Psalms 68:1-35
1 Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee beforea him.
2 As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth 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: yea, let them exceedinglyb rejoice.
4 Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name JAH, and rejoice before him.
5 A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.
6 God setteth the solitary in families:c he bringeth out those which are bound with chains: but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.
7 O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people, when thou didst march through the wilderness; Selah:
8 The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God: even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel.
9 Thou, O God, didst sendd a plentiful rain, whereby thou didst confirm thine inheritance, when it was weary.
10 Thy congregation hath dwelt therein: thou, O God, hast prepared of thy goodness for the poor.
11 The Lord gave the word: great was the companye of those that published it.
12 Kings of armies did flee apace: and she that tarried at home divided the spoil.
13 Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold.
14 When the Almighty scattered kings in it, it was white as snowf in Salmon.
15 The hill of God is as the hill of Bashan; an high hill as the hill of Bashan.
16 Why leap ye, ye high hills? this is the hill which God desireth to dwell in; yea, the LORD will dwell in it for ever.
17 The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place.
18 Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men;g yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them.
19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.
20 He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto GOD the Lord belong the issues from death.
21 But God shall wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses.
22 The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan, I will bring my people again from the depths of the sea:
23 That thy foot may be dippedh in the blood of thine enemies, and the tongue of thy dogs in the same.
24 They have seen thy goings, O God; even the goings of my God, my King, in the sanctuary.
25 The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after; among them were the damsels playing with timbrels.
26 Bless ye God in the congregations, even the Lord, from the fountain of Israel.
27 There is little Benjamin with their ruler, the princes of Judah and their council, the princes of Zebulun, and the princes of Naphtali.
28 Thy God hath commanded thy strength: strengthen, O God, that which thou hast wrought for us.
29 Because of thy temple at Jerusalem shall kings bring presents unto thee.
30 Rebuke the companyi of spearmen, the multitude of the bulls, with the calves of the people, till every one submit himself with pieces of silver: scatter thou the people that delight in war.
31 Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God.
32 Sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth; O sing praises unto the Lord; Selah:
33 To him that rideth upon the heavens of heavens, which were of old; lo, he doth send out his voice, and that a mighty voice.
34 Ascribe ye strength unto God: his excellency is over Israel, and his strength is in the clouds.j
35 O God, thou art terrible out of thy holy places: the God of Israel is he that giveth strength and power unto his people. Blessed be God.
Psalms 42:72
Gordon Churchyard
Words in boxes are from the Bible.Words marked with a *star are described in the word list at the end.
The translated Bible text has yet to go through Advanced Checking.
Cloud Rider: A Song for the *Nation
Psalms 68
Jesus said, "You will see the Son of man sitting to the right of God. And he will come on the clouds in the sky". (Matthew 26:64) ("Son of man" is a name that Jesus gave himself.)
Psalms 68
(This is) for the music leader.
(It is) a psalm of David, a song.
v1 God will rise up and his enemies will move away in all directions.
The people that *hate him will quickly ride away from him.
v2 (God), blow them away as you would blow smoke away.
As butter becomes *oil in a fire,
when the *godless see the face of God it will destroy them.
v3 But the *righteous will be happy.
They will *rejoice when they see the face of God.
They will shout because they are so happy!
v4 Sing to God, sing psalms to his name.
*Praise the One that Rides on the Clouds.
His name is the *LORD! Shout for *joy in front of him.
v5 God is the father of those that have no father.
He gives help to women whose husbands have died.
(He does this) from the *holy place where he lives.
v6 God gives a home to lonely people.
He leads people out of prison (and they hear) music.
But people that do not obey (God)
will continue to live in a land where the hot sun burns the ground.
v7 God, you went out in front of your people.
You marched through the *wilderness. *SELAH
v8 The ground moved, the skies dropped (rain) when God came to Sinai.
God is the God of Israel.
v9 God, you gave plenty of rain.
