Psalms 68
68
Praise God Who Saved the Nation
For the director of music. A psalm of David. A song.
1Let God rise up and scatter his enemies;
let those who hate him run away from him.
2Blow them away as smoke
is driven away by the wind.
As wax melts before a fire,
let the wicked be destroyed before God.
3But those who do right should be glad
and should rejoice before God;
they should be happy and glad.
4Sing to God; sing praises to his name.
Prepare the way for him
who rides through the desert,
whose name is the Lord.
Rejoice before him.
5God is in his holy Temple.
He is a father to orphans,
and he defends the widows.
6God gives the lonely a home.
He leads prisoners out with joy,
but those who turn against God will live in a dry land.
7God, you led your people out
when you marched through the desert.Selah
8The ground shook
and the sky poured down rain
before God, the God of Mount Sinai,
before God, the God of Israel.
9God, you sent much rain;
you refreshed your tired land.
10Your people settled there.
God, in your goodness
you took care of the poor.
11The Lord gave the command,
and a great army told the news:
12“Kings and their armies run away.
In camp they divide the wealth taken in war.
13Those who stayed by the campfires
will share the riches taken in battle.”
14The Almighty scattered kings
like snow on Mount Zalmon.
15The mountains of Bashan are high;
the mountains of Bashan have many peaks.
16Why do you mountains with many peaks look with envy
on the mountain that God chose for his home?
The Lord will live there forever.
17God comes with millions of chariots;
the Lord comes from Mount Sinai to his holy place.
18When you went up to the heights,
you led a parade of captives.
You received gifts from the people,
even from those who turned against you.
And the Lord God will live there.
19Praise the Lord, God our Savior,
who helps us every day.Selah
20Our God is a God who saves us;
the Lord God saves us from death.
21God will crush his enemies’ heads,
the hairy skulls of those who continue to sin.
22The Lord said, “I will bring the enemy back from Bashan;
I will bring them back from the depths of the sea.
23Then you can stick your feet in their blood,
and your dogs can lick their share.”
24God, people have seen your victory march;
God my King marched into the holy place.
25The singers are in front and the instruments are behind.
In the middle are the girls with the tambourines.
26Praise God in the meeting place;
praise the Lord in the gathering of Israel.
27There is the smallest tribe, Benjamin, leading them.
And there are the leaders of Judah with their group.
There also are the leaders of Zebulun and of Naphtali.
28God, order up your power;
show the mighty power you have used for us before.
29Kings will bring their wealth to you,
to your Temple in Jerusalem.
30Punish Egypt, the beast in the tall grass along the river.
Punish the leaders of nations, those bulls among the cows.
Defeated, they will bring you their silver.
Scatter those nations that love war.
31Messengers will come from Egypt;
the people of Cush will pray to God.
32Kingdoms of the earth, sing to God;
sing praises to the Lord.Selah
33Sing to the one who rides through the skies, which are from long ago.
He speaks with a thundering voice.
34Announce that God is powerful.
He rules over Israel,
and his power is in the skies.
35God, you are wonderful in your Temple.
The God of Israel gives his people strength and power.
Praise God!
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Psalms 68: NCV
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The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Psalms 68
68
1-4Up with God!
Down with his enemies!
Adversaries, run for the hills!
Gone like a puff of smoke,
like a blob of wax in the fire—
one look at God and the wicked vanish.
When the righteous see God in action
they’ll laugh, they’ll sing,
they’ll laugh and sing for joy.
Sing hymns to God;
all heaven, sing out;
clear the way for the coming of Cloud-Rider.
Enjoy God,
cheer when you see him!
5-6Father of orphans,
champion of widows,
is God in his holy house.
God makes homes for the homeless,
leads prisoners to freedom,
but leaves rebels to rot in hell.
7-10God, when you took the lead with your people,
when you marched out into the wild,
Earth shook, sky broke out in a sweat;
God was on the march.
Even Sinai trembled at the sight of God on the move,
at the sight of Israel’s God.
You pour out rain in buckets, O God;
thorn and cactus become an oasis
For your people to camp in and enjoy.
You set them up in business;
they went from rags to riches.
11-14The Lord gave the word;
thousands called out the good news:
“Kings of the armies
are on the run, on the run!”
While housewives, safe and sound back home,
divide up the plunder,
the plunder of Canaanite silver and gold.
On that day that Shaddai scattered the kings,
snow fell on Black Mountain.
15-16You huge mountains, Bashan mountains,
mighty mountains, dragon mountains.
All you mountains not chosen,
sulk now, and feel sorry for yourselves,
For this is the mountain God has chosen to live on;
he’ll rule from this mountain forever.
17-18The chariots of God, twice ten thousand,
and thousands more besides,
The Lord in the lead, riding down Sinai—
straight to the Holy Place!
You climbed to the High Place, captives in tow,
your arms full of plunder from rebels,
And now you sit there in state,
God, sovereign God!
19-23Blessed be the Lord—
day after day he carries us along.
He’s our Savior, our God, oh yes!
He’s God-for-us, he’s God-who-saves-us.
Lord God knows all
death’s ins and outs.
What’s more, he made heads roll,
split the skulls of the enemy
As he marched out of heaven,
saying, “I tied up the Dragon in knots,
put a muzzle on the Deep Blue Sea.”
You can wade through your enemies’ blood,
and your dogs taste of your enemies from your boots.
24-31See God on parade
to the sanctuary, my God,
my King on the march!
Singers out front, the band behind,
maidens in the middle with castanets.
The whole choir blesses God.
Like a fountain of praise, Israel blesses God.
Look—little Benjamin’s out
front and leading
Princes of Judah in their royal robes,
princes of Zebulun, princes of Naphtali.
Parade your power, O God,
the power, O God, that made us what we are.
Your temple, High God, is Jerusalem;
kings bring gifts to you.
Rebuke that old crocodile, Egypt,
with her herd of wild bulls and calves,
Rapacious in her lust for silver,
crushing peoples, spoiling for a fight.
Let Egyptian traders bring blue cloth
and Cush come running to God, her hands outstretched.
32-34Sing, O kings of the earth!
Sing praises to the Lord!
There he is: Sky-Rider,
striding the ancient skies.
Listen—he’s calling in thunder,
rumbling, rolling thunder.
Call out “Bravo!” to God,
the High God of Israel.
His splendor and strength
rise huge as thunderheads.
35A terrible beauty, O God,
streams from your sanctuary.
It’s Israel’s strong God! He gives
power and might to his people!
O you, his people—bless God!
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.