The Bible Study – Psalm 68 “God Shall Scatter His Enemies”

⁴ Sing to God, sing praises to his name;
    lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts;
his name is the Lord;
    exult before him!
⁵ Father of the fatherless and protector of widows
    is God in his holy habitation.
⁶ God settles the solitary in a home;
    he leads out the prisoners to prosperity,
    but the rebellious dwell in a parched land.

⁷ O God, when you went out before your people,
    when you marched through the wilderness, Selah
⁸ the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain,
    before God, the One of Sinai,
    before God, the God of Israel.
⁹ Rain in abundance, O God, you shed abroad;
    you restored your inheritance as it languished;
¹⁰ your flock^[a] found a dwelling in it;
    in your goodness, O God, you provided for the needy.

¹¹ The Lord gives the word;
    the women who announce the news are a great host:
¹²     “The kings of the armies—they flee, they flee!”
The women at home divide the spoil—
¹³     though you men lie among the sheepfolds—
the wings of a dove covered with silver,
    its pinions with shimmering gold.
¹⁴ When the Almighty scatters kings there,
    let snow fall on Zalmon.

¹⁵ O mountain of God, mountain of Bashan;
    O many-peaked^[b] mountain, mountain of Bashan!
¹⁶ Why do you look with hatred, O many-peaked mountain,
    at the mount that God desired for his abode,
    yes, where the Lord will dwell forever?
¹⁷ The chariots of God are twice ten thousand,
    thousands upon thousands;
    the Lord is among them; Sinai is now in the sanctuary.
¹⁸ You ascended on high,
    leading a host of captives in your train
    and receiving gifts among men,
even among the rebellious, that the Lord God may dwell there.

¹⁹ Blessed be the Lord,
    who daily bears us up;
    God is our salvation. Selah
²⁰ Our God is a God of salvation,
    and to God, the Lord, belong deliverances from death.
²¹ But God will strike the heads of his enemies,
    the hairy crown of him who walks in his guilty ways.
²² The Lord said,
    “I will bring them back from Bashan,
I will bring them back from the depths of the sea,
²³ that you may strike your feet in their blood,
    that the tongues of your dogs may have their portion from the foe.”

²⁴ Your procession is^[c] seen, O God,
    the procession of my God, my King, into the sanctuary—
²⁵ the singers in front, the musicians last,
    between them virgins playing tambourines:
²⁶ “Bless God in the great congregation,
    the Lord, O you^[d] who are of Israel’s fountain!”
²⁷ There is Benjamin, the least of them, in the lead,
    the princes of Judah in their throng,
    the princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali.

²⁸ Summon your power, O God,^[e]
    the power, O God, by which you have worked for us.
²⁹ Because of your temple at Jerusalem
    kings shall bear gifts to you.
³⁰ Rebuke the beasts that dwell among the reeds,
    the herd of bulls with the calves of the peoples.
Trample underfoot those who lust after tribute;
    scatter the peoples who delight in war.^[f]
31 Nobles shall come from Egypt;
    Cush shall hasten to stretch out her hands to God.

³² O kingdoms of the earth, sing to God;
    sing praises to the Lord, Selah
³³ to him who rides in the heavens, the ancient heavens;
    behold, he sends out his voice, his mighty voice.
³⁴ Ascribe power to God,
    whose majesty is over Israel,
    and whose power is in the skies.
³⁵ Awesome is God from his^[g] sanctuary;
    the God of Israel—he is the one who gives power and strength to his people.
Blessed be God!