For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by Dawud. A song.
1Let God arise!
Let his enemies be scattered!
Let them who hate him also flee before him.
2As smoke is driven away,
So drive them away.
As wax melts before the fire,
So let the wicked perish at the presence of God.
3But let the righteous be glad.
Let them rejoice before God.
Yes, let them rejoice with gladness.
4Sing to God! Sing praises to his Name!
Extol him who rides on the clouds:
His Name is YAH!
Rejoice before him!
5A father of the fatherless, and a defender of the widows,
Is God in his holy dwelling.
6God sets the lonely in families.
He brings out the prisoners with singing,
But the rebellious dwell in a sun-scorched land.
7God , when you went forth before your people,
When you marched through the wilderness, Selah.
8The earth trembled.
The sky also poured down rain at the presence of the God of Sinai–
At the presence of God, the God of Israel.
9You, God, sent a plentiful rain.
You confirmed your inheritance, when it was weary.
10Your congregation lived therein.
You, God, prepared your goodness for the poor.
11The Lord announced the Word.
The ones who proclaim it are a great company.
12“Kings of armies flee! They flee!”
She who waits at home divides the spoil,
13While you sleep among the campfires,
The wings of a dove sheathed with silver,
Her feathers with shining gold.
14When the Almighty scattered kings in her,
It snowed on Zalmon.
15The mountains of Bashan are majestic mountains.
The mountains of Bashan are rugged.
16Why do you look in envy, you rugged mountains,
At the mountain where God chooses to reign?
Yes, YAHWEH will dwell there forever.
17The chariots of God are tens of thousands and thousands of thousands.
The Lord is among them, from Sinai, into the sanctuary.
18When you ascended on high,
You led away captives,
And received gifts among men.1
Yes, among the rebellious also, that YAH God might dwell there.
19Praise be to the Lord, who daily bears our burdens,
Even the God who is our salvation. Selah.
20God is to us a God of deliverance.
To YAHWEH the Lord belongs escape from death.
21But God will strike through the head of his enemies,
The hairy scalp of such a one as still continues in his guiltiness.
22The Lord said, “I will bring you again from Bashan,
I will bring you again from the depths of the sea;
23That you may crush them, dipping your foot in blood,
That the tongues of your dogs may have their portion from your enemies.”
24They have seen your processions, God,
Even the processions of my God, my King, into the sanctuary.
25The singers went before, the minstrels followed after,
In the midst of the ladies playing with tambourines,
26“Bless God in the congregations,
Even the Lord in the assembly of Israel!”
27There is little Binyamin, their ruler,
The princes of Judah, their council,
The princes of Zebulun, and the princes of Naphtali.
28Your God has commanded your strength.
Strengthen, God, that which you have done for us.
29Because of your temple at Jerusalem,
Kings shall bring presents to you.
30Rebuke the wild animal of the reeds,
The multitude of the bulls, with the calves of the peoples.
Being humbled, may it bring bars of silver.
Scatter the nations that delight in war.
31Princes shall come out of Egypt.
Ethiopia shall hurry to stretch out her hands to God.
32Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth!
Sing praises to the Lord! Selah.
33To him who rides on the heaven of heavens, which are of old;
Behold, he utters his voice, a mighty voice.
34Ascribe strength to God!
His excellency is over Israel,
His strength is in the skies.
35You are awesome, God, in your sanctuaries.
The God of Israel gives strength and power to his people.
Praise be to God!
- 68:18 Cited in the Injil, Ephesians 4:8, in a passage that teaches about the grace God has given to the followers of AL-MASIH (Ephesians 4:7-13): “But to each one of us was grace given according to the measure of AL-MASIH’s gift. Therefore he says, ‘When he ascended on high, he led away captives, and gave gifts to men.’ Now this, ‘He ascended,’ what does it mean but that he [AL-MASIH] also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. It was he [AL-MASIH] who gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. Their purpose is to equip the saints for works of service, and so build up the body of AL-MASIH, until we all come to unity in the faith and knowledge of the Son of God, becoming a full-grown man measuring up to AL-MASIH’s full stature. ↩︎