Psalms 66:3

3 Say ye to God, Lord, thy works be full dreadful; in the multitude of thy virtue thine enemies shall lie (down) to thee. (Say ye to God, Lord, thy works be very fearful/how awesome be thy works; because of thy great strength thy enemies shall fall down before thee.)

Psalms 66:3 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 66:3

Say unto God
Or, "concerning God" ^F20, as some; or, "before God", as the Targum; say to him as follows, in psalms and hymns of praise:

how terrible art thou in thy works!
or "reverend" ^F21; to be feared and reverenced with a godly fear on account of them; such as the works of nature and providence, which are stupendous and marvellous, fearfully and wonderfully wrought; and especially those of grace and redemption, in which the goodness of Christ is manifest, and for which he is to be feared: unless rather his judgments upon his enemies are here meant; who, though he is a Lamb to his own people, is the Lion of the tribe of Judah to them, whom he will break in pieces as a potter's vessel it may be read, "how terrible", or "tremendous", is everyone of "thy works"; so Aben Ezra, and also Jarchi, who interprets the next clause,

through the greatness of thy power,
thus,

``when thou showest to the world thy power, by the pestilence, or sword, or famine, or lightnings:''

shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee?
in a lying, flattering, and deceitful manner, as the word ^F23 here used signifies; (See Gill on Psalms 18:44); or, as the above interpreters,

``they shall, through the greatness of fear, confess the lies and transgressions they have committed.''

It will be a forced, and not a free, confession and submission; Christ's enemies, whether they will or not, will be obliged to own that he is Lord, to the glory of God the Father, ( Philippians 2:10 Philippians 2:11 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F20 (Myhlal wrma) "dicite de Deo", Campensis apud Gejerum; and some in Michaelis.
F21 (arwn) "reverendus", Junius & Tremellius.
F23 (wvxby) "mentientur", V. L. Musculus, Montanus; "mendaciter se dedunt", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Amama.

Psalms 66:3 In-Context

1 To victory, the song of [the] psalm. All the earth, make ye joy heartily to God (All the earth, heartily make ye joy to God),

2 say ye psalm to his name; give ye glory to his praising. (sing ye a song to his name; give ye him glorious praise.)

3 Say ye to God, Lord, thy works be full dreadful; in the multitude of thy virtue thine enemies shall lie (down) to thee. (Say ye to God, Lord, thy works be very fearful/how awesome be thy works; because of thy great strength thy enemies shall fall down before thee.)

4 God, all the earth worship thee, and sing to thee; say it psalm to thy name. (God, let all the earth worship thee, and sing to thee; yea, sing they a song to thy name.)

5 Come ye and see ye the works of God; fearedful in counsels on the sons of men (fearful, or awesome, in his counsels toward the sons and daughters of men).