It made your Promised Land fresh again when it was dry.
v10 Your people came to live in it.
God, you gave good things to the poor people that needed them.
You made them strong.
v11 The *Lord gave a message
and a large number of women passed on the good news.
v12 Kings of *huge armies ran away. They *fled!
The women at home decided who should have
what their soldiers brought from the war.
v13 Even if you sleep where the sheep sleep,
the *dove will have *wings of *silver and *feathers of gold!
v14 When *Shaddai made (foreign) kings run away in different directions
it was *like snow on Mount Zalmon.
v15 The mountain called Bashan is a Mountain of God.
The mountain called Bashan has many high hills.
v16 High mountains, why do you look at the mountain that God wants to live in?
Why do you want him to live in you instead?
This (mountain) is where the *LORD (himself) will always stay.
v17 God has millions of *chariots.
The *Lord came with them to his *holy (mountain) Sinai.
v18 You went to the high (mountain).
You took with you the *prisoners that you had caught.
You received gifts from men, the men that had fought against you.
The *LORD God will always live here.
v19 Say good things about the *Lord!
Every day he gives us help with what we have to carry.
He is the God that saves us! *SELAH
v20 Our God is the God who will make us free.
The *LORD our God will save us from death.
v21 But God will break the heads of his enemies.
(He will break) the hairy heads of those people
that will not stop doing wrong things.
v22 The *Lord says, "I will bring (my enemies) back from Bashan.
I will bring them back (even from) deep down in the sea.
v23 Then you can put your feet into their blood
and even your *dogs can drink some!"
v24 God, they will see your people walking together.
They will see my God and my King
leading his *procession into the *temple.
v25 The singers will go in front. The musicians will go behind them.
All round them will be girls beating tambourines.
v26 "Say good things about God among all the people there!
All you people of Israel, (*praise) the *LORD!"
v27 Benjamin, the youngest, will go first.
The leaders of Judah will make a noise (*praising God).
(Then will come) the leaders of Zebulun and Naphtali.
v28 Your God sent the power (that gave you help).
God, be powerful (again) as you did (in past times) for us,
v29 from your *temple in Jerusalem.
Kings will (then) bring gifts to you.
v30 Be angry with:
• the animals that live in the reeds
• the group of bulls among the calves of the *nations.
When they fall on their knees,
they will bring to you pieces of *silver.
Make the people that find pleasure in war
run away from you in all directions.
v31 The government of Egypt will send people
and the people from Cush will lift up their hands to (*praise) God.
v32 Sing to God, you *kingdoms of the earth!
Sing psalms to the *Lord! *SELAH
v33 (Sing) to the One that Rides on the Clouds
and on the *heavens that have always been there!
He is shouting with a powerful voice.
v34 Tell everyone about the powerful God that is the King of Israel.
His power is in the skies.
v35 God, how great you are in your *temple.
He is the God of Israel.
He gives power to his people and makes them strong.
Say good things about God!
The Story of Psalms 68
The Philistines lived by the sea to the west of the Jews. David was the king of the Jews. The Philistines and the Jews were enemies. In one of their fights, the Philistines took away the Ark of God. The Ark was a special box made of wood. It was a metre long and half a metre high and half a metre wide. The Jews kept things in it that gave them help to remember their *Covenant with God. In the *Covenant they agreed to love, serve and obey God. He agreed to give them help at all times. People that kept the *Covenant had a special name for God. It was Yahweh, which we translate *LORD. (There is another word *Lord that means master. It is Adonai in Hebrew, not Yahweh. Both names are in this psalm.)
Bad things happened to the Philistines when they took the Ark. So they sent it back to the Jews. For a long time, it was on a farm between Gath and Jerusalem. Gath was a Philistine city. Jerusalem did not belong to the Jews at this time, but David fought against it and won. He made it his capital city. Then he decided to take the Ark from where it was into Jerusalem. There was no *temple in Jerusalem at that time, only a *tent where people met God. A *tent is a building made of animal skins and other materials, but not stones.
