Psalms 66

Thanksgiving to God for His Works

1

For the [music] director. A song. A psalm.

1 Shout joyfully to God, all the earth.

2 Sing the glory of his name. {Set forth his glorious praise}.

3 Say to God, "How awesome are your works! Because of the greatness of your strength, your enemies will cringe before you.

4 All the earth will bow in worship to you, and sing [praise] to you. They will sing [the praise of] your name." Selah

5 Come and {consider} the works of God; [he is] awesome [in his] dealings with the children of humankind.

6 He turned [the] sea into dry ground; they passed through the river on foot. There we rejoiced in him.

7 [He] rules by his might forever; his eyes keep watch on the nations. Do not let the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah

8 Bless our God, O peoples, and cause the sound of his praise to be heard,

9 the one who has kept our soul among the living, and has not allowed our foot to slip.

10 For you have tested us, O God; you have tried us as silver is tried.

11 You brought us into the net; you placed a {heavy burden} on our backs.

12 You let men ride over our heads. We went through fire and through water, but you have brought us out to the place of abundance.

13 I will come into your house with burnt offerings. I will pay to you my vows

14 that my lips uttered, and my mouth spoke in my distress.

15 Burnt offerings of fat animals I will offer to you, with [the] smoke of rams. I will do cattle with rams. Selah

16 Come [and] hear, all you God-fearers, and I will tell what he has done for me.

17 I called to him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue.

18 If I had considered evil in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.

19 However, God has listened; he has attended to the sound of my prayer.

20 Blessed be God, who has not turned aside my prayer, or his loyal love from me.

Psalms 66 Commentary

Chapter 66

Praise for God's sovereign power in the creation. (1-7) For his favour to his church. (8-12) And the psalmist's praise for his experience of God's goodness. (13-20)

Verses 1-7 The holy church throughout all the world lifts up her voice, to laud that Name which is above every name, to make the praise of Jesus glorious, both by word and deed; that others may be led to glorify him also. But nothing can bring men to do this aright, unless his effectual grace create their hearts anew unto holiness; and in the redemption by the death of Christ, and the glorious deliverances it effects, are more wondrous works than Israel's deliverance from Egyptian bondage.

Verses 8-12 The Lord not only preserves our temporal life, but maintains the spiritual life which he has given to believers. By afflictions we are proved, as silver in the fire. The troubles of the church will certainly end well. Through various conflicts and troubles, the slave of Satan escapes from his yoke, and obtains joy and peace in believing: through much tribulation the believer must enter into the kingdom of God.

Verses 13-20 We should declare unto those that fear God, what he has done for our souls, and how he has heard and answered our prayers, inviting them to join us in prayer and praise; this will turn to our mutual comfort, and to the glory of God. We cannot share these spiritual privileges, if we retain the love of sin in our hearts, though we refrain from the gross practice, Sin, regarded in the heart, will spoil the comfort and success of prayer; for the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination of the Lord. But if the feeling of sin in the heart causes desires to be rid of it; if it be the presence of one urging a demand we know we must not, cannot comply with, this is an argument of sincerity. And when we pray in simplicity and godly sincerity, our prayers will be answered. This will excite gratitude to Him who hath not turned away our prayer nor his mercy from us. It was not prayer that fetched the deliverance, but his mercy that sent it. That is the foundation of our hopes, the fountain of our comforts; and ought to be the matter of our praises.

Footnotes

• [a]. The Hebrew Bible counts the superscription as the first verse of the psalm
• [b]. Literally "set for glory--his praise"
• [c]. Literally "see"
• [d]. Hebrew "dealing"
• [e]. According to the reading tradition (Qere)
• [f]. Literally "oppression"
• [g]. Hebrew "man"
• [h]. A slightly different Hebrew word yields "a broad place"
• [i]. Or "temple"
• [j]. That is, "offer"
• [k]. Hebrew "my soul"
• [l]. A slightly different Hebrew word yields "his exaltation was under my tongue"

Chapter Summary

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.