Psalm 68:2-12

2 As smoke is blown away, so You blow [them] away.^[a] As wax melts before the fire, so the wicked are destroyed before God.

3 But the righteous are glad; they rejoice before God and celebrate with joy.^[b]

4 Sing to God! Sing praises to His name.^[c] Exalt Him who rides on the clouds^{[d] [e]}- His name is Yahweh^[f]-and rejoice before Him.

5 A father of the fatherless and a champion of widows^[g] is God in His holy dwelling.

6 God provides homes for those who are deserted. He leads out the prisoners to prosperity,^[h] but the rebellious live in a scorched land.

7 God, when You went out before Your people, when You marched through the desert, Selah

8 the earth trembled, and the skies poured down [rain] before God, the God of Sinai,^[i] before God, the God of Israel.^[j]

9 You, God, showered abundant rain;^[k] You revived Your inheritance when it languished.

10 Your people settled in it; by Your goodness You provided for the poor, God.

11 The Lord gave the command; a great company of women brought the good news:^[l]

12 "The kings of the armies flee-they flee!" She who stays at home divides the spoil.

Psalm 68:2-12 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] Ps 37:20; Hs 13:3
• [b] Ps 40:16; 64:10; 1 Sm 2:1; Isa 61:10
• [c] Ps 7:17; 66:4; Ex 15:1-18
• [d] Or rides through the desert
• [e] Ps 18:10-11; Dt 33:26; Isa 19:1
• [f] Lit Yah
• [g] Ps 146:9; Dt 24:17,19; Jr 22:3
• [h] Or prisoners with joyous music; Hb uncertain
• [i] Lit God, this Sinai
• [j] Ex 19:16-18; Jdg 5:4-5
• [k] Ps 65:9-13
• [l] 1 Sm 18:6-7