Psalms 66:1-8

1 Send up a glad cry to God, all the earth:
2 Make a song in honour of his name: give praise and glory to him.
3 Say to God, How greatly to be feared are your works! because of your great power your haters are forced to put themselves under your feet.
4 Let all the earth give you worship, and make songs to you; let them make songs to your name. (Selah.)
5 Come and see the works of God: he is to be feared in all he does to the children of men.
6 The sea was turned into dry land: they went through the river on foot: there did we have joy in him.
7 He is ruling in power for ever; his eyes are watching the nations: may his haters have no strength against him. (Selah.)
8 Give blessings to our God, O you peoples, let the voice of his praise be loud;

Psalms 66:1-8 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.
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