Psalms 68:1

God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered

And they that hate him shall flee from his presence.

Psalms 67 begins with an echo of the priestly blessing of Numbers 6:24 ff, and the opening words of Psalms 68 are based upon the prayer or watchword used when the Ark, the symbol of the Divine Presence in the midst of Israel, set forward on its journeys in the wilderness (Numbers 10:35). But the Psalmist translates the prayer of Moses

"Arise, Jehovah, and let thine enemies be scattered,

And let them that hate thee flee from thy presence,"

into a positive expression of confident assurance that God is about to arise and manifest His power on behalf of His people. Most versions ancient and modern (except the Genevan, which has the future throughout Psalms 68:1) render Let God arise; but the form of the verb is against this rendering, and if the words had been meant as a prayer, it would have been more natural to retain the direct invocation of the original.

before him Better, from his presence (lit. face) as in Psalms 68:2; Psalms 68:8; and so also in Psalms 68:3.