The affirmation 'May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in his works' expresses a prayer that God's majesty and joy may persist eternally. The verb 'endure' (yehi-le-olam) invokes the permanence of divine glory; God's manifest splendor will not fade. The phrase 'rejoice in his works' (yismach YHWH be-ma'asav) personalizes God as taking pleasure and delight in creation. The parallelism of God's eternal glory and God's joy in creation suggests that they are interconnected: God's glory is manifest through the creation, and creation elicits divine joy and satisfaction. This verse introduces a reciprocal joy: the creature's joy in God (implicit throughout) is mirrored by God's joy in creation. By praying that God may rejoice in works, the speaker invites consideration of creation as the object of divine affection. The prayer that this endure forever suggests that the speaker yearns for the perpetual continuation of the divine-creaturely relationship and the world that sustains it. The verse moves from observation and praise to petition, asking that the vision of divinely delighted-in creation persist.

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