Psalms 68

Let God rise up, and let his enemies be scattered. Let those who hate him run away from him.

1Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him.

NoteThe opening line repeats, almost word for word, the cry Moses was said to call out whenever the ark set out ahead of Israel on the march (Numbers 10:35). The psalm begins by quoting that old battle shout.

2Drive them off the way wind drives off smoke. Just as wax melts in front of a fire, let the wicked be destroyed in the presence of God.

2As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.

3But let those who do right be glad. Let them celebrate in the presence of God. Yes, let them be full of joy.

3But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice.

4Sing to God! Sing praises to his name! Lift up the one who rides on the clouds. His name is the LORD. Rejoice in front of him.

4Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name JAH, and rejoice before him.

Note"JAH" is a shortened form of the Hebrew personal name of God, YHWH, the same name printed elsewhere in the King James as LORD in small capitals. "Him that rideth upon the heavens" renders a title also given to the storm god Baal in older Canaanite poetry, "rider on the clouds"; the Hebrew can alternatively be read "rides through the deserts."

5God, in his holy home, is a father to children who have no father, and a judge who takes the side of widows.

5A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.

NoteFatherless children and widows had no male relative to press their claims in court, and the two together are the standard biblical shorthand for people with no legal protection. "A judge of the widows" means one who takes up their case for them, not one who puts them on trial.

6God gives the lonely a family to live in. He leads prisoners out into freedom and plenty. But those who rebel live in dry, burning ground.

6God setteth the solitary in families: he bringeth out those which are bound with chains: but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.

7O God, when you went out ahead of your people, when you marched through the empty wilderness, Selah:

7O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people, when thou didst march through the wilderness; Selah:

NoteSelah appears mostly in the Psalms and is left untranslated because nobody knows what it means. It is generally taken as a musical or performance direction, a pause, a change of instruments, a swell in volume. Its sense was already lost by the time the psalms were translated into Greek, more than two centuries before Christ.

8the earth shook, and the sky poured down rain in the presence of God. Even Sinai itself shook in the presence of God, the God of Israel.

8The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God: even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel.

NoteSinai is the desert mountain where, in Israel's national story, God appeared in storm, smoke and fire and gave the law to Moses after the escape from Egypt. "The heavens also dropped" means the clouds dropped rain.

9You sent plenty of rain, O God. You refreshed the land you claim as your own when it was worn out.

9Thou, O God, didst send a plentiful rain, whereby thou didst confirm thine inheritance, when it was weary.

Note"Thine inheritance" is the land of Canaan, spoken of throughout the Old Testament as the property God allotted to himself and settled his people in.

10Your people settled and lived there. O God, out of your goodness you provided for the poor.

10Thy congregation hath dwelt therein: thou, O God, hast prepared of thy goodness for the poor.

NoteThe Hebrew word behind "thy congregation" normally means living creatures or an animal flock; the picture is of God's people as a herd he pastures and feeds.

11The Lord gave the command, and a great crowd of women announced the news:

11The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it.

NoteThe Hebrew word for those who "published" the news is feminine plural: a crowd of women. Women customarily met a returning army with songs announcing the victory, as Miriam and the women do in Exodus 15, and as the women singing about Saul and David do in 1 Samuel 18. "Publish" in 1611 English simply meant to announce in public; it had nothing to do with books.

12"Kings and their armies run away in a hurry, and the woman who stayed at home divides up what was taken."

12Kings of armies did flee apace: and she that tarried at home divided the spoil.

Note"Apace" means quickly. To divide the spoil is to share out the goods stripped from a defeated army, livestock, metal, cloth, captives. The point of the line is that there was so much of it that even the women who never left home took a portion.

13"Even when you lie down among the sheep pens, you will be like the wings of a dove covered with silver, its feathers with shining gold."

13Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold.

