verse fits moments of specific, recognized deliverance β not generic daily motivation
- Using it to dismiss grief inverts the psalm's logic: joy follows rescue, not replaces suffering
- Application is strongest when communal, marking a shared turning point
Key Words in the Original Language
Χ’ΦΈΧ©ΦΈΧΧ (asah) β "made" / "brought about" The semantic range of asah spans from "create" to "do" to "accomplish." In the Hallel psalms, it consistently describes God's purposeful intervention β "whatever the LORD pleases, he does" (Psalm 115:3). The KJV's "made" misleads English readers toward creation language. The ESV and NASB retain "made," but the NLT renders "has done this" β capturing the active, event-driven sense. The choice between "created this day" and "brought about this day" determines whether the verse is about time or about divine action. Jewish liturgical commentary consistently reads asah here as accomplishment, not creation.
ΧΧΦΉΧ (yom) β "day" While yom can mean a 24-hour period, a general era, or a specific appointed time, the demonstrative zeh ("this") narrows it. Zeh hayom parallels constructions elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible where a specific occasion is marked β "this is the day of which the LORD spoke" (1 Samuel 9:16 idiom). The Septuagint renders it with the aorist (epoiΔsen), reinforcing a completed, punctiliar event. Whether yom here means "this specific date" or "this era of salvation" separates liturgical-historical from eschatological readings.
Χ ΦΈΧΦ΄ΧΧΦΈΧ (nagilah) β "let us rejoice" A cohortative form β an exhortation, not a statement. This is a call to action: "let us rejoice." The root g-y-l carries connotations of spinning or whirling with joy, suggesting physical, exuberant celebration rather than quiet contentment. It appears frequently in contexts of military victory and divine rescue (Psalm 9:14, Isaiah 25:9). The cohortative mood means this is invitation, not description β the speaker is rallying the community to respond.
ΧΦΆΧ (zeh) β "this" Often overlooked, zeh is the interpretive pivot. It is a near demonstrative β pointing to something present, immediate, visible. It does not mean "each" or "every." The demonstrative force argues against generalizing the verse into a daily affirmation. Rashi's commentary on Psalm 118 connects zeh to the immediately preceding verse's "marvellous" act, making "this" refer to the day of the cornerstone reversal, not an abstract concept.
Key Takeaways
- Asah means "accomplished," not "created" β the verse is about divine action, not time
- The demonstrative zeh ("this") points to a specific occasion, resisting generalization
- Nagilah is a cohortative β a rallying cry for communal, physical celebration
- Translation choices on these words determine whether the verse reads as daily devotion or historical thanksgiving
How Different Traditions Read This
| Tradition | Core Position |
|---|---|
| Jewish (liturgical) | The day of national deliverance, sung at Passover and Sukkot as corporate thanksgiving |
| Catholic | Typologically fulfilled in Easter; the Liturgy of the Hours assigns it to Sunday worship |
| Reformed | God's sovereign act in salvation history, with Christological fulfillment anticipated |
| Lutheran | A messianic psalm pointing to Christ's victory, per Luther's extended commentary on Psalm 118 |
| Evangelical/Charismatic | Often read as a daily declaration of praise, detached from liturgical or historical context |
These traditions diverge because the psalm operates on multiple levels simultaneously. Jewish reading prioritizes the original liturgical Sitz im Leben. Christian traditions layer Christological meaning onto the original through the lens of the rejected-stone citation in the New Testament. The popular evangelical reading, which emerged largely through twentieth-century worship music, bypasses both historical and typological frameworks in favor of immediate personal application. The tension is not resolvable because typological reading neither cancels nor is canceled by historical reading.
Open Questions
If "the day" refers to a specific historical event, which event? The original military victory, the temple rededication, or something else entirely? The psalm gives no explicit date marker.
Does the New Testament's use of Psalm 118:22 (the cornerstone verse) require that verse 24 also be read Christologically, or can the quotation be limited to verse 22 alone?
How should liturgical communities handle the tension between the psalm's specificity ("this" day) and its repeated use across multiple festivals, which implicitly generalizes it?
Is the popular devotional reading a legitimate extension of the text's meaning through reception history, or a misappropriation that should be corrected? Reception historians like Brennan Breed argue that meaning accumulates through use; text-centered scholars counter that accumulated meaning can obscure original intent.
What is lost theologically when a verse about communal deliverance becomes an individual's morning affirmation? And does that loss matter if the verse still functions meaningfully for the reader?