Psalms 76:1-9

1 To the victory in organs, the psalm of the song of Asaph. (To victory, on instruments, the psalm of the song of Asaph.) God is known in Judah; his name is great in Israel.

2 And his place is made in peace; and his dwelling is in Zion. (And his Tabernacle, or his Tent, is pitched in Salem; and his dwelling place is in Zion.)

3 There he brake powers; bow, shield, sword, and battle.

4 And thou, God, lightenest wonderfully (coming back) from everlasting hills; (And thou, O God, wonderfully lightenest, coming back from the everlasting hills;)

5 all unwise men of heart were troubled. They slept their sleep, that is, were dead; and all men found nothing of riches in their hands. (and all who were foolish and ignorant were troubled. But now they have slept their sleep, that is, they be dead; and all their riches be found to be nothing in their hands.)

6 They that ascended on horses; slept for thy blaming, thou God of Jacob. (They who ascended on horses; now be asleep, or dead, after thy rebuke, O God of Jacob.)

7 Thou art fearful, and who shall against-stand thee? from that time (of) thine ire. (Thou art to be feared; and who shall be able to stand against thee, when thou art angry?)

8 From heaven thou madest doom heard; the earth trembled, and rested. (From heaven thou madest thy judgement heard; and the earth trembled, or shook, and kept silent.)

9 When God rose up into doom; to make safe all the mild men of earth. (When God rose up to judge; and to save all the humble of the earth.)

Psalms 76:1-9 Meaning and Commentary

To the chief Musician on Neginoth, A Psalm [or] Song of Asaph. The Targum is, "by the hand of Asaph:" concerning "neginoth," see the title of Psalm 4:1, this psalm is generally thought to be written on account of some great appearance of God for the Jews, or victory obtained by them over their enemies, either the Ammonites in the times of David; so the first part of the Syriac inscription is, "when Rabbah of the children of Ammon was destroyed;" see 2 Samuel 12:26 or in the time of Jehoshaphat, when they came up against him, and were in a wonderful manner defeated, which occasioned great joy and thankfulness, 2 Chronicles 20:1. The Septuagint version entitles the psalm "an ode against the Assyrian," in which it is followed by the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions: and it is the opinion of many that it was written on account of the defeat of Sennacherib, and his army, which came up against Jerusalem in the times of Hezekiah, and was destroyed by an angel in one night, and so slept their sleep, and a dead one, with which agree Psalm 76:5, so Arama and Theodoret; Jarchi gives this reason for such an interpretation, because we do not find that any enemy fell at or near Jerusalem but he, as is said Psalm 76:3, "there brake he the arrows of the bow," &c. nor was one arrow suffered to be thrown into the city, 2 Kings 19:32. Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it of the war of Gog and Magog, yet to come; and the latter part of the Syriac inscription is, "moreover it shows the vengeance of the judgment of Christ against the ungodly;" and indeed it seems to point out the latter day, when Christ shalt destroy the antichristian kings and states, and save his own people, and shall be feared and praised; as the former part of it may respect his incarnation, appearance, and dwelling in the land of Judea, and so the whole is of the same argument with the preceding psalm.