Psalms 66:1-12

1 Praise God with shouts of joy, all people!

2 Sing to the glory of his name; offer him glorious praise!

3 Say to God, "How wonderful are the things you do! Your power is so great that your enemies bow down in fear before you.

4 Everyone on earth worships you; they sing praises to you, they sing praises to your name."

5 Come and see what God has done, his wonderful acts among people.

6 He changed the sea into dry land; ¹ our ancestors crossed the river on foot. There we rejoiced because of what he did.

7 He rules forever by his might and keeps his eyes on the nations. Let no rebels rise against him.

8 Praise our God, all nations; let your praise be heard.

9 He has kept us alive and has not allowed us to fall.

10 You have put us to the test, God; as silver is purified by fire, so you have tested us.

11 You let us fall into a trap and placed heavy burdens on our backs.

12 You let our enemies trample us; we went through fire and flood, but now you have brought us to a place of safety.

Psalms 66:1-12 Meaning and Commentary

To the chief Musician, A Song [or] Psalm. This psalm does not bear the name of David in the title of it, yet is generally thought to be one of his; but because the plural number is used in it, which is not so common in David's psalms, Aben Ezra is of opinion it is not his, but written by the singers. This is not a sufficient objection: and besides, in Psalm 66:13, the singular number is used. The Arabic version ascribes it to David, and that version makes the subject matter of it to be "concerning the resurrection"; as do the Septuagint, Ethiopic, and Vulgate Latin versions. The title of the Syriac version is, "concerning sacrifices and burnt offerings, and the incense of rams; the spiritual sense intimates to us the calling of the Gentiles, and the preaching, that is, of the Gospel;" which comes nearest the truth: for the psalm respects Gospel times, and the church of Christ under the New Testament, spread throughout the world, and especially as it will be in the latter day; see Psalm 66:1; and so in Yalkut Simeoni on the psalm, it is said to be a psalm for time to come, and agrees with Zephaniah 3:9; "I will turn to the people a pure language," &c. Kimchi says it is a psalm concerning the gathering of the captives of Israel; and so Jarchi and Obadiah expound it; and Theodoret says David wrote this psalm for the captives in Babylon.

Cross References

• 1. 66.6 aExodus 14.21; bJoshua 3.14-17.

Footnotes

• [a] [Some ancient translations] safety; [Hebrew] overflowing.