Psalms 68:28

Thy God&c. Israel is addressed; the first line is a summary statement of past experience, introduced as the ground of the prayer which follows. In past times God has given Israel strength; therefore Israel can now pray with confidence for the renewal and continuance of His support. But the Ancient Versions (LXX, Vulg., Symm., Jer. (some mss.), Syr., Targ.) read (the difference in the verb is simply in the vowels), O God, command thy strength:i.e. give charge to Thy power, put it forth. Cp. Psalms 42:8; Psalms 44:4. This suits the parallelism better, and avoids the abrupt and isolated address to Israel.

Strengthen, O God&c. This rendering is grammatically questionable, and the R.V. marg. is to be preferred: Be strong, O God, thou that hast wrought for us;i.e. shew Thyself strong as in time past. Cp. Isaiah 26:12.