Note"Lien" is the old past participle of "lie." The phrase the King James renders "among the pots" is one of the most obscure in the Hebrew Bible; the same two words have been read as sheepfolds, saddlebags, ash heaps beside campfires, and the forked stones of a hearth. Whatever the object, the contrast is between lying down somewhere dirty and lowly and the silver-and-gold shine of the dove. Whether the dove is a piece of plunder, a figure for the people, or a battle standard is disputed.

14When the Almighty scattered the kings there, it was like snow falling on Mount Salmon.

14When the Almighty scattered kings in it, it was white as snow in Salmon.

NoteSalmon (Zalmon) is a hill, probably the dark wooded one near Shechem. The comparison is disputed: snow falling and covering the ground, or snow melting away, or, on another reading, the scattered white of bones and discarded armor left across the battlefield.

15Mount Bashan is a mighty mountain. Mount Bashan is a mountain with many high peaks.

15The hill of God is as the hill of Bashan; an high hill as the hill of Bashan.

NoteBashan is the high fertile country east of the Sea of Galilee, famous for its cattle and its oaks; its range, running up to Mount Hermon, dwarfs anything near Jerusalem. "The hill of God" here is a Hebrew way of saying an enormous mountain, using "of God" the way English uses "mighty."

16Why do you look on with envy, you mountains with many peaks? This is the mountain God chose to live on. Yes, the LORD will live there forever.

16Why leap ye, ye high hills? this is the hill which God desireth to dwell in; yea, the LORD will dwell in it for ever.

NoteThe verb behind "leap ye" is rare and its sense uncertain; it is usually taken as watching with envy or hostility. The hill God is said to choose is Zion in Jerusalem, a modest ridge set beside the towering peaks just described.

17The chariots of God number twenty thousand, thousands upon thousands. The Lord is among them, in the holy place, as he was at Sinai.

17The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place.

NoteThe numbers are an idiom for an uncountable host rather than a count. The word "angels" is not in the Hebrew, which reads something like "thousands upon thousands" or "thousands of repetition"; this is one of the most damaged lines in the psalm, and the rest of the verse has to be reconstructed.

18You went up to the heights. You led a line of captives behind you. You received gifts from people, even from those who had rebelled, so that the LORD God might live among them.

18Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them.

Note"Led captivity captive" is a Hebrew idiom meaning took a whole column of prisoners, the standard image of a victorious king parading his captives home. "Received gifts for men" translates a Hebrew phrase meaning "took gifts among (or from) mankind," that is, tribute collected from the conquered; some ancient versions instead read "gave gifts to mankind."

19Praise the Lord, who carries our load for us day after day, the God who saves us. Selah.

19Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.

NoteThe Hebrew here can be read two ways, since the same verb covers both: God daily loads us up with good things (the King James reading), or God daily carries our load for us.

20Our God is a God who saves, and it is the LORD God who gives us a way of escape from death.

20He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto GOD the Lord belong the issues from death.

Note"The issues from death" means the ways out of death, the escapes from it.

21But God will crush the heads of his enemies, the hairy skull of anyone who keeps on doing wrong.

21But God shall wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses.

NoteLong uncut hair marked a fighting man under a vow (Samson is the best-known example), so "the hairy scalp" pictures an enemy warrior in his full strength and pride.

22The Lord said, "I will bring them back from Bashan. I will bring my people back from the depths of the sea,

22The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan, I will bring my people again from the depths of the sea:

NoteBashan stands for the far heights, the sea for the far depths; naming both ends is a Hebrew way of saying "from anywhere at all." Who is being brought back is disputed: enemies hauled out of hiding for judgment, or scattered Israelites brought home.

23so that you may dip your foot in the blood of your enemies, and your dogs may lick up their share of it too."

23That thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thine enemies, and the tongue of thy dogs in the same.

NoteDogs in ancient Israel were half-wild scavengers, not pets. Dogs licking blood on a battlefield is an image of total defeat and disgrace, used elsewhere of the deaths of Ahab and Jezebel.

