CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0;"/><title>Psalm 76 Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/expositors/psalms/76.htm" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head> <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-LR4HSKRP2H"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-LR4HSKRP2H'); </script><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/psalms/76.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/psalms/76-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="/commentaries/">Commentary</a> > <a href="../">Ellicott</a> > <a href="../psalms/">Psalm</a></div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../psalms/75.htm" title="Psalm 75">◄</a> Psalm 76 <a href="../psalms/77.htm" title="Psalm 77">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</div><div class="chap"><span class= "bld"> LXXVI.</span><p>The LXX. (followed by the Vulgate) have added to the Hebrew inscription of this psalm the words “to the Assyrian,” indicating that at an early period it was, as it is still by many modern scholars, connected with the overthrow of Sennacherib. Certainly the <a href="/context/psalms/76-5.htm" title="The stouthearted are spoiled, they have slept their sleep: and none of the men of might have found their hands.">Psalm 76:5-6</a> are most suitable to that event. On the other hand, the phrase in <a href="/psalms/76-9.htm" title="When God arose to judgment, to save all the meek of the earth. Selah.">Psalm 76:9</a>, “all the afflicted of the land,” breathes of a time of national oppression, and suggests a later date. <a href="/context/psalms/76-8.htm" title="You did cause judgment to be heard from heaven; the earth feared, and was still,">Psalm 76:8-9</a> compared with <a href="/context/psalms/76-7.htm" title="You, even you, are to be feared: and who may stand in your sight when once you are angry?">Psalm 76:7-8</a> of Psalms 75 lead to the conclusion that both were inspired by the Song of Hannah and may both refer to the same circumstances. And some critics not only bring it into the Maccabæan age, but fix on the victory of Judas over Seron (1 Maccabees 3) as the actual event celebrated in this poem. The versification is quite regular.<p><span class= "ital">Title.</span>—See title Psalms 4, 50, 65<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/76-1.htm">Psalm 76:1</a></div><div class="verse">To the chief Musician on Neginoth, A Psalm <i>or</i> Song of Asaph. In Judah <i>is</i> God known: his name <i>is</i> great in Israel.</div>(1) <span class= "bld">Judah . . . Israel.</span>—A comparison with <a href="/context/psalms/114-1.htm" title="When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language;">Psalm 114:1-2</a>, leads to the conclusion that these names are introduced here in this order, simply for the rhythm. (Comp. “Salem” and “Sion” in the next verse, and notice that the four names offer an instance of introversion, the more restricted terms, Judah, Sion, occupying the first and last clauses, the more general Israel, Salem, the middle ones.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/76-2.htm">Psalm 76:2</a></div><div class="verse">In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling place in Zion.</div>(2) <span class= "bld">Salem.</span>—The LXX. and Vulgate translate “his place was in peace,” and possibly the poet may use the word <span class= "ital">Salem </span>with the thought in his mind of the peace won by God for Judah, or, again, it may be only a poet’s preference for an ancient over a modern name; but the identification of the Salem of <a href="/genesis/14-18.htm" title="And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.">Genesis 14:18</a> with Jerusalem is too doubtful to allow much weight to this view. (See the whole question discussed in Sir G. Grove’s article on “Salem,” in Smith’s <span class= "ital">Bibl. Dict.</span>)<p><span class= "bld">Tabernacle . . . dwelling-place.</span>—These renderings quite obliterate the image, which is that of a beast of prey crouching ready for its spring. Translate,<p>“In Salem is his covert,<p>And his lair in Sion.”<p>and for these meanings of the Hebrew words <span class= "ital">sokh </span>and <span class= "ital">meônah </span>comp. <a href="/psalms/10-9.htm" title="He lies in wait secretly as a lion in his den: he lies in wait to catch the poor: he does catch the poor, when he draws him into his net.">Psalm 10:9</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/25-38.htm" title="He has forsaken his covert, as the lion: for their land is desolate because of the fierceness of the oppressor, and because of his fierce anger.">Jeremiah 25:38</a>; <a href="/psalms/104-22.htm" title="The sun rises, they gather themselves together, and lay them down in their dens.">Psalm 104:22</a>; <a href="/amos/3-4.htm" title="Will a lion roar in the forest, when he has no prey? will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing?">Amos 3:4</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/76-3.htm">Psalm 76:3</a></div><div class="verse">There brake he the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle. Selah.</div>(3) <span class= "bld">There.</span>—This word in <a href="/psalms/14-5.htm" title="There were they in great fear: for God is in the generation of the righteous.">Psalm 14:5</a> does not appear to have a strictly definite local sense; and here may refer to time, possibly to some event, which we are not able with certainty to recover.