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Psalms 68 - The Message bible

Psalms 68

¹Up with God! Down with his enemies! Adversaries, run for the hills! Gone like a puff of smoke, like a blob of wax in the fire— one look at God and the wicked vanish. When the righteous see God in action they’ll laugh, they’ll sing, they’ll laugh and sing for joy. Sing hymns to God; all heaven, sing out; clear the way for the coming of Cloud-Rider. Enjoy GOD, cheer when you see him!

⁵Father of orphans, champion of widows, is God in his holy house. God makes homes for the homeless, leads prisoners to freedom, but leaves rebels to rot in hell.

⁷God, when you took the lead with your people, when you marched out into the wild, Earth shook, sky broke out in a sweat; God was on the march. Even Sinai trembled at the sight of God on the move, at the sight of Israel’s God. You pour out rain in buckets, O God; thorn and cactus become an oasis For your people to camp in and enjoy. You set them up in business; they went from rags to riches.

¹¹The Lord gave the word; thousands called out the good news: “Kings of the armies are on the run, on the run!” While housewives, safe and sound back home, divide up the plunder, the plunder of Canaanite silver and gold. On that day that Shaddai scattered the kings, snow fell on Black Mountain.

¹⁵You huge mountains, Bashan mountains, mighty mountains, dragon mountains. All you mountains not chosen, sulk now, and feel sorry for yourselves, For this is the mountain God has chosen to live on; he’ll rule from this mountain forever.

¹⁷The chariots of God, twice ten thousand, and thousands more besides, The Lord in the lead, riding down Sinai— straight to the Holy Place! You climbed to the High Place, captives in tow, your arms full of plunder from rebels, And now you sit there in state, GOD, sovereign GOD!

¹⁹Blessed be the Lord— day after day he carries us along. He’s our Savior, our God, oh yes! He’s God-for-us, he’s God-who-saves-us. Lord GOD knows all death’s ins and outs. What’s more, he made heads roll, split the skulls of the enemy As he marched out of heaven, saying, “I tied up the Dragon in knots, put a muzzle on the Deep Blue Sea.” You can wade through your enemies’ blood, and your dogs taste of your enemies from your boots.

²⁴See God on parade to the sanctuary, my God, my King on the march! Singers out front, the band behind, maidens in the middle with castanets. The whole choir blesses God. Like a fountain of praise, Israel blesses GOD. Look—little Benjamin’s out front and leading Princes of Judah in their royal robes, princes of Zebulun, princes of Naphtali. Parade your power, O God, the power, O God, that made us what we are. Your temple, High God, is Jerusalem; kings bring gifts to you. Rebuke that old crocodile, Egypt, with her herd of wild bulls and calves, Rapacious in her lust for silver, crushing peoples, spoiling for a fight. Let Egyptian traders bring blue cloth and Cush come running to God, her hands outstretched.

³²Sing, O kings of the earth! Sing praises to the Lord! There he is: Sky-Rider, striding the ancient skies. Listen—he’s calling in thunder, rumbling, rolling thunder. Call out “Bravo!” to God, the High God of Israel. His splendor and strength rise huge as thunderheads.

³⁵A terrible beauty, O God, streams from your sanctuary. It’s Israel’s strong God! He gives power and might to his people! O you, his people—bless God!