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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.

14. When the Almighty scattered kings in it We might read extended, or divided kings, etc., and then the allusion would be to his leading them in triumph. But the other reading is preferable, and corresponds better with what was said above of their being put to flight. There is more difficulty in the second part of the verse, some reading, it was white in Salmon; that is, the Church of God presented a fair and beautiful appearance. Or the verb may be viewed as in the second person — Thou, O God! Didst make it fair and white as mount Salmon ²⁶²⁶     Salmon is the name of a mountain in Samaria, in the tribe of Ephraim, (Judges 9:48,) white with perpetual snow. with snows The reader may adopt either construction, for the meaning is the same. It is evident that David insists still upon the figure of the whiteness of silver, which he had previously introduced. The country had, as it were, been blackened or sullied by the hostile confusions into which it was thrown, and he says that it had now recovered its fair appearance, and resembled Salmon, which is well known to have been ordinarily covered with snows. ²⁷²⁷     Carrieres, in his paraphrase, has, “You became white as snow on mount Salmon.” “We certainly think,” says the author of the Illustrated Commentary upon the Bible, “that Carrieres has seized the right idea. The intention evidently is, to describe by a figure the honor and prosperity the Hebrews acquired by the defeat of their enemies, and to express this by whiteness, and superlatively by the whiteness of snow. Nothing can be more usual in Persia, for instance, than for a person to say, under an influx of prosperity or honor, or on receiving happy intelligence, ‘My face is made white;’ or gratefully, in return for a favor or compliment, ‘You have made my face white;’ so also, ‘His face is whitened,’ expresses the sense which is entertained of the happiness or favor which has before been received. Such a figurative use of the idea of whiteness does, we imagine, furnish the best explanation of the present and some other texts of Scripture.” Others think that Salmon is not the name of a place, but an appellative, meaning a dark shade. ²⁸²⁸     Instead of “in Salmon,” the Targum has, “in the shade of death;” and Boothroyd has,
   “The Almighty having scattered these kings,
hath by this turned death-shade to splendor.”
   Walford gives a similar version, and explains the meaning to be, “Though you have been in bondage and the darkness of a dejected condition, you are now illuminated with the splendor of victory and prosperity.” I would retain the commonly received reading. At the same time, I think that there may have been an allusion to the etymology. It comes from the word צלם, tselem, signifying a shade, and mount Salmon had been so called on account of its blackness. ²⁹²⁹     That is, it was so called from the dark shade produced by its trees. This makes the comparison more striking; for it intimates, that as the snows whitened this black mountain, so the country had resumed its former beauty, and put on an aspect of joy, when God dispelled the darkness which had lain upon it during the oppression of enemies. ³⁰³⁰     “Que comme les neiges font blanchir ceste montagne, laquelle de soy est obscure et noire, ainsi quand il a pleu a Dieu d’oster l’obscurite qu’apportoit l’affliction des ennemis, lors on a veu la terre reluire d’un lustre naif, et par maniere de dire, porter une face joyeuse.” — Fr.

²⁶ Salmon is the name of a mountain in Samaria, in the tribe of Ephraim, (Judges 9:48,) white with perpetual snow.

²⁷ Carrieres, in his paraphrase, has, “You became white as snow on mount Salmon.” “We certainly think,” says the author of the Illustrated Commentary upon the Bible, “that Carrieres has seized the right idea. The intention evidently is, to describe by a figure the honor and prosperity the Hebrews acquired by the defeat of their enemies, and to express this by whiteness, and superlatively by the whiteness of snow. Nothing can be more usual in Persia, for instance, than for a person to say, under an influx of prosperity or honor, or on receiving happy intelligence, ‘My face is made white;’ or gratefully, in return for a favor or compliment, ‘You have made my face white;’ so also, ‘His face is whitened,’ expresses the sense which is entertained of the happiness or favor which has before been received. Such a figurative use of the idea of whiteness does, we imagine, furnish the best explanation of the present and some other texts of Scripture.”

²⁸ Instead of “in Salmon,” the Targum has, “in the shade of death;” and Boothroyd has, “The Almighty having scattered these kings, hath by this turned death-shade to splendor.” Walford gives a similar version, and explains the meaning to be, “Though you have been in bondage and the darkness of a dejected condition, you are now illuminated with the splendor of victory and prosperity.”

²⁹ That is, it was so called from the dark shade produced by its trees.

³⁰ “Que comme les neiges font blanchir ceste montagne, laquelle de soy est obscure et noire, ainsi quand il a pleu a Dieu d’oster l’obscurite qu’apportoit l’affliction des ennemis, lors on a veu la terre reluire d’un lustre naif, et par maniere de dire, porter une face joyeuse.” — Fr.