<p><span class= "bld">Arrows.</span>—Literally, flashes. (See Note, <a href="/songs/8-6.htm" title="Set me as a seal on your heart, as a seal on your arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which has a most vehement flame.">Song of Solomon 8:6</a>.) The image may be derived from the lightning speed of the flight of arrows, or from the custom of shooting bolts tipped with flame (see Note, <a href="/psalms/7-13.htm" title="He has also prepared for him the instruments of death; he ordains his arrows against the persecutors.">Psalm 7:13</a>), or the connection may be from the metaphor in <a href="/context/psalms/91-5.htm" title="You shall not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flies by day;">Psalm 91:5-6</a>, since the Hebrew word here used denotes pestilence in <a href="/habakkuk/3-5.htm" title="Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet.">Habakkuk 3:5</a>.<p><span class= "bld">The shield, the sword, and the battle</span>—<a href="/hosea/2-18.htm" title="And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely.">Hosea 2:18</a> is the original of this. (Comp. <a href="/psalms/46-9.htm" title="He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow, and cuts the spear in sunder; he burns the chariot in the fire.">Psalm 46:9</a>.) Notice the fine poetic touch in the climactic use of battle to sum up all the weapons of war.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/76-4.htm">Psalm 76:4</a></div><div class="verse">Thou <i>art</i> more glorious <i>and</i> excellent than the mountains of prey.</div>(4) <span class= "bld">Thou art . . .</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">Splendid art thou, glorious one, from the mountains of prey. </span>The construction is somewhat doubtful and favours Hupfeld’s emendation (<span class= "ital">nora, i.e., to be feared, </span>as in verses 8 and 13, instead of <span class= "ital">noar, i.e., glorious</span>)<span class= "ital">. </span>Certainly the comparative of the Authorised Version is to be abandoned. The poet’s thought plainly proceeds from the figure of <a href="/psalms/76-2.htm" title="In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling place in Zion.">Psalm 76:2</a>. The mountains are the <span class= "ital">mountains of prey </span>of the Lion of Judah. True, a different image, as so frequently in Hebrew poetry, suddenly interrupts and changes the picture. The hero appears from the battle shining in the spoils taken from the foe.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/76-5.htm">Psalm 76:5</a></div><div class="verse">The stouthearted are spoiled, they have slept their sleep: and none of the men of might have found their hands.</div>(5) <span class= "bld">Are spoiled.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">have let themselves be spoiled. </span>The picture is of men rendered powerless, at a glance, a word, from God.<p><span class= "bld">Slept their sleep.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">have sunk into a deep sleep.</span><p><span class= "bld">None of the men of might have found their hands.</span>—This expression for powerlessness naturally grew into an idiom in a language that used the word <span class= "ital">hand </span>as a synonym for <span class= "ital">strength. </span>(Comp. <a href="/joshua/8-20.htm" title="And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and, behold, the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that way: and the people that fled to the wilderness turned back on the pursuers.">Joshua 8:20</a>, margin; <a href="/exodus/14-31.htm" title="And Israel saw that great work which the LORD did on the Egyptians: and the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD, and his servant Moses.">Exodus 14:31</a>, margin; <a href="/deuteronomy/32-36.htm" title="For the LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he sees that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left.">Deuteronomy 32:36</a>, margin.) Delitzsch quotes a Talmudic phrase, “We did not find our hands and feet in the school house.” We may compare the Virgilian use of <span class= "ital">manus </span>(Æ<span class= "ital">n. </span>6:688), and Shakespeare’s “a proper fellow of my hands,” and for the use of “find” compare the common phrase “find one’s tongue.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/76-6.htm">Psalm 76:6</a></div><div class="verse">At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, both the chariot and horse are cast into a dead sleep.</div>(6) <span class= "bld">Are cast into a deep sleep.</span>—The same Hebrew expression is used of Sisera’s profound slumber (<a href="/judges/4-21.htm" title="Then Jael Heber's wife took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and went softly to him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.">Judges 4:21</a>). Deborah’s Song and Exodus 15 are in the poet’s mind, as they were to the author of <a href="/isaiah/43-17.htm" title="Which brings forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power; they shall lie down together, they shall not rise: they are extinct, they are quenched as wick.">Isaiah 43:17</a>, and as they have inspired the well-known lines of Byron’s “Sennacherib.