Psalms 68:20

20 Our God [is] a God of deliverances, and to [the] Yahweh the Lord belong escapes from death.

Psalms 68:20 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 68:20

[He that is] our God
Or "God for us" F17; is on our side; and is the mighty God, able to save to the uttermost;

[is] the God of salvation;
or "God for salvations" F18; for the obtaining of them for his people, and giving them to them, even of every kind;

and unto God the Lord [belong] the issues from death;
deliverance from it; Christ has abolished it, and him that had the power of it; has delivered himself from it, and will deliver all his people from it, though they become subject to it, as well as from eternal death; for he has the keys of hell and death in his hands. Some render the words, "to God the Lord belong the issues", or "ways unto death" F19; he has various ways of bringing persons to death, of destroying his and his people's enemies; and so Jarchi, Aben Ezra, and Kimchi interpret it; though the following words seem to be opposed to these: the Heathens had a notion that the power of death belonged to God; hence they had a deity called the god of death, "Dites" F20.


FOOTNOTES:

F17 (wnl lah) "Deus nobis, vel est nobis", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Piscator.
F18 (twevwml la) "Deus ad salutes", Pagninus, Montanus
F19 (twauwt twml) "ad mortem exitus", Pagninus, Montanus; "mille viae laethi", Lucan.
F20 Macrob. in Somn. Scip. l. 1. c. 11.

Psalms 68:20 In-Context

18 You have ascended on high; you have led away captives. You have received gifts [from] among humankind, and even [from the] rebellious, so that Yah God may dwell [there].
19 Blessed be the Lord. Daily he loads us [with benefits], the God [of] our salvation. Selah
20 Our God [is] a God of deliverances, and to [the] Yahweh the Lord belong escapes from death.
21 But God will shatter the head of his enemies, the hairy scalp [of the one who] {continues on} in his guilt.
22 The Lord said, "I will bring [them] back from Bashan; I will bring [them] back from [the] depths of [the] sea,
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