Psalms 66

1 To victory, the song of [the] psalm. All the earth, make ye joy heartily to God (All the earth, heartily make ye joy to God),

2 say ye psalm to his name; give ye glory to his praising. (sing ye a song to his name; give ye him glorious praise.)

3 Say ye to God, Lord, thy works be full dreadful; in the multitude of thy virtue thine enemies shall lie (down) to thee. (Say ye to God, Lord, thy works be very fearful/how awesome be thy works; because of thy great strength thy enemies shall fall down before thee.)

4 God, all the earth worship thee, and sing to thee; say it psalm to thy name. (God, let all the earth worship thee, and sing to thee; yea, sing they a song to thy name.)

5 Come ye and see ye the works of God; fearedful in counsels on the sons of men (fearful, or awesome, in his counsels toward the sons and daughters of men).

6 Which turned the sea into dry land; in the flood they shall pass [through] with foot, there we shall be glad in him. (Who turned the sea into dry land; yea, they passed through the river on foot, and there we rejoiced in him.)

7 The which is Lord in his virtue [into] without end, his eyes behold on folks; they that make sharp be not enhanced in themselves. (Who is the ruler by his might, or his power, forever, and his eyes look on the nations; let not they who rebel against him exalt themselves.)

8 Ye heathen men, bless our God; and make ye heard the voice of his praising. (All ye heathen, bless our God; and make ye the sound of your praises heard.)

9 That hath set my soul to life, and gave not my feet into stirring. (He hath given life to my soul/He hath given life to me, and kept my feet from slipping, or stumbling.)

10 For thou, God, hast proved us; thou hast examined us by fire, as silver is examined (thou hast assayed us by fire, like silver is proved, or assayed).

11 Thou leddest us into a snare, thou puttedest tribulations in our back (thou puttedest troubles upon our backs);

12 thou settedest men on our heads. We passed by fire and water; and thou leddest us out into refreshing. (thou settedest men to ride upon our heads. We passed through fire and water; and then thou leddest us out into refreshing.)

13 I shall enter into thine house in burnt sacrifices; I shall yield to thee my vows, (I shall enter into thy House with burnt sacrifices; I shall pay my vows to thee,)

14 which my lips spake distinctly. And my mouth spake in my tribulation; (which my lips shall speak clearly, or distinctly. Yea, what I said I would do, when I was in trouble, and you helped me.)

15 I shall offer to thee burnt sacrifices full of marrow, with the burning of rams; I shall offer to thee oxes with bucks of goats.

16 All ye that dread God, come and hear, and I shall tell; how great things he hath done to my soul. (All ye who fear God, come and listen; and I shall tell you what great things he hath done for my soul./All ye who revere God, come and listen; and I shall tell you what great things he hath done for me.)

17 I cried to him with my mouth; and I joyed fully under my tongue. (I cried to him with my mouth; and I praised him with my tongue.)

18 If I beheld wickedness in mine heart; the Lord shall not hear. (And if I had still held wickedness in my heart; then the Lord would not have heard me.)

19 Therefore God heard; and he perceived the voice of my beseeching. (But truly God did hear me; and he hath listened to the words of my plea.)

20 Blessed be God; that removed not my prayer, nor his mercy from me. (Blessed be God; who did not turn my prayer away, nor kept back his love from me.)

Psalms 66 Commentary

Chapter 66

Praise for God's sovereign power in the creation. (1-7) For his favour to his church. (8-12) And the psalmist's praise for his experience of God's goodness. (13-20)

Verses 1-7 The holy church throughout all the world lifts up her voice, to laud that Name which is above every name, to make the praise of Jesus glorious, both by word and deed; that others may be led to glorify him also. But nothing can bring men to do this aright, unless his effectual grace create their hearts anew unto holiness; and in the redemption by the death of Christ, and the glorious deliverances it effects, are more wondrous works than Israel's deliverance from Egyptian bondage.

Verses 8-12 The Lord not only preserves our temporal life, but maintains the spiritual life which he has given to believers. By afflictions we are proved, as silver in the fire. The troubles of the church will certainly end well. Through various conflicts and troubles, the slave of Satan escapes from his yoke, and obtains joy and peace in believing: through much tribulation the believer must enter into the kingdom of God.

Verses 13-20 We should declare unto those that fear God, what he has done for our souls, and how he has heard and answered our prayers, inviting them to join us in prayer and praise; this will turn to our mutual comfort, and to the glory of God. We cannot share these spiritual privileges, if we retain the love of sin in our hearts, though we refrain from the gross practice, Sin, regarded in the heart, will spoil the comfort and success of prayer; for the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination of the Lord. But if the feeling of sin in the heart causes desires to be rid of it; if it be the presence of one urging a demand we know we must not, cannot comply with, this is an argument of sincerity. And when we pray in simplicity and godly sincerity, our prayers will be answered. This will excite gratitude to Him who hath not turned away our prayer nor his mercy from us. It was not prayer that fetched the deliverance, but his mercy that sent it. That is the foundation of our hopes, the fountain of our comforts; and ought to be the matter of our praises.

Chapter Summary

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.