24They have seen your procession, O God, the march of my God and my King into the holy place.

24They have seen thy goings, O God; even the goings of my God, my King, in the sanctuary.

25The singers went in front, the musicians came behind, and among them were young women playing tambourines.

25The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after; among them were the damsels playing with timbrels.

Note"Damsels" is 1611 English for young unmarried women. Timbrels are small hand-held frame drums; in the Bible they are played almost always by women, leading victory songs and festival dances.

26Praise God when his people gather. Praise the LORD, all of you who come from the spring that is Israel.

26Bless ye God in the congregations, even the Lord, from the fountain of Israel.

Note"From the fountain of Israel" is an idiom for descent: you who spring from the ancestor Israel, that is, Jacob. The image is of a whole people flowing from one spring.

27There is Benjamin, the youngest tribe, leading them, and the leaders of Judah with their crowd, and the leaders of Zebulun and the leaders of Naphtali.

27There is little Benjamin with their ruler, the princes of Judah and their council, the princes of Zebulun, and the princes of Naphtali.

NoteBenjamin was the smallest tribe, and Jacob's youngest son, yet is placed at the head of the procession. Judah lay beside Benjamin in the south, Zebulun and Naphtali in the far north; naming both ends of the country is a way of saying the whole nation was there.

28Your God has called out your strength. Show your strength, O God, the strength you have already used for us.

28Thy God hath commanded thy strength: strengthen, O God, that which thou hast wrought for us.

29Because of your temple at Jerusalem, kings will bring you gifts.

29Because of thy temple at Jerusalem shall kings bring presents unto thee.

NoteKings bringing presents to another king's sanctuary is the formal language of tribute, the recognized way a lesser ruler acknowledged a greater one.

30Rebuke the beast of the reeds, the herd of bulls among the calves of the nations, until they bow down and bring bars of silver. Scatter the nations that love war.

30Rebuke the company of spearmen, the multitude of the bulls, with the calves of the people, till every one submit himself with pieces of silver: scatter thou the people that delight in war.

Note"The company of spearmen" is the King James translators' guess. The Hebrew reads "the beast of the reeds," usually understood as the hippopotamus or crocodile of the Nile marshes, and so as a figure for Egypt. Bulls with calves stands for rulers together with their peoples. "Pieces of silver" are bars or ingots of silver paid as tribute; the clause is uncertain and has also been read as trampling those pieces of silver underfoot.

31Messengers will come out of Egypt. Ethiopia will quickly reach out her hands to God.

31Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God.

Note"Ethiopia" here translates Cush, the kingdom south of Egypt along the upper Nile, in what is now mainly Sudan. It is not the modern country called Ethiopia.

32Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth. Sing praises to the Lord. Selah:

32Sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth; O sing praises unto the Lord; Selah:

33Sing to the one who rides on the highest heavens, which have been there from long ago. Listen, he sends out his voice, and it is a powerful voice.

33To him that rideth upon the heavens of heavens, which were of old; lo, he doth send out his voice, and that a mighty voice.

Note"Heavens of heavens" is a Hebrew superlative meaning the highest heaven of all. God's "voice" in a passage of storm imagery like this one is thunder.

34Say that the power belongs to God. His greatness is over Israel, and his strength is in the skies.

34Ascribe ye strength unto God: his excellency is over Israel, and his strength is in the clouds.

Note"Excellency" in 1611 English meant loftiness or majesty, height above everything else, not excellence in the modern sense of high quality. To "ascribe" strength is to declare publicly that the strength belongs to him.

35O God, you are awe-inspiring from your holy places. The God of Israel is the one who gives strength and power to his people. Praise God.

35O God, thou art terrible out of thy holy places: the God of Israel is he that giveth strength and power unto his people. Blessed be God.

Note"Terrible" in 1611 English meant awe-inspiring, causing fear because too great to face. It did not mean bad or of poor quality, which is what the word means now.