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Psalm 76

Israel’s God—Judge of All the Earth

To the leader: with stringed instruments. A Psalm of Asaph. A Song.

1

In Judah God is known,

his name is great in Israel.

2

His abode has been established in Salem,

his dwelling place in Zion.

3

There he broke the flashing arrows,

the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war. Selah

 

4

Glorious are you, more majestic

than the everlasting mountains.

5

The stouthearted were stripped of their spoil;

they sank into sleep;

none of the troops

was able to lift a hand.

6

At your rebuke, O God of Jacob,

both rider and horse lay stunned.

 

7

But you indeed are awesome!

Who can stand before you

when once your anger is roused?

8

From the heavens you uttered judgment;

the earth feared and was still

9

when God rose up to establish judgment,

to save all the oppressed of the earth. Selah

 

10

Human wrath serves only to praise you,

when you bind the last bit of your wrath around you.

11

Make vows to the L ord your God, and perform them;

let all who are around him bring gifts

to the one who is awesome,

12

who cuts off the spirit of princes,

who inspires fear in the kings of the earth.


7. Thou, even thou, art terrible. The repetition of the pronoun Thou, is intended to exclude all others from what is here predicated of God, as if it had been said, Whatever power there is in the world, it at once vanishes away, and is reduced to nothing, when He comes forth and manifests himself; and, therefore, He alone is terrible. This is confirmed by the comparison added immediately after, which intimates that, although the wicked are so filled with pride as to be ready to burst with it, yet they are unable to abide the look and presence of God. But as he sometimes keeps silence, and seems merely to look on as an idle spectator, it is expressly asserted, that as soon as he begins to be angry, ruin will be near all the wicked. Although they may then for a time not only stand, but also rise above the clouds by their fury, we are here, notwithstanding, admonished that we ought to wait for the time of wrath. Let us also mark that this terror is denounced against the wicked in such a manner as that it sweetly draws all true believers to God.


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