Psalms 68:5-15

5 which is the father of fatherless and motherless children; and the judge of widows (who is the father of the fatherless and the motherless; and the judge of widows). God is in his holy place;

6 God that maketh men of one will to dwell in the house. Which leadeth out by strength them that be bound; in like manner them that make sharp, that dwell in sepulchres. (yea, God who helpeth people to come and live in a house with others. And who leadeth out those who be bound into freedom; but they who rebel shall live in a dry land.)

7 God, when thou wentest out in the sight of thy people; when thou passedest forth in the desert. (God, when thou wentest out before thy people; yea, when thou wentest forth in the wilderness,)

8 The earth was moved, for heavens dropped down from the face of God of Sinai; from the face of God of Israel. (the earth shook, and the heavens dropped down rain/and the heavens quaked, before the God of Sinai; yea, before the God of Israel.)

9 God, thou shalt (im)part willful rain to thine heritage, and it was sick; but thou madest it perfect. (God, thou imparted abundant rain upon the land of thy inheritance; it was enfeebled, or dry, but thou madest it perfect.)

10 Thy beasts shall dwell therein; God, thou hast made ready in thy sweetness to the poor man. (And thy people shall live there; God, in thy goodness, thou hast prepared it for the poor.)

11 The Lord shall give a word; to them that preach the gospel with much virtue. (The Lord gave the word; and many women preached this good news.)

12 The kings of virtues be made loved of the darling; and to the fairness of the house to part spoils. (The kings and their hosts, or their armies, fled away; and she of the house parted the spoils.)

13 If ye sleep among the midst of sorts, either heritages, (yet ye shall be as) the feathers of the culver (that) be (covered) of silver; and the hinder things of the back thereof be in the shining of gold. (Though ye have slept among the pots, yet ye shall be like the wings of the dove that be covered with silver; and the feathers on its back that be covered with shining gold.)

14 While the king of heaven deemeth kings thereon, they shall be made whiter than snow in Salmon; (When the King of heaven scattered the kings there; they fell like the snow in Salmon.)

15 the hill of God is a fat hill. The crudded hill is a fat hill; (The hill of God is like Mount Bashan; yea, the curdled hill is like Mount Bashan, with many peaks.)

Psalms 68:5-15 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.