So somebody wrote Psalms 68. It may have been David, or someone else wrote it for David. Everybody sang it while the Ark came into Jerusalem. They also sang other psalms, *like Psalms 24. The people all walked together in a *procession. A *procession is a number of people walking or marching together. They started where the Ark was, and took it to its new home in the *tent in Jerusalem.
But Psalms 68 starts long before that. It starts in Egypt, and describes the Jews coming to their new land. Because God had promised it to them, we often call it the Promised Land. They went through Sinai, where they built the Ark. They fought against the people that lived in their new land. In the end they lived at *peace, and brought the Ark into Jerusalem.
What Psalms 68 means
This is a long psalm, so we can study it most easily in 4 parts:• verses 1 - 6 that tell us about God and what he does for people
• verses 7 - 18 that tell us about God leading his people from Egypt to the Promised Land
• verses 19 - 31 that tell us more about God and the *procession
• verses 32 - 35 that tell us to *praise God for what he has done.
Verses 1 – 6: In verse 1, "God will rise up" means that he will start to do something for his people. This will make his enemies and their enemies run away before (in verse 2) he destroys them. Verse 1 is repeated from Numbers 10:35, which is about moving the Ark of God. In verse 3, "the *righteous" are God’s people. If you want to know more about the word "righteous" look after Psalms 5 (in Psalms 1:41). "See the face of God" means that they see that God is doing something. In verse 4 we have another name for God: the One that Rides on the Clouds, or Cloud Rider! This was the name of a false god in the land before the Jews came. The psalm says that God the *LORD is the real Cloud Rider, not the false god! In verses 5 and 6 we read about some of the good things that God does. These are really things that he has already done for the Jews! He has:
• taken them out from prison in Egypt
• heard their songs when they were free
• given them help when they needed it
• *punished their enemies.
But he will always do this for his people, any time, anywhere!
Verses 7 – 18: You will see three *SELAHs in this psalm. They are after the first verse of each of the last three parts. Bible students think that this is because people should stop, think, make music and pray before reading the other verses in each part. In verse 8 we read that God came to Sinai. There he gave his people the rules they were to obey. We call them the Ten Commandments. They made the Ark there. When they reached the Promised Land in verse 9 God sent rain to make their food plants grow. Verses 11 - 14 confuse many Bible students. They are very difficult to translate. This is because we do not know what some of the Hebrew words mean. It gives us help to read the Song of Deborah in Judges 5. This is because many Bible students think that verses 11 - 14 are about the fight that is in the Song of Deborah. The Greek translation of verse 11 says "many women preached the gospel". Verse 13 may mean this:
• "even if you sleep", that is, even if you do not come to fight
• "the *dove will have *wings of *silver and *feathers of gold", that is, the women will wear beautiful clothes.
In the Song of Deborah, some men did not come to fight; and the women of other tribes had beautiful things from the (dead) enemy. In verse 14 Zalmon means "Black Mountain". We are not sure where it is. The snow may be real snow, or the white bones of the dead enemy. Verses 15 - 18 tell of the end of the journey. It is in Jerusalem, on a mountain or hill called Zion. *Higher mountains, *like Bashan, think that God should live in them. But God chose to live in Zion. He will "always live here", (verse 18).
Verses 19 – 31: In verse 21 "the hairy heads" make us remember pictures of people from David’s time. They had very long hair. Nobody will run away from God. He will find them, even down in the deep sea! Verse 23 means that David’s people will beat their enemies. Verses 24 - 27 tell us more about the *procession. It is now near Jerusalem. It is not the *procession from Egypt that we read about in verses 7 - 18. "The King" in verse 24 is David. God is with him, but nobody can see God. In verse 25 "the musicians" are the people that make music in many ways. One of them is hitting tambourines, little drums with bells on them. Other women did this in the Bible, examples are:
• Moses’ sister Miriam after God took the Jews from Egypt (Exodus 15:20)
• Jephthah’s daughter after God beat the enemies of the Jews (Judges 11:34).
