Psalms 68:21-31

21 God will surely crush the heads of his enemies, the hairy crowns of those who continue in their guilt.

22 Adonai said, "I will bring them back from Bashan, I will fetch [those rebels] even from the depths of the sea;

23 so that you can wash your feet in their blood, and your dogs' tongues too can get their share from your foes.

24 They see your processions, God, the processions of my God, my king, in holiness.

25 The singers are in front, the musicians last, in the middle are girls playing tambourines.

26 "In choruses, bless God, Adonai, you whose source is Isra'el."

27 There is Binyamin, the youngest, at the head; the princes of Y'hudah, crowding along; the princes of Z'vulun; the princes of Naftali.

28 God, summon your strength! Use your strength, God, as you did for us before,

29 from your temple in Yerushalayim, where kings will bring tribute to you.

30 Rebuke the wild beast of the reeds, that herd of bulls with their calves, the peoples, who ingratiate themselves with bars of silver; let him scatter the peoples who take pleasure in fighting.

31 Let envoys come from Egypt, Let Ethiopia stretch out its hands to God.

Psalms 68:21-31 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.