Psalms 68:20

20 Our God is a God who saves; he is the Lord, our Lord, who rescues us from death.

Psalms 68:20 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 68:20

[He that is] our God
Or "God for us" F17; is on our side; and is the mighty God, able to save to the uttermost;

[is] the God of salvation;
or "God for salvations" F18; for the obtaining of them for his people, and giving them to them, even of every kind;

and unto God the Lord [belong] the issues from death;
deliverance from it; Christ has abolished it, and him that had the power of it; has delivered himself from it, and will deliver all his people from it, though they become subject to it, as well as from eternal death; for he has the keys of hell and death in his hands. Some render the words, "to God the Lord belong the issues", or "ways unto death" F19; he has various ways of bringing persons to death, of destroying his and his people's enemies; and so Jarchi, Aben Ezra, and Kimchi interpret it; though the following words seem to be opposed to these: the Heathens had a notion that the power of death belonged to God; hence they had a deity called the god of death, "Dites" F20.


FOOTNOTES:

F17 (wnl lah) "Deus nobis, vel est nobis", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Piscator.
F18 (twevwml la) "Deus ad salutes", Pagninus, Montanus
F19 (twauwt twml) "ad mortem exitus", Pagninus, Montanus; "mille viae laethi", Lucan.
F20 Macrob. in Somn. Scip. l. 1. c. 11.

Psalms 68:20 In-Context

18 He goes up to the heights, taking many captives with him; he receives gifts from rebellious people. The Lord God will live there.
19 Praise the Lord, who carries our burdens day after day; he is the God who saves us.
20 Our God is a God who saves; he is the Lord, our Lord, who rescues us from death.
21 God will surely break the heads of his enemies, of those who persist in their sinful ways.
22 The Lord has said, "I will bring your enemies back from Bashan; I will bring them back from the depths of the ocean,
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.