Psalms 68:1-18

1 ¹God shall arise, his enemies shall be ²scattered; and those who hate him shall flee before him!

2 As ³smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away; ⁴as wax melts before fire, so the wicked shall perish before God!

3 But ⁵the righteous shall be glad; they shall exult before God; they shall be jubilant with joy!

4 Sing to God, ⁶sing praises to his name; ⁷lift up a song to him who ⁸rides through ⁹the deserts; his name is ¹⁰the LORD; exult before him!

5 ¹¹Father of the fatherless and ¹²protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.

6 God ¹³settles the solitary in a home; he ¹⁴leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but ¹⁵the rebellious dwell in ¹⁶a parched land.

7 O God, when you ¹⁷went out before your people, ¹⁸when you marched through ¹⁹the wilderness, Selah

8 ²⁰the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain, before God, the One of Sinai, before God, the God of Israel.

9 ²¹Rain in abundance, O God, you shed abroad; you restored your inheritance as it languished;

10 your flock^[a] found a dwelling in it; in your goodness, O God, you ²²provided for the needy.

11 The Lord gives ²³the word; ²⁴the women who announce the news are a great host:

12 ²⁵"The kings of the armies--they flee, they flee!" The women at home ²⁶divide the spoil--

13 though you men lie among ²⁷the sheepfolds-- the wings of a dove covered with silver, its pinions with shimmering gold.

14 When the Almighty scatters kings there, let snow fall on ²⁸Zalmon.

15 O mountain of God, mountain of Bashan; O many-peaked^[b] mountain, mountain of Bashan!

16 Why do you look with hatred, O many-peaked mountain, at the mount that God ²⁹desired for his abode, yes, where the LORD will dwell forever?

17 ³⁰The chariots of God are twice ten thousand, thousands upon thousands; the Lord is among them; Sinai is now in the sanctuary.

18 ³¹You ascended on high, ³²leading a host of captives in your train and ³³receiving gifts among men, even among ³⁴the rebellious, ³⁵that the LORD God may dwell there.

Psalms 68:1-18 Meaning and Commentary

To the chief Musician, A Psalm [or] Song of David. The Targum makes the argument of this psalm to be the coming of the children of Israel out of Egypt, and the giving of the law on Mount Sinai; in which it is followed by many of the Jewish interpreters: but Aben Ezra rejects such an interpretation of it, and thinks that David composed it, concerning the war he had with the uncircumcised nations, the Philistines and others, 2 Samuel 8:1, &c. And so the title of the Syriac version begins, "a psalm of David, when the kings prepared themselves to fight against him:" and Kimchi says it was composed on account of Sennacherib's army coming against Jerusalem, in the times of Hezekiah, and so delivered by David, under a spirit of prophecy concerning that affair; though he owns that some of their writers interpret it of the war of Gog and Magog, in the times of the Messiah they yet expect. But they are much nearer the truth, who take it that it was written on occasion of the ark being brought to the city of David; seeing it begins with much the same words that Moses used when the ark set forward in his times, Numbers 10:35; and the bringing of which was attended with great joy and gladness, 2 Samuel 6:14; such as the righteous are called upon to express in this psalm, Psalm 68:3. And this being a type of Christ, and of his ascending the holy hill of God, may be allowed of; for certain it is that this psalm treats of the coming of Christ, and of blessings by him, and of victory over his enemies; and particularly of his ascension to heaven, as most evidently appears from Ephesians 4:8; and from prophecies in it, concerning the calling of the Gentiles. Wherefore the latter part of the Syriac inscription of it is very pertinent; "also a prophecy concerning the dispensation of the Messiah, and concerning the calling of the Gentiles to the faith." Jarchi interprets Psalm 68:31 of the Messiah.

Cross References

• 1. Numbers 10:35; Isaiah 33:3
• 2. [Psalms 89:10; Psalms 92:9]
• 3. See Psalms 37:20
• 4. Psalms 22:14; Psalms 97:5; Micah 1:4
• 5. See Psalms 32:11
• 6. Psalms 66:4
• 7. [Isaiah 62:10]
• 8. ver. 33; [Psalms 18:10]
• 9. Isaiah 40:3
• 10. Psalms 89:8
• 11. See Psalms 10:14
• 12. Deuteronomy 10:18
• 13. Psalms 113:9; 1 Samuel 2:5
• 14. Psalms 69:33; Psalms 107:10, 14; Psalms 146:7; Acts 12:7; Acts 16:26
• 15. ver. 18
• 16. [Psalms 107:33, 40]
• 17. Exodus 13:21; Judges 4:14; Habakkuk 3:13; Zechariah 14:3
• 18. Judges 5:4
• 19. Psalms 78:40
• 20. Exodus 19:18; Judges 5:4
• 21. See Psalms 65:9, 10
• 22. Psalms 65:9; Psalms 78:20
• 23. [Psalms 33:9]
• 24. [Exodus 15:20; 1 Samuel 18:6]
• 25. Psalms 110:5; [Numbers 31:8; Joshua 10:16; Judges 5:19]; See Joshua 12:7-24
• 26. Judges 5:30
• 27. [Genesis 49:14; Judges 5:16]
• 28. Judges 9:48
• 29. Psalms 132:13, 14; [Psalms 78:54; Psalms 87:1, 2; Deuteronomy 12:5]
• 30. 2 Kings 6:17; Habakkuk 3:8
• 31. Psalms 7:7; Psalms 47:5; Cited Ephesians 4:8; [Acts 1:9]
• 32. Judges 5:12
• 33. [Acts 2:4, 33]
• 34. [Romans 5:8; 1 Timothy 1:13]
• 35. Psalms 78:60; Exodus 29:45; Revelation 21:3; [John 14:23]

Footnotes

• [a]. Or your congregation
• [b]. Or hunch-backed; also verse 16