Psalms 68:4-24

4 laboravi clamans raucae factae sunt fauces meae defecerunt oculi mei dum spero in Deum meum

5 multiplicati sunt super capillos capitis mei qui oderunt me gratis confortati sunt qui persecuti sunt me inimici mei iniuste quae non rapui tunc exsolvebam

6 Deus tu scis insipientiam meam et delicta mea a te non sunt abscondita

7 non erubescant in me qui expectant te Domine Domine virtutum non confundantur super me qui quaerunt te Deus Israhel

8 quoniam propter te sustinui obprobrium operuit confusio faciem meam

9 extraneus factus sum fratribus meis et peregrinus filiis matris meae

10 quoniam zelus domus tuae comedit me et obprobria exprobrantium tibi ceciderunt super me

11 et operui in ieiunio animam meam et factum est in obprobrium mihi

12 et posui vestimentum meum cilicium et factus sum illis in parabolam

13 adversum me exercebantur qui sedebant in porta et in me psallebant qui bibebant vinum

14 ego vero orationem meam ad te Domine tempus beneplaciti Deus in multitudine misericordiae tuae exaudi me in veritate salutis tuae

15 eripe me de luto ut non infigar liberer ab his qui oderunt me et de profundis aquarum

16 non me demergat tempestas aquae neque absorbeat me profundum neque urgeat super me puteus os suum

17 exaudi me Domine quoniam benigna est misericordia tua secundum multitudinem miserationum tuarum respice me

18 et ne avertas faciem tuam a puero tuo quoniam tribulor velociter exaudi me

19 intende animae meae et libera eam propter inimicos meos eripe me

20 tu scis inproperium meum et confusionem et reverentiam meam

21 in conspectu tuo sunt omnes qui tribulant me inproperium expectavit cor meum et miseriam et sustinui qui simul contristaretur et non fuit et qui consolaretur et non inveni

22 et dederunt in escam meam fel et in siti mea potaverunt me aceto

23 fiat mensa eorum coram ipsis in laqueum et in retributiones et in scandalum

24 obscurentur oculi eorum ne videant et dorsum eorum semper incurva

Psalms 68:4-24 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.