Psalms 68:1-12

Psalm 68 ¹ 

For the music director; by David, a psalm, a song.

68:1 God springs into action! ² 

His enemies scatter;

his adversaries ³  run from him. ⁴ 

68:2 As smoke is driven away by the wind, so you drive them away. ⁵ 

As wax melts before fire,

so the wicked are destroyed before God.

68:3 But the godly ⁶  are happy;

they rejoice before God

and are overcome with joy. ⁷ 

68:4 Sing to God! Sing praises to his name!

Exalt the one who rides on the clouds! ⁸ 

For the Lord is his name! ⁹ 

Rejoice before him!

68:5 He is a father to the fatherless

and an advocate for widows. ¹⁰ 

God rules from his holy palace. ¹¹ 

68:6 God settles those who have been deserted in their own homes; ¹² 

he frees prisoners and grants them prosperity. ¹³ 

But sinful rebels live in the desert. ¹⁴ 

68:7 O God, when you lead your people into battle, ¹⁵ 

when you march through the desert, ¹⁶  (Selah)

68:8 the earth shakes,

yes, the heavens pour down rain

before God, the God of Sinai, ¹⁷ 

before God, the God of Israel. ¹⁸ 

68:9 O God, you cause abundant showers to fall ¹⁹  on your chosen people. ²⁰ 

When they ²¹  are tired, you sustain them, ²² 

68:10 for you live among them. ²³ 

You sustain the oppressed with your good blessings, O God.

68:11 The Lord speaks; ²⁴ 

many, many women spread the good news. ²⁵ 

68:12 Kings leading armies run away – they run away! ²⁶ 

The lovely lady ²⁷  of the house divides up the loot.

[68:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 68. The psalmist depicts God as a mighty warrior and celebrates the fact that God exerts his power on behalf of his people.

[68:1]  ² tn Or “rises up.” The verb form is an imperfect, not a jussive. The psalmist is describing God’s appearance in battle in a dramatic fashion.

[68:1]  ³ tn Heb “those who hate him.”

[68:1]  ⁴ sn The wording of v. 1 echoes the prayer in Num 10:35: “Spring into action, Lord! Then your enemies will be scattered and your adversaries will run from you.”

[68:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “as smoke is scattered, you scatter [them].”

[68:3]  ⁶ tn By placing the subject first the psalmist highlights the contrast between God’s ecstatic people and his defeated enemies (vv. 1-2).

[68:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “and they are happy with joy” (cf. NEB). Some translate the prefixed verbal forms of v. 3 as jussives, “Let the godly be happy, let them rejoice before God, and let them be happy with joy!” (Cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV; note the call to praise in v. 4.)

[68:4]  ⁸ tn Traditionally the Hebrew term עֲרָבוֹת (’aravot) is taken as “steppe-lands” (often rendered “deserts”), but here the form is probably a homonym meaning “clouds.” Verse 33, which depicts God as the one who “rides on the sky” strongly favors this (see as well Deut 33:26), as does the reference in v. 9 to God as the source of rain. The term עֲרָבָה (’aravah, “cloud”) is cognate with Akkadian urpatu/erpetu and with Ugaritic ’rpt. The phrase rkb ’rpt (“one who rides on the clouds”) appears in Ugaritic mythological texts as an epithet of the storm god Baal. The nonphonemic interchange of the bilabial consonants b and p is attested elsewhere in roots common to Hebrew and Ugaritic, though the phenomenon is relatively rare.

[68:4]  ⁹ tc Heb “in the Lord his name.” If the MT is retained, the preposition -בְ (bet) is introducing the predicate (the so-called bet of identity), “the Lord is his name.” However, some prefer to emend the text to כִּי יָהּ שְׁמוֹ (ki yah shÿmo, “for Yah is his name”). This emendation, reflected in the present translation, assumes a confusion of bet (ב) and kaf (כ) and haplography of yod (י).

