Psalm 68:1-35
To the director. Of David. A melody, a song.
68 Let God arise,+ let his enemies be scattered,+And let those who intensely hate him flee because of him.+
2 As smoke is driven away, may you drive [them] away;+As wax melts because of the fire,+Let the wicked ones perish from before God.+
3 But as for the righteous, let them rejoice,+Let them be elated before God,+And let them exult with rejoicing.+
4 Sing YOU to God, make melody to his name;+Raise up [a song] to the One riding through the desert plains+As Jah,* which is his name;+ and jubilate before him;
5 A father of fatherless boys and a judge of widows+Is God in his holy dwelling.+
6 God is causing the solitary ones to dwell in* a house;+He is bringing forth prisoners into full prosperity.+However, as for the stubborn, they have to reside in a scorched land.+
7 O God, when you went forth before your people,+When you marched through the desert+—Seʹlah—
8 The earth itself rocked,+Heaven itself also dripped because of God;+This Siʹnai [rocked] because of God,+ the God of Israel.+
9 A copious downpour you began causing to fall, O God;+Your inheritance, even when it was weary—you yourself reinvigorated it.+
10 Your tent community+—they have dwelt in it;+With your goodness you proceeded to make it ready for the afflicted one, O God.+
11 Jehovah* himself gives the saying;+The women telling the good news are a large army.+
12 Even the kings of armies flee, they flee.+As for her who abides at home, she shares in the spoil.+
13 Although YOU men kept lying between the [camp] ash heaps,*There will be the wings of a dove covered with silverAnd its pinions with yellowish-green gold.*+
14 When the Almighty One* scattered* abroad the kings in it,*+It began to snow in Zalʹmon.+
15 The mountainous region* of Baʹshan+ is a mountain of God;*+The mountainous region of Baʹshan is a mountain of peaks.+
16 Why do YOU, O YOU mountains of peaks, keep watching enviouslyThe mountain that God has desired for himself to dwell in?+Even Jehovah himself will reside [there] forever.+
17 The war chariots of God are in tens of thousands, thousands over and over again.+Jehovah himself has come from Siʹnai* into the holy place.+
18 You have ascended on high;+You have carried away captives;+You have taken gifts in the form of men,*+Yes, even the stubborn ones,+ to reside [among them],+ O Jah* God.*
19 Blessed be Jehovah,* who daily carries the load for us,+The [true] God of our salvation.+ Seʹlah.
20 The [true] God is for us a God* of saving acts;+And to Jehovah the Sovereign+ Lord belong the ways out* from death.+
21 Indeed God himself will break the head of his enemies in pieces,+The hairy crown of the head of anyone walking about in his guiltiness.+
22 Jehovah* has said: “From Baʹshan I shall bring back,+I shall bring [them] back from* the depths of the sea,+
23 In order that you may wash* your foot in blood,+That the tongue of your dogs may have its portion from the enemies.”+
24 They have seen your processions, O God,+The processions of my God,* my King, into the holy place.+
25 The singers went in front, the players on stringed instruments after them;+In between were the maidens beating tambourines.+
26 In congregated throngs* bless God,+Jehovah,* [O YOU who are] from the Source of Israel.+
27 There is little Benjamin subduing them,+The princes of Judah with their shouting crowd,The princes of Zebʹu·lun, the princes of Naphʹta·li.+
28 Your God has laid command upon your strength.+Do show strength, O God, you who have acted for us.+
29 Because of your temple at Jerusalem,+Kings will bring gifts to you yourself.+
30 Rebuke the wild beast of the reeds,+ the assembly of bulls,*+With the calves of the peoples, each one stamping down on pieces of silver.+He has scattered* the peoples that take delight in fights.+
31 Bronzeware things* will come out of Egypt;+Cush* itself will quickly stretch out its hands [with gifts] to God.+
32 O YOU kingdoms of the earth, sing to God,+Make melody to Jehovah*—Seʹlah—
33 To the One riding on the ancient heaven of heavens.+Lo! He sounds with his voice, a strong voice.+
34 ASCRIBE strength to God.+Over Israel his eminence is and his strength is in the clouds.+
35 God is fear-inspiring out of your grand sanctuary.*+The God of Israel* he is, giving strength, even might to the people.+Blessed be God.+
Footnotes
^ “As Jah.” BHSftn(Heb.), ki Yah; M(Heb.), beYahʹ, “by Jah.” Yah is the first half of the Tetragrammaton, YHWH. It occurs 49 times in M distinguished by a point (mappik) in its second letter and once, in Ca 8:6, without the mappik. TLXXSyVg, “Jehovah.” See Ex 15:2 ftn, “Jah”; App 1A.
^ According to M; by a slight correction of the Heb. verb, “bringing back the solitary ones to.”
^ One of 134 scribal changes from YHWH to ʼAdho·naiʹ. See App 1B.
^ Or, “saddlebags”; or, “sheepfolds.” The meaning of the Heb. word is uncertain.
^ “Gold.” Heb., cha·rutsʹ.
^ “The Almighty One.” Heb., Shad·daiʹ.
^ Or, “spread.”
^ “It,” fem., referring to the land.
^ Or, “The mountain.” Heb., har.
^ “God.” Heb., ʼElo·himʹ.
^ “Jehovah himself has come from Sinai,” according to the original reading of the Heb. text and in harmony with De 33:2; M, “The Sovereign Lord [Heb., ʼAdho·naiʹ] is among them, at Sinai.” See vs 11 ftn.
^ Lit., “in the men.” Heb., ba·ʼa·dhamʹ.
^ See vs 4 ftn.
^ “God.” Heb., ʼElo·himʹ.
^ “Blessed be Jehovah.” Heb., ba·rukhʹ ʼAdho·naiʹ; Gr., Kyʹri·os ho The·osʹ eu·lo·ge·tosʹ, eu·lo·ge·tosʹ Kyʹri·os, “Jehovah God [be] blessed, blessed [be] Jehovah.” See App 1B, 6D.
^ “God of.” Heb., ʼEl.
^ Or, “escapes.”
^ See vs 11 ftn.
^ “From,” MSy; TLXXVg, “through.”
^ “Wash,” by a correction of M to agree with LXXSyVg.
^ “My God.” Heb., ʼE·liʹ.
^ “In ecclesias,” LXXVg.
^ “Jehovah.” Heb., Yehwahʹ; many Heb. mss and ed., ʼAdho·naiʹ. See App 1B.
^ Lit., “powerful ones.”
^ “He has scattered,” MT; LXXSyVg, “Scatter.”
^ “Bronzeware things.” Heb., chash·man·nimʹ, of uncertain meaning; LXXSyVg, “Ambassadors.”
^ “Cush,” MSy; LXXVg, “Ethiopia.”
^ See vs 11 ftn.
^ Lit., “sanctuaries.”
^ “The God of Israel.” By a change of vowel pointing, “To Israel.” Heb., ʼEl Yis·ra·ʼelʹ; LXXSyVg, “The God of Israel.”
