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Psalm 68

Praise and Thanksgiving

To the leader. Of David. A Psalm. A Song.

Let God rise up, let his enemies be scattered;

let those who hate him flee before him.

As smoke is driven away, so drive them away;

as wax melts before the fire,

let the wicked perish before God.

But let the righteous be joyful;

let them exult before God;

let them be jubilant with joy.

Sing to God, sing praises to his name;

lift up a song to him who rides upon the clouds—

his name is the L ord—

be exultant before him.

Father of orphans and protector of widows

is God in his holy habitation.

God gives the desolate a home to live in;

he leads out the prisoners to prosperity,

but the rebellious live in a parched land.

O God, when you went out before your people,

when you marched through the wilderness, Selah

the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain

at the presence of God, the God of Sinai,

at the presence of God, the God of Israel.

Rain in abundance, O God, you showered abroad;

you restored your heritage when it languished;

your flock found a dwelling in it;

in your goodness, O God, you provided for the needy.

The Lord gives the command;

great is the company of those who bore the tidings:

“The kings of the armies, they flee, they flee!”

The women at home divide the spoil,

though they stay among the sheepfolds—

the wings of a dove covered with silver,

its pinions with green gold.

When the Almighty scattered kings there,

snow fell on Zalmon.

O mighty mountain, mountain of Bashan;

O many-peaked mountain, mountain of Bashan!

Why do you look with envy, O many-peaked mountain,

at the mount that God desired for his abode,

where the L ord will reside forever?

With mighty chariotry, twice ten thousand,

thousands upon thousands,

the Lord came from Sinai into the holy place.

You ascended the high mount,

leading captives in your train

and receiving gifts from people,

even from those who rebel against the L ord God’s abiding there.

Blessed be the Lord,

who daily bears us up;

God is our salvation. Selah

Our God is a God of salvation,

and to G od, the Lord, belongs escape from death.

But God will shatter the heads of his enemies,

the hairy crown of those who walk in their guilty ways.

The Lord said,

“I will bring them back from Bashan,

I will bring them back from the depths of the sea,

so that you may bathe your feet in blood,

so that the tongues of your dogs may have their share from the foe.”

Your solemn processions are seen, O God,

the processions of my God, my King, into the sanctuary—

the singers in front, the musicians last,

between them girls playing tambourines:

“Bless God in the great congregation,

the L ord, O you who are of Israel’s fountain!”

There is Benjamin, the least of them, in the lead,

the princes of Judah in a body,

the princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali.

Summon your might, O God;

show your strength, O God, as you have done for us before.

Because of your temple at Jerusalem

kings bear gifts to you.

Rebuke the wild animals that live among the reeds,

the herd of bulls with the calves of the peoples.

Trample under foot those who lust after tribute;

scatter the peoples who delight in war.

Let bronze be brought from Egypt;

let Ethiopia hasten to stretch out its hands to God.

Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth;

sing praises to the Lord, Selah

O rider in the heavens, the ancient heavens;

listen, he sends out his voice, his mighty voice.

Ascribe power to God,

whose majesty is over Israel;

and whose power is in the skies.

Awesome is God in his sanctuary,

the God of Israel;

he gives power and strength to his people.

Blessed be God!

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

7 O God! when thou wentest forth before thy people, etc. The Psalmist now proceeds to show that the Divine goodness is principally displayed in the Church, which God has selected as the great theater where his fatherly care may be manifested. What follows is evidently added with the view of leading the posterity of Abraham, as the Lord’s chosen people, to apply the observations which had been just made to themselves. The deliverance from Egypt having been the chief and lasting pledge of the Divine favor, which practically ratified their adoption under the patriarch, he briefly adverts to that event. He would intimate that in that remarkable exodus, proof had been given to all succeeding ages of the love which God entertained for his Church. Why were so many miracles wrought? why were heaven and earth put into commotion? why were the mountains made to tremble? but that all might recognize the power of God as allied with the deliverance of his people. He represents God as having been their leader in conducting them forth. And this not merely in reference to their passage of the Red Sea, but their journeys so long as they wandered in the wilderness. When he speaks of the earth being moved, he would not seem to allude entirely to what occurred upon the promulgation of the law, but to the fact that, throughout all their progress, the course of nature was repeatedly altered, as if the very elements had trembled at the presence of the Lord. It was upon Mount Sinai, however, that God issued the chief displays of his awful power; it was there that thunders were heard in heaven, and the air was filled with lightnings; and, accordingly, it is mentioned here by name as having presented the most glorious spectacle of the Divine majesty which was ever beheld. Some read, This Sinai, etc., connecting the pronoun זה, zeh, with the mountain here named; but it is much more emphatical to join it with the preceding clause, and to read, the heavens dropped at the presence of This God; David meaning to commend the excellency of the God of Israel. The expression is one frequently used by the prophets to denote that the God worshipped by the posterity of Abraham was the true God, and the religion delivered in his law no delusion, as in Isaiah 25:9, “This, this is our God, and he will save us.” To establish the Lord’s people in their faith, David leads them, as it were, into the very presence of God; indicates that they were left to no such vague uncertainties as the heathen; and indirectly censures the folly of the world in forsaking the knowledge of the true God, and fashioning imaginary deities of its own, of wood and stone, of gold and silver.