Psalm 68 Introduction

Structure and Formatting

Psalm 68 is a divine enthronement psalm. (See the discussion of the types of psalms in the introduction to the book of Psalms.) Many interpreters believe that David wrote this psalm for the occasion when a great crowd of Israelites brought the Box of the Covenant to a sanctuary that David had prepared for it on Mount Zion. (His son King Solomon later built a temple for Yahweh on that location.) The psalm depicts God leading the people of Israel in a procession starting at Mount Sinai, through the wilderness, into the land of Canaan to conquer it, and finally up Mount Zion to the sanctuary. The psalm then describes the actual procession of Israelites. Finally, it describes how the Israelites will be safe from their enemies now that God will be ruling as their divine king from his sanctuary. 1. The Box of the Covenant sets out (1–2) 2. A call to worship God for his power and goodness (3–6) 3. God leads the Israelites through the desert and provides water (7–10) 4. The conquest of Canaan, viewed through a victory celebration afterwards (11–14) 5. God chooses Mount Zion for his sanctuary (15–18) 6. God will defeat the enemies of the Israelites (19–23) 7. Description of the procession up Mount Zion (24–27) 8. Foreign kingdoms will worship the God of Israel and pay tribute to him (28–35)

Translation Issues in This Psalm

Allusion to Numbers

David begins this psalm by saying, “Let God arise, let his enemies scatter, and let the ones hating him flee from his face.” According to [Numbers 10:35](../num/10/35.md), whenever the Israelites picked up the Box of the Covenant in order to move to another place in the wilderness, Moses would say, “Arise, Yahweh, and let your enemies scatter, and let the ones hating you flee from your face.” So that your readers will be able to recognize this allusion, we recommend that you translate this phrase with the same terms here and in Numbers 10:35.

Mountains

David speaks of mountains in significant ways in this psalm. His overall message is that the same God who first appeared to the Israelites at Mount Sinai is now ruling over them from his sanctuary in Mount Zion. As he says in a compact way in verse 17, “Sinai is in the holy place.” David also speaks of Mount Bashan, a high mountain to the northeast of Israel. In verses 15–16, he says poetically that this great mountain should not be jealous of Mount Zion. In verse 22, he uses it to represent a very high place to which enemies might try to flee, pairing it with the “depths of the sea,” a very low place. Because of the significance of these mountains in the psalm, we recommend that you use the names Sinai and Bashan at each place where they occur, spelling them the way they sound in your language. You may also want to identify Mount Zion as the mountain that David describes in verse 17, as the UST does.

Walking

The image of walking or marching in a great procession unites all the sections of this psalm. David also uses the image of walking to mean other things. For example, in verse 21, he speaks of “the one walking ahead in his trespasses.” This represents continuing to commit sins, as the UST indicates. It may be most natural to express the idea in that way in your translation. However, if your language can use the image of walking to represent living, we recommend that you do that so that your readers can appreciate how David is using this image.

(Occurrence 0) לַ⁠מְנַצֵּ֥חַ

(la⁠mənaʦʦēaḩ)

The word translated as chief musician likely refers to the person in charge of music for worship. Some languages may have a term for a music leader. Alternate translation: [For the music director] or [For the leader of worship music]