Psalm 68:1-10

1 Au chef des chantres. De David. Psaume. Cantique. Dieu se lève, ses ennemis se dispersent, Et ses adversaires fuient devant sa face.

2 Comme la fumée se dissipe, tu les dissipes; Comme la cire se fond au feu, Les méchants disparaissent devant Dieu.

3 Mais les justes se réjouissent, ils triomphent devant Dieu, Ils ont des transports d'allégresse.

4 Chantez à Dieu, célébrez son nom! Frayez le chemin à celui qui s'avance à travers les plaines! L'Eternel est son nom: réjouissez-vous devant lui!

5 Le père des orphelins, le défenseur des veuves, C'est Dieu dans sa demeure sainte.

6 Dieu donne une famille à ceux qui étaient abandonnés, Il délivre les captifs et les rend heureux; Les rebelles seuls habitent des lieux arides.

7 O Dieu! quand tu sortis à la tête de ton peuple, Quand tu marchais dans le désert, -Pause.

8 La terre trembla, les cieux se fondirent devant Dieu, Le Sinaï s'ébranla devant Dieu, le Dieu d'Israël.

9 Tu fis tomber une pluie bienfaisante, ô Dieu! Tu fortifias ton héritage épuisé.

10 Ton peuple établit sa demeure dans le pays Que par ta bonté, ô Dieu! tu avais préparé pour les malheureux.

Psalm 68:1-10 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.