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/76-9.htm">Psalm 76:9</a></div><div class="verse">When God arose to judgment, to save all the meek of the earth. Selah.</div>(9) <span class= "bld">Of the earth.</span>—Or, <span class= "ital">of the land.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/76-10.htm">Psalm 76:10</a></div><div class="verse">Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.</div>(10) <span class= "bld">Surely.</span>—The text of this verse as it stands is unintelligible—<p>“Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee;<p>The residue of wrath Thou shalt gird Thyself with.”<p>But the LXX. and Vulg. suggest the necessary emendation—<p>“ Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee,<p>And the residue of wraths do Thee honour,”<p>where the residue of wrath, like Virgil’s <span class= "ital">reliquiœ Danaum </span>(Æ<span class= "ital">n. </span>1:30), means those that escape the enemies’ rage, <span class= "ital">i.e., </span>the Israelites. Possibly we should render, “and those who remain from their wrath shall celebrate a festival,” since the suggested emendation is the word used in that sense. And we must therefore think of the escape of Israel from Egypt (see above), and the festival which was so repeatedly announced to Pharaoh, as the purpose of their exodus. (See Burgess, <span class= "ital">Notes on the Hebrew Psalms.</span>)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/76-11.htm">Psalm 76:11</a></div><div class="verse">Vow, and pay unto the LORD your God: let all that be round about him bring presents unto him that ought to be feared.</div>(11) <span class= "bld">Vow, and pay . . .</span>—This clause seems to be addressed to the Israelites, the next to the heathen.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/76-12.htm">Psalm 76:12</a></div><div class="verse">He shall cut off the spirit of princes: <i>he is</i> terrible to the kings of the earth.</div>(12) <span class= "bld">He shall cut off . . .</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">lop off, </span>as a vinedresser prunes a vine. For the image see <a href="/joel/3-13.htm" title="Put you in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.">Joel 3:13</a>; <a href="/isaiah/18-5.htm" title="For before the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away and cut down the branches.">Isaiah 18:5</a>; <a href="/revelation/14-17.htm" title="And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.">Revelation 14:17</a> <span class= "ital">seq.</span><p><span class= "bld">Spirit</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e.</span>, the life.<p><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. Used by Permission. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/">Bible Hub</a></div></div></div></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="left"><a href="../psalms/75.htm" onmouseover='lft.src="/leftgif.png"' onmouseout='lft.src="/left.png"' title="Psalm 75"><img src="/left.png" name="lft" border="0" alt="Psalm 75" /></a></div><div id="right"><a href="../psalms/77.htm" onmouseover='rght.src="/rightgif.png"' onmouseout='rght.src="/right.png"' title="Psalm 77"><img src="/right.png" name="rght" border="0" alt="Psalm 77" /></a></div><div id="botleft"><a href="#" onmouseover='botleft.src="/botleftgif.png"' onmouseout='botleft.src="/botleft.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botleft.png" name="botleft" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="botright"><a href="#" onmouseover='botright.src="/botrightgif.png"' onmouseout='botright.src="/botright.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botright.png" name="botright" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="rightbox"><div class="padright"><div id="pic"><iframe width="100%" height="860" scrolling="no" src="//biblescan.com/mpc/psalms/76-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></div></div><div id="rightbox4"><div class="padright2"><div id="spons1"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tr><td class="sp1"><iframe width="122" height="860" scrolling="no" src="/commentaries/ellicott/sidemenu.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></div><div id="bot"><br /><br /><div align="center"> <script id="3d27ed63fc4348d5b062c4527ae09445"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=51ce25d5-1a8c-424a-8695-4bd48c750f35&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script> <script id="b817b7107f1d4a7997da1b3c33457e03"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=cb0edd8b-b416-47eb-8c6d-3cc96561f7e8&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-2'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-0' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-3'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-1' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div align="center" id='div-gpt-ad-1531425649696-0'> </div><br /><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:inline-block;width:200px;height:200px" data-ad-client="ca-pub-3753401421161123" data-ad-slot="3592799687"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script> <br /><br /> </div><iframe width="100%" height="1500" scrolling="no" src="/botmenubhchap.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></td></tr></table></body></html>