Psalms 68:20

20 God is to us a God of deliverance. To the LORD, the Lord, belongs escape 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 You have ascended on high. You have led away captives. You have received gifts among men, Yes, among the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell there.
19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burdens, Even the God who is our salvation. Selah.
20 God is to us a God of deliverance. To the LORD, the Lord, belongs escape from death.
21 But God will strike through the head of his enemies, The hairy scalp of such a one as still continues in his guiltiness.
22 The Lord said, "I will bring you again from Bashan, I will bring you again from the depths of the sea;
The Hebrew Names Version is in the public domain.