For Jehovah is great, and greatly to be praised. He particularly describes that God, whom he would have men to celebrate, and this because the Gentile nations were prone to merge into error upon this subject. That the whole world might abjure its superstitions, and unite in the true religion, he points out the one only God who is worthy of universal praise. This is a point of the greatest importance. Unless men are restrained by a due respect to it, they can only dishonor him the more that they attempt to worship him. We must observe this order if we would not profane the name of God, and rank ourselves amongst unbelieving men, who set forth gods of their own invention. By gods in the verse may be meant, as I observed already, (Psalm 95:3,) either angels or idols. I would still be of opinion that the term comprehends whatever is, or is accounted deity. As God, so to speak, sends rays of himself through all the world by his angels, these reflect some sparks of his Divinity. Men, again, in framing idols, fashion gods to themselves which have no existence. The Psalmist would convince them of its being a gross error to ascribe undue honor either to the angels or to idols, thus detracting from the glory of the one true God. He convicts the heathen nations of manifest infatuation, upon the ground that their gods are vanity and nought, for such is the meaning of the Hebrew word 'lylym, elilim, [1] which is here applied to idols in contempt. The Psalmist's great point is to show, that as the Godhead is really and truly to be found in none but the one Maker of the world, those religions are vain and contemptible which corrupt the pure worship of him. Some may ask, Are angels then to be accounted nothing and vanity, merely because many have been deceived in thinking them gods? I would reply, that we do injury to the angels when we give them that honor which is due to God only; and, while we are not on this account to hold that they are nothing in themselves, yet whatever imaginary glory has been attached to them must go for nothing. But the Psalmist has in his eye the gross delusions of the heathen, who impiously fashioned gods to themselves. Before refuting their absurd notions, he very properly remarks of God that he is great, and greatly to be praised -- insinuating that his glory as the infinite One far excels any which they dreamt of as attaching to their idols. We cannot but notice the confidence with which the Psalmist asserts the glory of the true God, in opposition to the universal opinion which men might entertain. The people of God were at that time called to maintain a conflict of no inconsiderable or common description with the hosts and prodigious mass of superstitions which then filled the whole world. The true God might be said to be confined within the obscure corner of Judea. Jupiter was the god every where received -- and adored throughout the whole of Asia, Europe, and Africa. Every country had its own gods peculiar to itself, but these were not unknown in other parts, and it was the true God only who was robbed of that glory which belonged to him. All the world had conspired to believe a lie. Yet the Psalmist, sensible that the vain delusions of men could derogate nothing from the glory of the one God, [2] looks down with indifference upon the opinion and universal suffrage of mankind. The inference is plain, that we must not conclude that to be necessarily the true religion which meets with the approbation of the multitude; for the judgment formed by the Psalmist must have fallen to the ground at once, if religion were a thing to be determined by the suffrages of men, and his worship depended upon their caprice. Be it then that ever so many agree in error, we shall insist after the Holy Ghost that they cannot take from God's glory; for man is vanity himself, and all that comes of him is to be mistrusted. Having asserted the greatness of God, he proves it by reference to the formation of the world, which reflects his perfections. [3] God must necessarily exist of himself, and be self-sufficient, which shows the vanity of all gods who made not the world. The heavens are mentioned -- a part for the whole -- as the power of God is principally apparent in them, when we consider their beauty and adornment.

Footnotes

1 - 'lyl, elil, signifies a thing of nought; as if from 'l, not, the l being doubled to denote extreme nothingness. Thus a false vision or prophecy, on which no dependence can be placed, is called 'lyl, elil, "a thing of nought," Jeremiah 14:14, and a shepherd that leaves the flock, and instead of visiting, healing and feeding them, devours and tears them in pieces, is called in Zechariah 11:15, 16, "a pastor, h'lyl, haelil, of no value." In this sense the word is used of the false gods of the heathen. Instead of being 'lhym, elohim, gods, they are 'lylym, elilim, mere nothings Accordingly, Paul, in 1-Corinthians 8:4, speaks of an idol as being "nothing in the world."

