Through My Bible Yr 01 – September 19

Through My Bible – September 19

Psalm 68:1-18 (EHV)

See series: Through My Bible

¹ May God arise. May his enemies scatter.
May those who hate him flee from his presence.
² As smoke is blown away, may you blow them away.
As wax melts before the fire, may the wicked perish before God.

³ But the righteous rejoice and celebrate in the presence of God.
They will be happy and joyful.
⁴ Sing to God. Make music to his name.
Lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts. ^[1]
His name is the Lord. ^[2] Celebrate before him.

⁵ In his holy dwelling, God is a father for the fatherless
and a judge who defends widows.
⁶ God causes the lonely to dwell together as a household.
He leads out the prisoners with music,
but the rebellious dwell in a scorched land.

⁷ God, when you went out in front of your people,
when you marched through the wasteland, Interlude
⁸ the earth shook.
Yes, the heavens poured down rain,
    before God, this one from Sinai,
    before God, the God of Israel.
⁹ You dispersed plentiful showers, O God.
You strengthened your inheritance when it was weary. ^[3]
10 Your people settled in it.
In your goodness you provided for the oppressed, O God.

¹¹ The Lord provided the message.
The women who proclaimed it were a great army: ^[4]
12 “Kings with armies flee—they flee!”
The woman who stays home shares in the plunder.
¹³ Even while you lie among the campfires,
the wings of a dove are sheathed with silver,
and its feathers with yellow gold. ^[5]
14 When the Almighty scattered the kings there,
it snowed on Zalmon.

¹⁵ The mountain of Bashan is a mountain of God.
The mountain of Bashan is a mountain with many peaks. ^[6]
16 O mountains with many peaks, why do you look jealously
    at the mountain God desires for his home?
Indeed, the Lord will dwell there forever.
¹⁷ The chariots of God are twice ten thousand,
thousands upon thousands.
Among them the Lord has come from Sinai into his sanctuary. ^[7]
18 You ascended on high. You led captivity captive.
You received gifts among men,
so that even among the rebellious the Lord ^[8] God might dwell.

Footnotes

1. Psalm 68:4 A variant in the Targum is rides on the clouds.
2. Psalm 68:4 The Hebrew uses the short form Yah rather than the full form of the divine name, Yahweh, which is translated Lord.
3. Psalm 68:9 Or when they were weary. The land may be described as weary because of lack of rain, or it may be the people of the land who are weary.
4. Psalm 68:11 This seems to refer to the custom of women singing to greet victors returning from battle, as they did at the Red Sea (Exodus 15:20) or when David returned from victory over Goliath (1 Samuel 18:6).
5. Psalm 68:13 The meaning is cryptic. The verses seem to refer to the division of plunder. The translation is relatively literal.
6. Psalm 68:15 The meaning of several words in these verses is uncertain.
7. Psalm 68:17 The Hebrew reads the Lord [is] among them, Sinai, in holiness. The translation follows the parallel in Deuteronomy 33:2 and the sense of the psalm.
8. Psalm 68:18 The Hebrew uses the short form Yah rather than Yahweh, the full form of the divine name.