Mazmur 68:18-22

68:18 You ascend on high, ¹ 

you have taken many captives. ² 

You receive tribute ³  from ⁴  men,

including even sinful rebels.

Indeed the Lord God lives there! ⁵ 

68:19 The Lord deserves praise! ⁶ 

Day after day ⁷  he carries our burden,

the God who delivers us. (Selah)

68:20 Our God is a God who delivers;

the Lord, the sovereign Lord, can rescue from death. ⁸ 

68:21 Indeed God strikes the heads of his enemies,

the hairy foreheads of those who persist in rebellion. ⁹ 

68:22 The Lord says,

“I will retrieve them ¹⁰  from Bashan,

I will bring them back from the depths of the sea,

[68:18]  ¹ tn Heb “to the elevated place”; or “on high.” This probably refers to the Lord’s throne on Mount Zion.

[68:18]  ² tn Heb “you have taken captives captive.”

[68:18]  ³ tn Or “gifts.”

[68:18]  ⁴ tn Or “among.”

[68:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “so that the Lord God might live [there].” Many take the infinitive construct with -לְ (lamed) as indicating purpose here, but it is unclear how the offering of tribute enables the Lord to live in Zion. This may be an occurrence of the relatively rare emphatic lamed (see HALOT 510-11 s.v. II לְ, though this text is not listed as an example there). If so, the statement corresponds nicely to the final line of v. 16, which also affirms emphatically that the Lord lives in Zion.

[68:19]  ⁶ tn Heb “blessed [be] the Lord.”

[68:19]  ⁷ tn It is possible to take this phrase with what precedes (“The Lord deserves praise day after day”) rather than with what follows.

[68:20]  ⁸ tn Heb “and to the Lord, the Lord, to death, goings out.”

[68:21]  ⁹ tn Heb “the hairy forehead of the one who walks about in his guilt.” The singular is representative.

[68:22]  ¹⁰ tn That is, the enemies mentioned in v. 21. Even if they retreat to distant regions, God will retrieve them and make them taste his judgment.