2 - "Quia eorum vanitas nihil derogat unis Dei gloriae." -- Ib.

3 - "The argument of God's superiority over all other beings, drawn from his creation of the world, is sublimely expressed in the following lines ascribed by Justin Martyr (de Monarchid. page 159, ed. Oxon. 1703) to Pythagoras, -- Ei tis erei, Theos eimi parex henos, houtos opheilei Kosmon ison touto stesas eipein emos houtos. "One God our hearts confess: whoe'er beside Aspires with Him our homage to divide, A world as beauteous let him first design, And say, its fabric finished, This is mine.'" -- Merrick's Annotations.

For the Lord is great - Yahweh is great. See the notes at Psalm 77:13. This verse is taken literally from 1-Chronicles 16:25.
And greatly to be praised - Worthy of exalted praise and adoration.
He is to be feared above all gods - He is to be reverenced and adored above all that are called gods. Higher honor is to be given him; more lofty praise is to be ascribed to him. He is Ruler over all the earth, and has a claim to universal praise. Even if it were admitted that they were real gods, yet it would still be true that they were local and inferior divinities; that they ruled only over the particular countries where they were worshipped and acknowledged as gods, and that they had no claim to "universal" adoration as Yahweh has.

He is to be feared above all gods - I think the two clauses of this verse should be read thus: -
Jehovah is great, and greatly to be praised.
Elohim is to be feared above all.
I doubt whether the word אלהים Elohim is ever, by fair construction, applied to false gods or idols. The contracted form in the following verse appears to have this meaning.

For the LORD [is] (b) great, and greatly to be praised: he [is] to be feared above all gods.
(b) Seeing he will reveal himself to all nations contrary to their own expectation, they should all worship him contrary to their own imaginations, and only as he has appointed.

For the Lord is great,.... In the perfections of his nature; in the works of his hands, of creation, providence, and redemption; and in the several offices he bears and executes:
and greatly to be praised; because of his greatness and glory; See Gill on Psalm 48:1,
he is to be feared above all gods; the angels by whom he is worshipped; civil magistrates, among whom he presides, and judges; and all the fictitious deities of the Gentiles, who are not to be named with him, and to whom no fear, reverence, and worship, are due.

For He is not a local God, but of universal agency, while idols are nothing.

Confirmation of the call from the glory of Jahve that is now become manifest. The clause Psalm 96:4, as also Psalm 145:3, is taken out of Psalm 48:2. כל־אלהים is the plural of כּל־אלוהּ, every god, 2-Chronicles 32:15; the article may stand here or be omitted (Psalm 95:3, cf. Psalm 113:4). All the elohim, i.e., gods, of the peoples are אלילים (from the negative אל), nothings and good-for-nothings, unreal and useless. The lxx renders δαιμόνια, as though the expression were שׁדים (cf. 1-Corinthians 10:20), more correctly εἴδωλα in Revelation 9:20. What Psalm 96:5 says is wrought out in Isaiah 40, Isaiah 44, and elsewhere; אלילים is a name of idols that occurs nowhere more frequently than in Isaiah. The sanctuary (Psalm 96:6) is here the earthly sanctuary. From Jerusalem, over which the light arises first of all (Isaiah. 60), Jahve's superterrestrial doxa now reveals itself in the world. הוד־והדר is the usual pair of words for royal glory. The chronicler reads Psalm 96:6 עז וחדוה בּמקמו, might and joy are in His place (הדוה( ecalp siH ni era yoj d a late word, like אחוה, brotherhood, brotherly affection, from an old root, Exodus 18:9). With the place of God one might associate the thought of the celestial place of God transcending space; the chronicler may, however, have altered במקדשׁו into במקמו because when the Ark was brought in, the Temple (בית המקדשׁ) was not yet built.

Gods - The gods of the nations, as the next verse expounds it.