Psalms 66:6

The passage of the Red Sea and the crossing of the Jordan are referred to as the most notable of His terrible acts (Psalms 65:5). Cp. Psalms 74:13; Psalms 78:13; &c. Flood, as in Joshua 24:2-3; Joshua 24:14-15, is an archaism for river (R.V.).

there did we rejoice in him At the Red Sea and the Jordan. The Psalmist can thus identify himself and his contemporaries with the Israelites of ancient time, for he regards the nation as possessing an unbroken continuity of life. This rendering is grammatically justifiable, and it suits the context better than the alternative of R.V. marg., there let us rejoice in him, whether this is understood to mean, "Thereon the spot where those old historical events occurred, there let us take our stand, and renew our praise to Him, our wondrous Benefactor" (Kay); or, "There, pointing as it were to the field in which God had made bare His arm, and where the past history had been repeated in the present, therelet us rejoice in Him" (Perowne). For the Psalmist is addressing the nations, not his countrymen, and a historical reference to the rejoicing which took place after the passage of the Red Sea is more natural than an invitation to join in celebrating either that or the recent deliverance. Moreover mention of the recent deliverance appears to be reserved for the next stanza, to which Psalms 66:7 forms the appropriate transition. Bp. Perowne's explanation would at any rate require the adoption of the LXX reading, -who turneth the sea into dry land, they go through the river on foot"; i.e. He is ever doing as He did at the Red Sea and the Jordan, opening ways of escape for His people.