Psalms 68:12-22

12 The kings of virtues be made loved of the darling; and to the fairness of the house to part spoils. (The kings and their hosts, or their armies, fled away; and she of the house parted the spoils.)

13 If ye sleep among the midst of sorts, either heritages, (yet ye shall be as) the feathers of the culver (that) be (covered) of silver; and the hinder things of the back thereof be in the shining of gold. (Though ye have slept among the pots, yet ye shall be like the wings of the dove that be covered with silver; and the feathers on its back that be covered with shining gold.)

14 While the king of heaven deemeth kings thereon, they shall be made whiter than snow in Salmon; (When the King of heaven scattered the kings there; they fell like the snow in Salmon.)

15 the hill of God is a fat hill. The crudded hill is a fat hill; (The hill of God is like Mount Bashan; yea, the curdled hill is like Mount Bashan, with many peaks.)

16 whereto believe ye falsely, (ye) crudded hills? The hill in which it pleaseth well God to dwell therein; for the Lord shall dwell (there) into the end. (But why, ye curdled hills, gaze ye with envy at the hill where it well pleaseth God to live? for the Lord shall live there forever!)

17 The chariot of God is manyfold with ten thousand, a thousand of them that be glad; the Lord was in them, in Sinai, in the holy (place). (The chariots of God be twice ten thousand, yea, many thousands; the Lord came with them, from Sinai, to the holy place.)

18 Thou ascendedest on high, thou tookest captivity (captive); thou receivedest gifts among men. For why thou tookest (also from) them that believed not; for to dwell in the Lord God. (Thou ascendedest on high, thou tookest the captivity captive; thou receivedest gifts, or tribute, from people. But thou also receivedest gifts from those who believed not/from those who were rebellious; so that the Lord God might live among them.)

19 Blessed be the Lord each day; the God of our healths shall make an easy way to us. (Blessed be the Lord; each day the God of our salvation shall make our way easier for us.)

20 Our God is God to make men safe; and out-going from death is of the Lord God. (Our God is the God who saveth people; and our escape from death is by the Lord God.)

21 Nevertheless God shall break the heads of his enemies; the top of the hair of them that go in their trespasses. (But God shall break the heads of his enemies; yea, the top of their hair who go in their trespasses.)

22 The Lord said, I shall turn (again) from Bashan; I shall turn (again) into the depth of the sea. (The Lord said, I shall return from Bashan; I shall return from the depths of the sea./The Lord said, I shall bring back my people from Bashan; I shall bring them back from the depths of the sea.)

Psalms 68:12-22 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.