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68. Psalm 68

1 May God arise, may his enemies be scattered;
   may his foes flee before him.
2 May you blow them away like smoke—
   as wax melts before the fire,
   may the wicked perish before God.
3 But may the righteous be glad
   and rejoice before God;
   may they be happy and joyful.

    4 Sing to God, sing in praise of his name,
   extol him who rides on the clouds Or name, / prepare the way for him who rides through the deserts;
   rejoice before him—his name is the LORD.
5 A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows,
   is God in his holy dwelling.
6 God sets the lonely in families, Or the desolate in a homeland
   he leads out the prisoners with singing;
   but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.

    7 When you, God, went out before your people,
   when you marched through the wilderness, The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the end of verses 19 and 32.
8 the earth shook, the heavens poured down rain,
   before God, the One of Sinai,
   before God, the God of Israel.
9 You gave abundant showers, O God;
   you refreshed your weary inheritance.
10 Your people settled in it,
   and from your bounty, God, you provided for the poor.

    11 The Lord announces the word,
   and the women who proclaim it are a mighty throng:
12 “Kings and armies flee in haste;
   the women at home divide the plunder.
13 Even while you sleep among the sheep pens, Or the campfires; or the saddlebags
   the wings of my dove are sheathed with silver,
   its feathers with shining gold.”
14 When the Almighty Hebrew Shaddai scattered the kings in the land,
   it was like snow fallen on Mount Zalmon.

    15 Mount Bashan, majestic mountain,
   Mount Bashan, rugged mountain,
16 why gaze in envy, you rugged mountain,
   at the mountain where God chooses to reign,
   where the LORD himself will dwell forever?
17 The chariots of God are tens of thousands
   and thousands of thousands;
   the Lord has come from Sinai into his sanctuary. Probable reading of the original Hebrew text; Masoretic Text Lord is among them at Sinai in holiness
18 When you ascended on high,
   you took many captives;
   you received gifts from people,
even from Or gifts for people, / even the rebellious—
   that you, Or they LORD God, might dwell there.

    19 Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior,
   who daily bears our burdens.
20 Our God is a God who saves;
   from the Sovereign LORD comes escape from death.
21 Surely God will crush the heads of his enemies,
   the hairy crowns of those who go on in their sins.
22 The Lord says, “I will bring them from Bashan;
   I will bring them from the depths of the sea,
23 that your feet may wade in the blood of your foes,
   while the tongues of your dogs have their share.”

    24 Your procession, God, has come into view,
   the procession of my God and King into the sanctuary.
25 In front are the singers, after them the musicians;
   with them are the young women playing the timbrels.
26 Praise God in the great congregation;
   praise the LORD in the assembly of Israel.
27 There is the little tribe of Benjamin, leading them,
   there the great throng of Judah’s princes,
   and there the princes of Zebulun and of Naphtali.

    28 Summon your power, God Many Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint and Syriac; most Hebrew manuscripts Your God has summoned power for you;
   show us your strength, our God, as you have done before.
29 Because of your temple at Jerusalem
   kings will bring you gifts.
30 Rebuke the beast among the reeds,
   the herd of bulls among the calves of the nations.
Humbled, may the beast bring bars of silver.
   Scatter the nations who delight in war.
31 Envoys will come from Egypt;
   Cush That is, the upper Nile region will submit herself to God.

    32 Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth,
   sing praise to the Lord,
33 to him who rides across the highest heavens, the ancient heavens,
   who thunders with mighty voice.
34 Proclaim the power of God,
   whose majesty is over Israel,
   whose power is in the heavens.
35 You, God, are awesome in your sanctuary;
   the God of Israel gives power and strength to his people.

   Praise be to God!

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In the next verse he goes farther than before, and calls upon the kingdoms of the earth to praise God, language which implies that those who had once been distinguished by their hostility to him would be ranked amongst his willing worshippers. There must be the knowledge of God, as I have remarked elsewhere, before men can celebrate the praises of his name; and we have a proof of the calling of the Gentiles, in the fact that Moses and the prophets invite them to offer sacrifices of praise. That it might not seem a strange and incredible thing to speak of the extension of the worship of God from one land, within which it had been hitherto confined, to the whole world, David insists upon God’s rightful dominion over all parts of the earth. He rideth upon the heaven of heavens; that is, as we have observed at the beginning of the psalm, he has supreme power over all creatures, and governs the universe at his will. This truth is one which, even in its general application, is well fitted to beget a reverential consideration of the majesty of God; but we must not overlook the more particular reason for which it is here introduced. Mention having been made of the Gentiles, who lay as yet without the pale of the Church, he proves them to be embraced in the government of God by virtue of his sovereignty as Creator, and intimates that there was nothing wonderful in the fact, that he who sits upon the heavens should comprehend the whole inhabitants of the earth under his sway. By the heavens of ancient times, it is meant to intimate that the whole human family were under his power from the very beginning. We have a signal proof of the glorious power of God in the fact, that, notwithstanding the immensity of the fabric of the heavens, the rapidity of their motion, and the conflicting revolutions which take place in them, the most perfect subordination and harmony are preserved; and that this fair and beautiful order has been uninterruptedly maintained for ages. It is apparent then how the ancientness of the heavens may commend to us the singular excellency of the handiwork of God. Having touched upon the work of creation, he particularises thunder, for this is what he intends by a mighty voice, as in Psalm 29:4. There are two constructions which we may put upon the words used, either that by his voice of command he calls forth the thunders which shake heaven and earth with the loudness of their sound, or that he sends forth his mighty voice in the thunder. I have already shown, at some length, in commenting upon the other passage just quoted, that there is a propriety in God’s being represented as thundering; for the phenomenon is one which, more than any other, impresses an awe upon the spirits of men. And the words are introduced with the exclamation lo! or behold! the better to arrest our wandering thoughts, or rather to reprehend our security.
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