Bellarmine on Psalm 96 : Verses 8 & 9

Verses 8 & 9

Adore him, all you his angels: Sion heard, and was glad. And the daughters of Juda rejoiced, because of thy judgments, O Lord.

Adorate eum omnes angeli ejus. Audivit, et laetata est Sion; et exsultaverunt filiae Judae, propter judicia tua, Domine.

According to the first interpretation, so that the prophet may prove that he said justly: “Let them be (all) confounded that adore graven things,” he turns to the Angels and invites them to adore God; for if angels, who are the most noble creatures, are not to be adored but are obliged to adore God, as His servants: how much less are demons or idols to be adored? “Sion heard, and was glad,” that is, the people of God heard that God reigns over all, and that even the Angels themselves are not idols but are subject to our God; and therefore they rejoice greatly at hearing these things, because they have a king (who is) so great. “And the daughters of Juda rejoiced, because of thy judgments, O Lord,” that is, that people of God, who are here referred to by the names of Sion and the children of Juda, rejoiced on account of Thy judgements, that is, because Thou, O God, judge everyone with a just judgement. According to the second interpretation, the Prophet demonstrates the majesty of Christ coming to judgement, from the fact that it will appear clearly at the judgement that Christ is truly God from the attendance that all the Angels will render to Him. For the Angels will stand (before Him) as servants, and they will 

adore Him, and they will obey Him when sent to perform various services, from which will result the greatest joy and gladness amongst the true faithful, when they see their Lord in such great glory in the presence of the whole world. The Prophet employs a direct address to the Angels, and, as though exhorting them to do what he foresaw they would do of their own volition, “Adore him,” he says, namely, Christ seated in judgement, all (you) his angels. In Hebrews I, the Apostle confirms this interpretation, saying: “And again, when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith: And let all the angels of God adore him.”[1] The Apostle, in using the word “again,”  seems to have wanted to refer to the second coming of Christ, and to relate these word of the Psalm to that coming: “Adore him, all you his angels;” for similar words re not to be found elsewhere. Indeed, Theodoret eloquently affirms that the Apostle accepted this testimony from that Psalm. But what that particular author says, that the words cited by the Apostle are from the last verse of the canticle of Moses in Deut. xxxii, does not seem to be probable since neither in the Hebrew nor in the Septuagint is any mention made of adoration. The daughters of Juda, is a phrase understood by some as referring to towns subject to the city of Jerusalem: but whatever may be said of the words, it is clear that the meaning relates to the chosen people of God.

[1] And again, when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith: And let all the angels of God adore him. Et cum iterum introducit primogenitum in orbem terrae, dicit : Et adorent eum omnes angeli Dei. [Hebr. i. 6]

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.