Psalms

Psalms 68

35 verses · Wisdom · Old Testament

1Let God arise! Let his enemies be scattered! Let them who hate him also flee before him. 2As smoke is driven away, so drive them away. As wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. 3But let the righteous be glad. Let them rejoice before God. Yes, let them rejoice with gladness. 4Sing to God! Sing praises to his name! Extol him who rides on the clouds: to Yah, his name! Rejoice before him! 5A father of the fatherless, and a defender of the widows, is God in his holy habitation. 6God sets the lonely in families. He brings out the prisoners with singing, but the rebellious dwell in a sun-scorched land.
7God, when you went out before your people, when you marched through the wilderness... 8The earth trembled. The sky also poured down rain at the presence of the God of Sinai— at the presence of God, the God of Israel. 9You, God, sent a plentiful rain. You confirmed your inheritance when it was weary. 10Your congregation lived therein. You, God, prepared your goodness for the poor. 11The Lord announced the word. The ones who proclaim it are a great company. 12“Kings of armies flee! They flee!” She who waits at home divides the plunder, 13while you sleep among the camp fires, the wings of a dove sheathed with silver, her feathers with shining gold. 14When the Almighty scattered kings in her, it snowed on Zalmon. 15The mountains of Bashan are majestic mountains. The mountains of Bashan are rugged. 16Why do you look in envy, you rugged mountains, at the mountain where God chooses to reign? Yes, Yahweh will dwell there forever. 17The chariots of God are tens of thousands and thousands of thousands. The Lord is among them, from Sinai, into the sanctuary. 18You have ascended on high. You have led away captives. You have received gifts among people, yes, among the rebellious also, that Yah God might dwell there.
19Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burdens, even the God who is our salvation. 20God is to us a God of deliverance. To Yahweh, the Lord, belongs escape from death. 21But God will strike through the head of his enemies, the hairy scalp of such a one as still continues in his guiltiness. 22The Lord said, “I will bring you again from Bashan, I will bring you again from the depths of the sea, 23that you may crush them, dipping your foot in blood, that the tongues of your dogs may have their portion from your enemies.” 24They have seen your processions, God, even the processions of my God, my King, into the sanctuary. 25The singers went before, the minstrels followed after, among the ladies playing with tambourines, 26“Bless God in the congregations, even the Lord in the assembly of Israel!” 27There is little Benjamin, their ruler, the princes of Judah, their council, the princes of Zebulun, and the princes of Naphtali.
28Your God has commanded your strength. Strengthen, God, that which you have done for us. 29Because of your temple at Jerusalem, kings shall bring presents to you. 30Rebuke the wild animal of the reeds, the multitude of the bulls, with the calves of the peoples. Being humbled, may it bring bars of silver. Scatter the nations that delight in war. 31Princes shall come out of Egypt. Ethiopia shall hurry to stretch out her hands to God. 32Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth! Sing praises to the Lord! 33To him who rides on the heaven of heavens, which are of old; behold, he utters his voice, a mighty voice. 34Ascribe strength to God! His excellency is over Israel, his strength is in the skies. 35You are awesome, God, in your sanctuaries. The God of Israel gives strength and power to his people. Praise be to God!

Commentary

No commentary on this chapter yet.

What others are saying

4 commentators · 71 notes on this chapter

Matthew HenryEnglish Puritan / Nonconformist · 1708–17145

Writes as a pastor rather than a critic. Expect devotional and practical application over historical or linguistic analysis, read through a Reformed covenantal frame — and expect the Old Testament to be read forward toward Christ throughout.

Why this voice is here: The most widely read English commentary for three centuries. Included as a baseline: where Henry and a modern voice diverge, the divergence itself is usually the interesting part.

v. 1–6

In these verses, I. David prays that God would appear in his glory, 1. For the confusion of his enemies (Psa 68:1, Psa 68:2): "Let God arise, as a judge to pass sentence upon them, as a general to take the field and do execution upon them; and let them be…

v. 7–14

The psalmist here, having occasion to give God thanks for the great things he had done for him and his people of late, takes occasion thence to praise him for what he had done for their fathers in the days of old. Fresh mercies should put us in mind of former…

v. 15–21

David, having given God praise for what he had done for Israel in general, as the God of Israel (Psa 68:8), here comes to give him praise as Zion's God in a special manner; compare Psa 9:11. Sing praises to the Lord who dwelleth in Zion, for which reason Zion…

John GillParticular Baptist / High Calvinist · 1746–176335

The most exhaustive and the most doctrinally committed here. Expect high — even supralapsarian — Calvinism applied consistently, and unusually heavy use of rabbinic and Talmudic sources for Jewish context. Where a passage bears on election or the will, Gill will read it in one direction, and knowing that in advance is the point.

Why this voice is here: The strongest Calvinist reading available in the public domain, and the best on Jewish background. Read alongside Clarke, not instead of him — between them you get both sides of the argument.

v. 1

Let God arise,.... Which, as Kimchi observes, is either by way of prayer, or by way of prophecy; and in either way the sense is the same: for, if it is considered as a prayer, it is a prayer of faith that so it would be; or, if as a prophecy, it is certain…

v. 2

As smoke is driven away, so drive them away,.... This both describes the character of wicked men, Christ's enemies; as their darkness and ignorance, their will worship and superstition, and their detestableness to God, Revelation 9:2; and the manner of their…

v. 3

But let the righteous be glad,.... At the incarnation of Christ, which is matter of joy to all people that believe in him; as did Zacharias and Elisabeth, who were both righteous, and also Simeon; and at his resurrection from the dead, since it is for their…

Keil & DelitzschGerman Lutheran, conservative-critical · 1861–18756

The technical one, and Old Testament only. Expect Hebrew grammar, textual argument, and direct engagement with nineteenth-century critical scholarship — closer to a scholarly apparatus than a devotional read. Where a modern critic claims a text is late or composite, this is where the conservative counter-argument was made.

Why this voice is here: Old Testament only, and heavy going — but the place to look when someone asserts a passage cannot mean what it appears to.

v. 1–6

The Psalm begins with the expression of a wish that the victory of God over all His foes and the triumphant exultation of the righteous were near at hand. Ewald and Hitzig take יקום אלהים hypothetically: If God arise, He enemies will be scattered. This…

v. 7–10

In Psa 68:7. the poet repeats the words of Deborah (Jdg 5:4.), and her words again go back to Deu 33:2, cf. Exo 19:15.; on the other hand, our Psalm is the original to Hab. 3. The martial verb יצא represents Elohim as, coming forth from His heavenly…

v. 11–14

The futures that now follow are no longer to be understood as referring to previous history; they no longer alternate with preterites. Moreover the transition to the language of address in Psa 68:14 shows that the poet here looks forth from his present time…

Jamieson, Fausset & BrownScottish Presbyterian / Reformed · 187125

The concise option. Three authors split the canon, so the voice shifts between sections. Expect brief, sober, conservative notes that resolve difficulties rather than dwelling on them — useful for orientation, thinner than Gill or Clarke where a passage is genuinely contested.

Why this voice is here: The quickest way to see what the mainstream Reformed reading of a passage is. Start here, then go to Gill or Clarke when it matters.

v. 3

the righteous--all truly pious, whether of Israel or not.

v. 4

extol him . . . heavens--literally, "cast up for Him who rideth in the deserts," or "wilderness" (compare Psa 68:7), alluding to the poetical representation of His leading His people in the wilderness as a conqueror, before whom a way is to be prepared, or…

v. 5

are illustrated by the protection to the helpless, vindication of the innocent, and punishment of rebels, ascribed to Him.

World English Bible — Public domain