God Shall Scatter His Enemies
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A Song.
1 LET God, the God of battle, rise,
And scatter his presumptuous foes;
Let shameful rout their host surprise,
Who spitefully his pow’r oppose.
2 As smoke in tempest’s rage is lost,
Or wax into the furnace cast,
So let their sacrilegious host
Before his wrathful presence waste.
3 But let the servants of his will
His favour’s gentle beams enjoy;
Their upright hearts let gladness fill,
And cheerful songs their tongues employ.
4 To him your voice in anthems raise,
Jehovah’s awful name he bears;
In him rejoice, extol his praise,
Who rides upon high rolling spheres.
5 Him, from his empire of the skies,
To this low world compassion draws,
The orphan’s claim to patronize,
And judge the injur’d widow’s cause.
6 ’Tis God, who from a foreign soil
Restores poor exiles to their home,
Makes captives free, and fruitless toil
Their proud oppressors’ righteous doom.
7 ’Twas so of old, when thou didst lead
In person, Lord, our armies forth,
Strange terrors through the desertspread,
Convulsions shook th’astonish’d earth.
8 The breaking clouds did rain distil,
And heav’n’s high arches shook with ear;
How then should Sinai’s humble hill
Of Israel’s God the presence bear?
9 Thy hand, at famish’d earth’s complaint,
Reliev’d her from celestial stores;
And, when thy heritage was faint,
Asswag’d the drought with plenteous show’rs.
10 Where savages had rang’d before,
At ease thou mad’st our tribes reside;
And in the desert for the poor
Thy gen’rous bounty didst provide.
11 Thou gav’st the word, we sallied forth,
And in that pow’rful word o’ercame;
While virgin troops, with songs of mirth,
In state our conquest did proclaim.
12 Vast armies, by such gen’rals led,
As yet had ne’er receiv’d a foil,
Forsook their camp with sudden dread,
And to our women left the spoil.
13 Though Egypt’s drudges you have been,
Your army’swings shall shine as bright
As doves, in golden sunshine seen,
Or silver’d o’er with paler light.
14 ’Twas so, when God’s Almighty hand
O’er scatter’d kings the conquest won;
Our troops, drawn up on Jordan’s strand,
High Salmon’s glitt’rings now outshone.
15 From thence to Jordan’s farther coast,
And Bashan’s hill we did advance;
No more her height shall Bashan boast,
But that she’s God’s inheritance.
16 But wherefore (tho’ the honour’s great)
Should this, O mountains, swell your pride?
For Sion is his chosen seat,
Where he for ever will reside.
17 His chariots numberless, his pow’rs
Are heav’nly hosts that wait his will;
His presence now fills Sion’s tow’rs,
As once it honour’d Sinai’s hill.
18 Ascending high in triumph thou
Captivity hast captive led,
And on thy people didst bestow
The spoil of armies, once their dread.
E’en rebels shall partake thy grace,
And humble proselytes repair
To worship at thy dwelling-place,
And all the world pay homage there.
19 For benefits each day bestow’d,
Be daily his great Name ador’d;
20 Who is our Saviour and our God,
Of life and death the sov’reign Lord.
21 But justice for his harden’d foes
Proportion’d vengeance hath decreed,
To wound the hoary head of those
Who in presumptuous crimes proceed.
22 The Lord hath thus in thunder spoke:
As I subdu’d proud Bashan’s king,
Once more I’ll break my people’s yoke,
And from the deep my servants bring.
23 Their feet shall with a crimson flood
Of slaughter’d foes be cover’d o’er;
Nor earth receive such impious blood,
But leave for dogs th’ unhallow’d gore.
24 When marching to thy blest abode,
The wond’ring multitude survey’d
The pompous state of thee, our God,
In robes of majesty array’d.
25 Sweet-singing Levites led the van,
Loud instruments brought up the rear;
Between both troops a virgin train
With voice and timbrel charm’d the ear.
26 This was the burden of their song:
In full assemblies bless the Lord;
All, who to Israel’s tribes belong,
The God of Israel’s praise record.
27 Nor little Benjamin alone
From neighb’ring bounds did there attend,
Nor only Judah’s nearer throne
Her counsellors in state did send;
But Zebulon’s remoter seat,
And Naphtali’s more distant coast,
(The grand procession to complete,)
Sent up their tribes, a princely host.
28 Thus God to strength and union brought
Our tribes, at strife till that blest hour;
This work which thou, O God, hast wrought,
Confirm with fresh recruits of pow’r.
29 To visit Salem, Lord, descend,
And Sion thy terrestrial throne;
Where kings with presents shall attend,
And thee with offer’d crowns atone.
30 Break down the spearmen’s ranks, who threat
Like pamper’d herds of savage might;
Their silver-armour’d chiefs defeat,
Who in destructive war delight.
31 Egypt shall then to God stretch forth
Her hands, and Afric homage bring;
32 The scatter’d kingdoms of the earth
Their common Sov’reign’s praises sing:
33 Who, mounted on the loftiest sphere
Of ancient heav’n, sublimely rides;
From whence his dreadful voice we hear,
Like that of warring winds and tides.
34 Ascribe ye pow’r to God most high,
Of humble Israel he takes care;
Whose strength from out the dusky sky
Darts shining terrors through the air.
35 How dreadful are the sacred courts,
Where God has fix’d his earthly throne!
His strength his feeble saints supports;
To God give praise, and him alone.
— Psalm 68 | Metrical Psalms and Scripture Selections 1696 (MP1696)
Metrical Psalms and Scripture Selections 1696 (Brady & Tate) British & Foreign Bible Society.
Cross References: Genesis 28:17; Genesis 49:14; Exodus 6:3; Exodus 13:21; Exodus 15:17; Exodus 15:20; Exodus 18:10; Exodus 22:23; Leviticus 26:4; Numbers 10:35; Numbers 21:33; Deuteronomy 10:14; Deuteronomy 33:2; Joshua 10:10; Joshua 10:16; Judges 5:5; Judges 5:18; Judges 5:31; 1 Kings 10:10; 1 Kings 21:9; 1 Chronicles 15:6; Psalm 29:11; Psalm 32:11; Psalm 36:6; Psalm 65:9; Psalm 102:22; Psalm 110:6; Psalm 119:21; Isaiah 17:10; Isaiah 38:20; Isaiah 48:1; Amos 8:7; Acts 8:27; Acts 12:7; Ephesians 4:8
Psalms 68 - Calvin's Commentary on the Bible
