Psalms 68:19-23

68:19 The Lord deserves praise! ¹ 

Day after day ²  he carries our burden,

the God who delivers us. (Selah)

68:20 Our God is a God who delivers;

the Lord, the sovereign Lord, can rescue from death. ³ 

68:21 Indeed God strikes the heads of his enemies,

the hairy foreheads of those who persist in rebellion. ⁴ 

68:22 The Lord says,

“I will retrieve them ⁵  from Bashan,

I will bring them back from the depths of the sea,

68:23 so that your feet may stomp ⁶  in their blood,

and your dogs may eat their portion of the enemies’ corpses.” ⁷ 

[68:19]  ¹ tn Heb “blessed [be] the Lord.”

[68:19]  ² tn It is possible to take this phrase with what precedes (“The Lord deserves praise day after day”) rather than with what follows.

[68:20]  ³ tn Heb “and to the Lord, the Lord, to death, goings out.”

[68:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “the hairy forehead of the one who walks about in his guilt.” The singular is representative.

[68:22]  ⁵ tn That is, the enemies mentioned in v. 21. Even if they retreat to distant regions, God will retrieve them and make them taste his judgment.

[68:23]  ⁶ tc Some (e.g. NRSV) prefer to emend מָחַץ (makhats, “smash; stomp”; see v. 21) to רָחַץ (rakhats, “bathe”; see Ps 58:10).

[68:23]  ⁷ tn Heb “[and] the tongue of your dogs from [the] enemies [may eat] its portion.”