Psalm 68:17-27

17 God's chariots^[a] are tens of thousands, thousands and thousands; the Lord is among them in the sanctuary^[b] as He was at Sinai.^{[c] [d]}

18 You ascended to the heights, taking away captives; You received gifts from^[e] people, even from the rebellious, so that the Lord God might live [there].^{[f] [g]}

19 May the Lord be praised! Day after day He bears our burdens;^[h] God is our salvation. Selah

20 Our God is a God of salvation, and escape from death belongs to the Lord God .

21 Surely God crushes the heads of His enemies, the hairy head of one who goes on in his guilty acts.

22 The Lord said, "I will bring [them] back from Bashan; I will bring [them] back from the depths of the sea

23 so that your foot may wade^[i] in blood and your dogs' tongues may have their share from the enemies."^[j]

24 People have seen Your procession,^[k] God, the procession of my God, my King, in the sanctuary.^[l]

25 Singers^[m] lead the way, with musicians following; among them are young women playing tambourines.^[n]

26 Praise God in the assemblies; [praise] the Lord from the fountain of Israel.

27 There is Benjamin, the youngest, leading them, the rulers of Judah in their assembly,^[o] the rulers of Zebulun, the rulers of Naphtali.

Psalm 68:17-27 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.

Footnotes

• [a] Hab 3:8
• [b] Or in holiness
• [c] Some emend text to Lord came from Sinai into the holy place
• [d] Dt 33:2
• [e] Lit among
• [f] Or even those rebelling against the Lord God's living there, or even rebels are living with the Lord God; Hb obscure
• [g] Dt 21:10; Eph 4:8
• [h] Isa 46:3-4
• [i] LXX, Syr read dip
• [j] 1 Kg 21:19; 22:38; 2 Kg 9:36
• [k] Ps 42:4; Isa 60:11
• [l] Or in holiness
• [m] Some Hb mss, LXX, Syr read Officials
• [n] Jdg 11:34; 1 Sm 18:6; Jr 31:4
• [o] Hb obscure