Psalms 78:66
in Psalms 78He beat back His foes; He put them to everlasting shame.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And he smote his adversaries backward: He put them to a perpetual reproach.
KJV
And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts: he put them to a perpetual reproach.
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This verse in Psalms 78
Commentary
9 notes on this verseHe smote his enemies in the hinder part - This refers to the hemorrhoids with which he afflicted the Philistines. See the note on 1Sa 5:6-10 (note).
This site's exposition
Then the Lord awoke as from sleep
on Psalms 78:65-66
The waking is described twice, as a man out of sleep, then as a warrior after wine. Henry reads the sleep as a figure for how God's patience looked to the people. He beat His foes back into everlasting shame.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
The blessed David fell into several errors, which God, who wisely orders all things, has caused to be recorded for the good of them that were to come after. But it was not on their account that Absalom, parricide, murderer, impious and altogether vile, started …
"And He smote His enemies in the hinder parts" [Psalm 78:66]: those, to wit, who were rejoicing that they were able to take His Ark: for they were smitten in their back-parts. [1 Samuel 5:6] Which seems to me to be a sign of that punishment, wherewith a man will be tortured, if he shall have looked back upon things behind; which, as says the Apostle, he ought to value as dung. [Philippians 3:8] For they that do so receive the Testament of God, as that they put not off from them the old vanity, are like the hostile nations, who did place the captured Ark of the Testament beside their own idols. And yet those old things even though these be unwilling do fall: for "all flesh is hay, and the glory of man as the flower of hay. The hay has dried up, and the flower has fallen off:" [Isaiah 40:6-7] but the Ark of the Lord "abides for everlasting," to wit, the secret testament of the kingdom of Heaven, where is the eternal Word of God. But they that have loved things behind, because of these very things most justly shall be tormented. For "everlasting reproach He has given to them." [Psalm 78:67].
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts,....
As the general scope of this psalm may be of use to us in the singing of it, to put us upon recollecting what God has done for us and for his church formerly, and what we have done against him, so the particulars also may be of use to us, for warning against those sins of unbelief and ingratitude which Israel of old was notoriously guilty of, and the record of which was preserved for our learning.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
And he smote . . . part--or, "struck His enemies' back." The Philistines never regained their position after their defeats by David. 67, 68. tabernacle of Joseph--or, "home," or, "tribe," to which-- tribe of Ephraim--is parallel (compare Re 7:8). Its pre-eminence was, like Saul's, only permitted.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
He smote his enemies in the hinder parts. The emerods rendered them ridiculous, and their numerous defeats made them yet more so. They fled but were overtaken and wounded in the back to their eternal disgrace. He put them to a perpetual reproach. Orientals are not very refined, and we can well believe that the haemorrhoids were the subject of many a taunt against the Philistines, as also were their frequent defeats by Israel until at last they were crushed under, never to exist again as a distinct nation.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
And he smote his enemies in the hinder part - From behind; that is, as they fled. There are two ideas here: one, that they fled at his approach, or turned their backs; the other, that as they fled, he smote and destroyed them. He put them to a perpetual reproach - As discomfited; as defeated and scattered; as unable to contend with him. The allusion is, probably, to the victories of David, occurring after the events related in the preceding verses.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיַּךְ־ | vaiyakh- | and he struck | H5221 → | 499 times |
| צָרָ֥יו | tzarav | opponents his | H6862 → | 109 times |
| אָח֑וֹר | ʾachor | backwards | H268 → | 41 times |
| חֶרְפַּ֥ת | cherpat | a reproach of | H2781 → | 73 times |
| ע֝וֹלָ֗ם | olam | perpetuity | H5769 → | 438 times |
| נָ֣תַן | natan | he gave | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| לָֽמוֹ׃ | lamo | to them |
וַיַּךְ־and he struck
vaiyakh-H5221 →499 times
צָרָ֥יוopponents his
tzaravH6862 →109 times
אָח֑וֹרbackwards
ʾachorH268 →41 times
חֶרְפַּ֥תa reproach of
cherpatH2781 →73 times
ע֝וֹלָ֗םperpetuity
olamH5769 →438 times
נָ֣תַןhe gave
natanH5414 →2011 times
לָֽמוֹ׃to them
lamo
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
1 Samuel 5:6Now the hand of the LORD was heavy on the people of Ashdod and its vicinity, ravaging them and afflicting them with tumors.
it leads to
- 1 Samuel 5:11
Then the Ekronites assembled all the rulers of the Philistines and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel. It must return to its place, so that it will not kill us…
- Exodus 9:3
then the hand of the LORD will bring a severe plague on your livestock in the field—on your horses, donkeys, camels, herds, and flocks.
- Acts 13:11
Now look, the hand of the Lord is against you, and for a time you will be blind and unable to see the light of the sun.” Immediately mist and darkness came over him,…
- Psalms 32:4
For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was drained as in the summer heat. Selah
- Deuteronomy 28:27
The LORD will afflict you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors and scabs and itch from which you cannot be cured.
- 1 Samuel 5:11
Through
Jeremiah 23:40And I will bring upon you everlasting shame and perpetual humiliation that will never be forgotten.”
it leads to
- Jeremiah 20:11
But the LORD is with me like a fearsome warrior. Therefore, my persecutors will stumble and will not prevail. Since they have not succeeded, they will be utterly put to shame, with an everlasting…
- Jeremiah 20:11
Through
1 Samuel 6:4“What guilt offering should we send back to Him?” asked the Philistines. “Five gold tumors and five gold rats,” they said, “according to the number of rulers of the Philistines, since the same plague…
it leads to
- Joshua 13:3
All the territory of the Philistines and the Geshurites, from the Shihor east of Egypt to the territory of Ekron on the north (considered to be Canaanite territory)—that of the five Philistine rulers of…
- Judges 3:3
the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived in the mountains of Lebanon from Mount Baal-hermon to Lebo-hamath.
- Joshua 13:3
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Psalms
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 78; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 3; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Theodoret of Cyrus, LETTER 137.