Psalms 68:7
in Psalms 68O God, when You went out before Your people, when You marched through the wasteland, Selah
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people, When thou didst march through the wilderness; [Selah
KJV
O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people, when thou didst march through the wilderness; Selah:
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This verse in Psalms 68
Commentary
10 notes on this verseO God, when thou wentest forth before thy people,.... In the pillar of cloud, and in the pillar of fire, as the Targum adds; and this divine Person was the Son of God, the Angel of his presence, in whom his name was, even his name JAH or Jehovah before mentioned; when thou didst march through the wilderness; at the head of the Israelites, leading, guiding, and directing them; providing for them all things necessary, and protecting them against their enemies.
This site's exposition
when You went out before Your people
on Psalms 68:7-10
Verse 8 calls God the One on Sinai, a title taken from where He gave the law. The earth shook and the heavens poured rain at His coming, and verse 9 turns that rain into provision for a weary inheritance. He fed the poor from His own bounty.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
"When you ventured forth in the midst of your people, O God, when you passed through the wilderness, earth shook and the heavens sent down drops." Symmachus rendered it thus, "O God, when you went before your people, moving through the uninhabited land, earth shook …
"O God, when You went forth before Your people" [Psalm 68:7]. His going forth is perceived, when He appears in His works. But He appears not to all men, but to them that know how to spy out His works. For I do not now speak of those works which are conspicuous to all men, Heaven and earth and sea and all things that in them are; but the works whereby He leads forth men fettered in strength, likewise men provoking that dwell in the tombs, and makes them of one manner to dwell in a house. Thus He goes forth before His people, that is, before those that do perceive this His Grace.
O God, when you went out in the sight of your people. This is according to the history, when God went before his people as they went out of Egypt. When you passed through in the desert. God does not linger in the desert, but passes through.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
God's Israel, having him for their leader, marched through the wilderness and were not lost in it. Note, If God bring his people into a wilderness, he will be sure to go before them in it and bring them out of it. That he manifested his glorious presence with them at Mount Sinai,
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people. What a sweetly suitable association, "thou" and "thy people; "—thou before, and thy people following! The Lord went before, and, therefore, whether the Red Sea or burning sand lay in the way, it mattered not; the pillar of cloud and fire always led them by a right way. When thou didst march through the wilderness. He was the Commander in chief of Israel, from whom they received all orders, and the march was therefore his march. "His stately step the region drear beheld."
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people. What a sweetly suitable association, "thou" and "thy people; "—thou before, and thy people following! The Lord went before, and, therefore, whether the Red Sea or burning sand lay in the way, it mattered not; the pillar of cloud and fire always led them by a right way. When thou didst march through the wilderness. He was the Commander in chief of Israel, from whom they received all orders, and the march was therefore his march. "His stately step the region drear beheld." We may speak, if we will, of the "wanderings of the children of Israel, "but we must not think them purposeless strayings, they were in reality a well arranged and well considered march. Selah. This seems an odd place for a musical pause or direction, but it is better to break a sentence than spoil praise. The sense is about to be superlatively grand, and, therefore, the selah intimates the fact to the players and singers, that they may with suitable solemnity perform their parts. It is never untimely to remind a congregation that the worship of God should be thoughtfully and heartily presented.
O God, when thou wentest forth - This and the following verse most manifestly refer to the passage of the Israelites through the wilderness.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people ... - That is, in conducting them through the desert to the promised land. The statement in regard to the paternal character of God in the previous verses is here illustrated by his guiding his own people, when fleeing from a land of oppression, through the barren desert - and his interpositions there in their behalf. All that had been said of him in the previous verses is here confirmed by the provision which he made for their needs in their perilous journey through the wilderness.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אֱֽלֹהִ֗ים | ʾelohim | O God | H430 → | 2601 times |
| בְּ֭צֵאתְךָ | betzetekha | when going out you | H3318 → | 1067 times |
| לִפְנֵ֣י | lifnei | <to> before | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| עַמֶּ֑ךָ | ʾamekha | people your | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| בְּצַעְדְּךָ֖ | betza'dekha | when marching you | H6805 → | |
| בִֽישִׁימ֣וֹן | vishimon | in a desolate place | H3452 → | 13 times |
| סֶֽלָה׃ | selah | Selah | H5542 → | 74 times |
אֱֽלֹהִ֗יםO God
ʾelohimH430 →2601 times
בְּ֭צֵאתְךָwhen going out you
betzetekhaH3318 →1067 times
לִפְנֵ֣י<to> before
lifneiH6440 →2123 times
עַמֶּ֑ךָpeople your
ʾamekhaH5971 →1873 times
בְּצַעְדְּךָ֖when marching you
betza'dekhaH6805 →
בִֽישִׁימ֣וֹןin a desolate place
vishimonH3452 →13 times
סֶֽלָה׃Selah
selahH5542 →74 times
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
Exodus 13:21And the LORD went before them in a pillar of cloud to guide their way by day, and in a pillar of fire to give them light by night, so that they could travel…
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 10:1–2
I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud, and that they all passed through the sea.
- Nehemiah 9:12
You led them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, to light for them the way in which they should travel.
- Psalms 99:7
He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud; they kept His decrees and the statutes He gave them.
- Deuteronomy 1:33
who went before you on the journey, in the fire by night and in the cloud by day, to seek out a place for you to camp and to show you the road to…
- Nehemiah 9:19
You in Your great compassion did not forsake them in the wilderness. By day the pillar of cloud never turned away from guiding them on their path; and by the night the pillar of…
- 1 Corinthians 10:1–2
Through
Judges 4:14Then Deborah said to Barak, “Arise, for this is the day that the LORD has delivered Sisera into your hand. Has not the LORD gone before you?” So Barak came down from Mount Tabor…
it leads to
- Psalms 68:7–8
O God, when You went out before Your people, when You marched through the wasteland, Selah
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 2 Samuel 5:24
As soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, move quickly, because this will mean that the LORD has marched out before you to strike the camp…
- Deuteronomy 9:3
But understand that today the LORD your God goes across ahead of you as a consuming fire; He will destroy them and subdue them before you. And you will drive them out and annihilate…
- Psalms 68:7–8
Where this verse is studied
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 68; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 3; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; Jerome, Homily 7, on Psalm 67; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 68:6.