Psalm 68:20

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.)

Psalm 68:20 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 68:20

[He that is] our God
Or "God for us" ^F17; is on our side; and is the mighty God, able to save to the uttermost;

[is] the God of salvation;
or "God for salvations" ^F18; for the obtaining of them for his people, and giving them to them, even of every kind;

and unto God the Lord [belong] the issues from death;
deliverance from it; Christ has abolished it, and him that had the power of it; has delivered himself from it, and will deliver all his people from it, though they become subject to it, as well as from eternal death; for he has the keys of hell and death in his hands. Some render the words, "to God the Lord belong the issues", or "ways unto death" ^F19; he has various ways of bringing persons to death, of destroying his and his people's enemies; and so Jarchi, Aben Ezra, and Kimchi interpret it; though the following words seem to be opposed to these: the Heathens had a notion that the power of death belonged to God; hence they had a deity called the god of death, "Dites" ^F20.

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FOOTNOTES:

F17 (wnl lah) "Deus nobis, vel est nobis", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Piscator.
F18 (twevwml la) "Deus ad salutes", Pagninus, Montanus
F19 (twauwt twml) "ad mortem exitus", Pagninus, Montanus; "mille viae laethi", Lucan.
F20 Macrob. in Somn. Scip. l. 1. c. 11.

Psalm 68:20 In-Context

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.)