Psalms 66:13-20

13 I shall enter into thine house in burnt sacrifices; I shall yield to thee my vows, (I shall enter into thy House with burnt sacrifices; I shall pay my vows to thee,)
14 which my lips spake distinctly. And my mouth spake in my tribulation; (which my lips shall speak clearly, or distinctly. Yea, what I said I would do, when I was in trouble, and you helped me.)
15 I shall offer to thee burnt sacrifices full of marrow, with the burning of rams; I shall offer to thee oxes with bucks of goats.
16 All ye that dread God, come and hear, and I shall tell; how great things he hath done to my soul. (All ye who fear God, come and listen; and I shall tell you what great things he hath done for my soul./All ye who revere God, come and listen; and I shall tell you what great things he hath done for me.)
17 I cried to him with my mouth; and I joyed fully under my tongue. (I cried to him with my mouth; and I praised him with my tongue.)
18 If I beheld wickedness in mine heart; the Lord shall not hear. (And if I had still held wickedness in my heart; then the Lord would not have heard me.)
19 Therefore God heard; and he perceived the voice of my beseeching. (But truly God did hear me; and he hath listened to the words of my plea.)
20 Blessed be God; that removed not my prayer, nor his mercy from me. (Blessed be God; who did not turn my prayer away, nor kept back his love from me.)

Psalms 66:13-20 Meaning and Commentary

To the chief Musician, A Song [or] Psalm. This psalm does not bear the name of David in the title of it, yet is generally thought to be one of his; but because the plural number is used in it, which is not so common in David's psalms, Aben Ezra is of opinion it is not his, but written by the singers. This is not a sufficient objection: and besides, in Psalm 66:13, the singular number is used. The Arabic version ascribes it to David, and that version makes the subject matter of it to be "concerning the resurrection"; as do the Septuagint, Ethiopic, and Vulgate Latin versions. The title of the Syriac version is, "concerning sacrifices and burnt offerings, and the incense of rams; the spiritual sense intimates to us the calling of the Gentiles, and the preaching, that is, of the Gospel;" which comes nearest the truth: for the psalm respects Gospel times, and the church of Christ under the New Testament, spread throughout the world, and especially as it will be in the latter day; see Psalm 66:1; and so in Yalkut Simeoni on the psalm, it is said to be a psalm for time to come, and agrees with Zephaniah 3:9; "I will turn to the people a pure language," &c. Kimchi says it is a psalm concerning the gathering of the captives of Israel; and so Jarchi and Obadiah expound it; and Theodoret says David wrote this psalm for the captives in Babylon.
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.