Psalm 68

1 Let God arise! Let his enemies be scattered! Let them who hate him also flee before him.

2 As smoke is driven away, so drive them away. As wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.

3 But let the righteous be glad. Let them rejoice before God. Yes, let them rejoice with gladness.

4 Sing to God! Sing praises to his name! Extol him who rides on the clouds: to the LORD, his name! Rejoice before him!

5 A father of the fatherless, and a defender of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.

6 God sets the lonely in families. He brings out the prisoners with singing, but the rebellious dwell in a sun-scorched land.

7 God, when you went out before your people, when you marched through the wilderness... Selah.

8 The 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.

9 You, God, sent a plentiful rain. You confirmed your inheritance when it was weary.

10 Your congregation lived therein. You, God, prepared your goodness for the poor.

11 The 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 plunder,

13 while you sleep among the camp fires, the wings of a dove sheathed with silver, her feathers with shining gold.

14 When the Almighty scattered kings in her, it snowed on Zalmon.

15 The mountains of Bashan are majestic mountains. The mountains of Bashan are rugged.

16 Why do you look in envy, you rugged mountains, at the mountain where God chooses to reign? Yes, the LORD will dwell there forever.

17 The chariots of God are tens of thousands and thousands of thousands. The Lord is among them, from Sinai, into the sanctuary.

18 You have ascended on high. You have led away captives. You have received gifts among people, yes, among the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell there.

19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burdens, even the God who is our salvation. Selah.

20 God is to us a God of deliverance. To GOD, the Lord, belongs escape from death.

21 But God will strike through the head of his enemies, the hairy scalp of such a one as still continues in his guiltiness.

22 The Lord said, “I will bring you again from Bashan, I will bring you again from the depths of the sea,

23 that you may crush them, dipping your foot in blood, that the tongues of your dogs may have their portion from your enemies.”

24 They have seen your processions, God, even the processions of my God, my King, into the sanctuary.

25 The singers went before, the minstrels followed after, among the ladies playing with tambourines,

26 “Bless God in the congregations, even the Lord in the assembly of Israel!”

27 There is little Benjamin, their ruler, the princes of Judah, their council, the princes of Zebulun, and the princes of Naphtali.

28 Your God has commanded your strength. Strengthen, God, that which you have done for us.

29 Because of your temple at Jerusalem, kings will bring presents to you.

30 Rebuke the wild animal of the reeds, the multitude of the bulls with the calves of the peoples. Trample under foot the bars of silver. Scatter the nations who delight in war.

31 Princes shall come out of Egypt. Ethiopia shall hurry to stretch out her hands to God.

32 Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth! Sing praises to the Lord—Selah—

33 to him who rides on the heaven of heavens, which are of old; behold, he utters his voice, a mighty voice.

34 Ascribe strength to God! His excellency is over Israel, his strength is in the skies.

35 You are awesome, God, in your sanctuaries. The God of Israel gives strength and power to his people. Praise be to God!

Around Psalm 68

Book context

PsalmsEditorial draft

Psalms is a collection of 150 songs and prayers used in Israel’s worship, written by several people over a long period. Headings name David most often, along with Asaph, the sons of Korah and others. The collection falls into five books, each ending with a short blessing of the LORD (41:13, 72:19, 89:52, 106:48), and it closes with a call for everything that has breath to praise the LORD (150:6). The psalms hold praise, lament, thanksgiving, confession and trust, so readers find words for nearly every season of life.

Why we say this

HisFullGlory editorial · broad consensus · not yet reviewed by a theological reader

From the text itself

Sources

Notes summarise their sources in our own words. Where Christians or scholars disagree, the note says so. Notes are not original-language evidence and do not replace the text.

AI explanation

About Psalms as a whole · Written by an AI model · Not reviewed by a theological reader

This explanation was written by an AI model to help you get started. It names no sources and can contain mistakes. Scripture comes first, and context with sources is shown separately on this page.

What this book is about

“How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever?” A prayer can begin like that, and in the Psalms it does. Four times the poet asks how long, and then, in the same short song, comes the turn: “But I trust in your loving kindness.”

That honesty runs through the whole book. Psalms is a collection of 150 songs and prayers, and it holds praise, thanksgiving, lament, confession, songs for the king, and reflections on wisdom and on God's law. It is arranged in five books and moves, on the whole, from many laments at the start to pure praise at the end.

Joy, fear, anger, guilt and doubt are all spoken to God directly.

Background

The psalms were written and gathered over several centuries. Their headings link about half of them with David and others with Asaph, the sons of Korah, Solomon and Moses. They were sung in the worship of the temple and later in synagogues and churches.

How Christians read it

Jews and Christians have prayed the Psalms daily for well over two thousand years. The New Testament quotes them more than any other book and reads many as speaking of Christ, among them Psalms 2, 22 and 110. The psalms that call for judgment on enemies are hard to read. Many understand them as handing vengeance over to God instead of taking it oneself.

About this explanation

Written by Claude Sonnet 5.5, an AI model, on 19 October 2026. It draws on the WEB text and general knowledge and was not checked against sources by a person. Every quotation from Scripture is checked automatically against the WEB text.

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World English Bible. Public-domain source and edition notes