[68:5]  ¹⁰ sn God is depicted here as a just ruler. In the ancient Near Eastern world a king was responsible for promoting justice, including caring for the weak and vulnerable, epitomized by the fatherless and widows.

[68:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “God [is] in his holy dwelling place.” He occupies his throne and carries out his royal responsibilities.

[68:6]  ¹² tn Heb “God causes the solitary ones to dwell in a house.” The participle suggests this is what God typically does.

[68:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “he brings out prisoners into prosperity.” Another option is to translate, “he brings out prisoners with singing” (cf. NIV). The participle suggests this is what God typically does.

[68:6]  ¹⁴ tn Or “in a parched [land].”

[68:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “when you go out before your people.” The Hebrew idiom “go out before” is used here in a militaristic sense of leading troops into battle (see Judg 4:14; 9:39; 2 Sam 5:24).

[68:7]  ¹⁶ sn When you march through the desert. Some interpreters think that v. 7 alludes to Israel’s exodus from Egypt and its subsequent travels in the desert. Another option is that v. 7, like v. 8, echoes Judg 5:4, which describes how the God of Sinai marched across the desert regions to do battle with Sisera and his Canaanite army.

[68:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “this one of Sinai.” The phrase is a divine title, perhaps indicating that the Lord rules from Sinai.

[68:8]  ¹⁸ sn The language of vv. 7-8 is reminiscent of Judg 5:4-5, which tells how the God of Sinai came in the storm and annihilated the Canaanite forces led by Sisera. The presence of allusion does not mean, however, that this is a purely historical reference. The psalmist is describing God’s typical appearance as a warrior in terms of his prior self-revelation as ancient events are reactualized in the psalmist’s experience. (For a similar literary technique, see Hab 3.)

[68:9]  ¹⁹ tn The verb נוּף (nuf, “cause rain to fall”) is a homonym of the more common נוּף (“brandish”).

[68:9]  ²⁰ tn Heb “[on] your inheritance.” This refers to Israel as God’s specially chosen people (see Pss 28:9; 33:12; 74:2; 78:62, 71; 79:1; 94:5, 14; 106:40). Some take “your inheritance” with what follows, but the vav (ו) prefixed to the following word (note וְנִלְאָה, vÿnil’ah) makes this syntactically unlikely.

[68:9]  ²¹ tn Heb “it [is],” referring to God’s “inheritance.”

[68:9]  ²² tn Heb “it,” referring to God’s “inheritance.”

[68:10]  ²³ tn The meaning of the Hebrew text is unclear; it appears to read, “your animals, they live in it,” but this makes little, if any, sense in this context. Some suggest that חָיָּה (khayah) is a rare homonym here, meaning “community” (BDB 312 s.v.) or “dwelling place” (HALOT 310 s.v. III *הַיָּה). In this case one may take “your community/dwelling place” as appositional to the third feminine singular pronominal suffix at the end of v. 9, the antecedent of which is “your inheritance.” The phrase יָשְׁבוּ־בָהּ (yashvu-vah, “they live in it”) may then be understood as an asyndetic relative clause modifying “your community/dwelling place.” A literal translation of vv. 9b-10a would be, “when it [your inheritance] is tired, you sustain it, your community/dwelling place in [which] they live.”

[68:11]  ²⁴ tn Heb “gives a word.” Perhaps this refers to a divine royal decree or battle cry.

[68:11]  ²⁵ tn Heb “the ones spreading the good news [are] a large army.” The participle translated “the ones spreading the good news” is a feminine plural form. Apparently the good news here is the announcement that enemy kings have been defeated (see v. 12).

[68:12]  ²⁶ tn The verbal repetition draws attention to the statement.

[68:12]  ²⁷ tn The Hebrew form appears to be the construct of נוּה (nuh, “pasture”) but the phrase “pasture of the house” makes no sense here. The translation assumes that the form is an alternative or corruption of נצוה (“beautiful woman”). A reference to a woman would be appropriate in light of v. 11b.