In verse 27 we hear of four tribes of Israel: Benjamin, Judah, Zebulun and Naphtali. There were 12 tribes (or large families), but there is only room in the psalm for 4. Benjamin is first because Jerusalem is in the part of the Promised Land where Benjamin lived. Judah is next because it is David’s tribe, and he is king. The other 10 tribes come next, but we only read about two of them. Verse 29 is an important verse. There is more about it in Isaiah 60. Some of the kings are in verse 30. "The animals that live in the reeds" might be crocodiles. These live in the River Nile, in Egypt. "Bulls among the calves" are "strong kings among weak kings". All these kings will bring gifts to God. They will kneel (or "fall on their knees") and give God metals of value, *like *silver. In verse 31 Cush may be Sudan.
Verses 32 – 35: The psalm ends by telling everyone to *praise God. Again, he is the Cloud Rider. In verse 35 "your *temple" is *heaven, where God lives. It is not the *tent (*temple) in Jerusalem, as in verses 24 and 29.
Something to do
1. If you have a Bible, or can find the Book of Judges, read The Song of Deborah in Judges 5.
2. Look at Psalms 68:19. "Every day he gives us help with what we have to carry". The things that we carry (that we call burdens) are often inside us. It may be that we are sad, or do not know what to do next. Ask God for help to carry your own burden. If you have a Bible, read Isaiah 46:1-4, or 63:9. Both of these tell us that God will carry us as well as our burdens!
This publication is written in EasyEnglish Level A (1200 words)
July 2001
nation ~ a group of people (or a country) with a government.hate ~ the opposite of love.
oil ~ liquid from the fruit of the olive tree.
godless ~ people that do not obey God (or believe in him).
righteous ~ very very good; only God is very righteous (or has righteousness); doing what is right.
rejoice ~ tell other people that we are happy.
praise ~ (noun, or being something) words that say that someone or something is very good.
praise ~ (verb, or doing something) say that someone or something is very good.
LORD ~ a special name for God; only his people use it (look after Psalm 25 in Psalms 1-41).
lord ~ someone with authority (with a capital L a name for God, look after Psalm 25 in Psalms 1-41).
joy ~ feeling happy deep inside.
holy ~ very very good; only God is really holy (because he always obeys his rules); Jerusalem was holy because people worshipped God there.
worship ~ say that someone is very wonderful.
wilderness ~ a wild place with not many farms.
LORD ~ a special name for God; only his people use it (look after Psalm 25 in Psalms 1-41).
lord ~ someone with authority (with a capital L a name for God, look after Psalm 25 in Psalms 1-41).
huge ~ very very big.
fled ~ ran away.
dove ~ bird that people think shows peace.
peace ~ when we are friends with God and with other people; no war.
wings ~ what a bird uses to fly with.
silver ~ a metal of value.
feathers ~ covering instead of hair.
Shaddai ~ a name for God; maybe it means Very Powerful God.
like ~ another word for ‘as’.
chariot ~ a special car that horses pulled and soldiers rode in long ago.
prisoners ~ people that are not free.
dogs ~ animals that people often keep at home; wild dogs often look for food in groups.
procession ~ many people walking together.
temple ~ a special building where people worship God.
worship ~ say that someone is very wonderful.
praise ~ (noun, or being something) words that say that someone or something is very good.
praise ~ (verb, or doing something) say that someone or something is very good.
nation ~ a group of people (or a country) with a government.
kingdom ~ a country that has a king.
heavens ~ the sky and everything that is in it.
covenant ~ when two people agree they make a covenant.
tent ~ a small house made of animals’ skins.
peace ~ when we are friends with God and with other people; no war.
punish ~ hurt someone when they do something wrong (hit them with a stick or put them in prison).
higher ~ more than high.
heaven ~ the home of God.'