Psalms 76:1-12
1 In Judah is God known: his name is great in Israel.
2 In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling place in Zion.
3 There brake he the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle. Selah.
4 Thou art more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey.
5 The stouthearted are spoiled, they have slept their sleep: and none of the men of might have found their hands.
6 At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, both the chariot and horse are cast into a dead sleep.
7 Thou, even thou, art to be feared: and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry?
8 Thou didst cause judgment to be heard from heaven; the earth feared, and was still,
9 When God arose to judgment, to save all the meek of the earth. Selah.
10 Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.
11 Vow, and pay unto the LORD your God: let all that be round about him bring presents unto him that ought to be feared.
12 He shall cut off the spirit of princes: he is terrible to the kings of the earth.
Gordon Churchyard
Sing A Song Of Zion
or
The *Lion’s *Den
Psalms 76
They got up and took Jesus out of the city. They led him to the side of a hill, where men had built their city. They wanted to throw him down. But Jesus just walked away from them, and went on his own way. (Luke 4:29-30)
Psalms 76
(This is) for the music leader.
(He must use) *stringed instruments.
(It is) a Psalm of *Asaph (and) a Song.
v1 God is famous in Judah.
His name is great in Israel.
v2 His house is in Salem and his home is in Zion.
v3 There he broke (the enemy’s):
• bow (shooting) fire
• *shield
• and *sword
• and war (*weapons) *SELAH
v4 You (God) are the Shining One!
(You are) the King from the mountains,
where you robbed your enemy!
v5 (You) took from the brave (enemy) soldiers all (the *weapons) that they had.
Now they are sleeping and will never wake up.
None of the soldiers can use their hands.
v6 When you were angry, God of *Jacob,
both the horses and the men that rode on them fell down dead.
v7 You... everyone is afraid of you!
Who can remain standing in front of you when you are angry?
v8 From the *heavens you said that you would *judge (the people).
All the earth was afraid of you and became quiet.
v9 (This happened), God, when you came to *judge
and to save the *oppressed people in the land. *SELAH
v10 So the *anger of men will *praise you.
What remains of their *anger you will wear (as *praise).
v11 Make a promise to the *LORD your God and do (what you promise).
Let everyone that lives near bring a gift to the God that people are afraid of.
v12 He breaks the *spirit of rulers.
All the kings of the world are afraid of him.
The Story of Psalms 76
Sennacherib was the King of Assyria. Assyria was a very strong country to the north and east of Judah. About 700 years before Jesus came to the earth, Sennacherib attacked Judah. But God fought for Judah. Sennacherib did not win the war. Many of his soldiers died. The story is in Isaiah Chapter s 36 and 37; and also in 2 Kings 18 and 19.Psalms 76 (like 46, 47, 48 and 75) is about what happened in this war. It tells us that God did not let the enemy destroy Jerusalem. In the psalm, there are two other names for Jerusalem: Salem and Zion, verse 2. "Salem" means "*peace" (or no war); Zion is the name of the hill where the *Israelites built their *temple. The *temple was the place where they met to *praise God.
The name "A Song of Zion" was one that the *Israelites used for this psalm. We have also called it "The *Lion’s *Den". Why? Because the words "house" and "home" in verse 2 in *Hebrew are the words for a *lion’s home. We translate them as "*den". Also, in verse 4, the words "you robbed your enemy" are "you caught your *prey". "*Prey" is a word we use for what an animal catches to eat. The *lion is a big animal. It catches and eats many smaller animals. It will even eat people! So, the psalm makes God *like a *lion. His *den (or home) is Jerusalem. He goes out to the mountains to catch his *prey. But the *prey are the soldiers of Sennacherib.
What Psalms 76 means
Verse 1: When King Solomon died, his country became two countries. One was Judah and the other was Israel. They had a king each. But Assyria destroyed Israel in 721 BC. BC means "years Before Christ came to the earth". So, when Sennacherib attacked Judah, there was no country of Israel. That means that in this psalm, Judah and Israel are both names for God’s people. They do not mean two different countries.Verse 3: Breaking the enemy’s *weapons (bow, *shield and *sword) is another way to say that God destroyed the enemy.
Verse 5: "sleeping" is a Bible way to describe death. Because the soldiers are dead, they cannot use their hands to fight.
Verse 9: We have said that "to *judge" means "to say who is right and who is wrong". But it really means more than that in many places in the Bible. This is one of those places. God *judged the Assyrians to be wrong: the result of this was that they died. God *judged the poor people to be right: the result of this was that they became free. They were not *oppressed any more. This means that the enemy did not hurt them, or take their food, money, animals and children.
Verse 10: Bible students do not really know what this verse means. This translation says what the *Hebrew words say. Maybe it means that when people like Sennacherib are angry with people like the *Israelites then people will *praise what God does.
Verse 12: "Breaks the *spirit" means "stops them wanting to fight".
Something to do
*Poetry is a special way to use words. In the psalms, we find one special way that the *psalmists used. The *psalmists were the people that wrote the psalms. The special way that they used was this: they said the same thing twice using different words. How many verses can you find in Psalms 76 that use words like this?lion ~ a dangerous animal.
den ~ the home of a wild animal.'stringed instruments ~ See *musical instruments. Stringed instruments include the harp and the lyre.
harp ~ you can make music with it.
lyre ~ you can make music with it.
Asaph ~ look in the Introduction of Psalm 73.
shield ~what a soldier holds over himself to stop things hitting him.
sword ~ a long, sharp knife that soldiers use to fight people with.
weapon ~ something to fight people with, like a sword or a gun.
sword ~ a long, sharp knife that soldiers use to fight people with.
Jacob ~ another name for Israel, both the people and the land. (Jacob was Abraham’s grandson).
heavens ~the skies or the home of God.
judge ~ say who is right and who is wrong; or, the person that says who is right and who is wrong.
oppressed ~ people that the enemy have hurt.
anger ~ what you feel when you are angry.
praise ~ say how great somebody is; or, words that say how great someone is.
Lord ~ a name for God; it means he has authority, or "master"; Adonai in Hebrew. Look also at LORD below.
LORD ~ a special name for God that his people use. It is the covenant name of God. In Hebrew it is Yahweh or Jehovah. Look after Psalm 25 in Book 1 of the Psalms of David for more about the names of God.
Adonai ~ Lord or master; (or better, my Lord or my master) in Hebrew.
Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews spoke when they wrote the Psalms of David.
covenant ~ two people have agreed what each should do (here, God and his people). Look after Psalm 25 in Book 1 of the Psalms of David for more about the covenant.
Yahweh ~ the covenant name for God. Most Bibles translate it LORD with 4 capital letters. It means something like "I am" or "always alive".
Jehovah ~ how some languages say Yahweh, one of the names of God in Hebrew.
Jew ~ someone who was born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
like ~ another word for "as".
spirit ~the part of us that lives when our body dies.
peace ~ when we are friends with God and with other people; or, when we have no trouble in our minds; or, when there is no war and everybody is happy.
Israelite ~ a Jewish person (see Jew).
Jewish ~ a word that describes a Jew or anything to do with a Jew.
Jew ~ someone who was born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
temple ~ a place where people meet to worship God.
worship ~ tell someone that they are very great and that you love them.
Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews spoke when they wrote the Psalms of David.
Jew ~ someone who was born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
lion ~ a dangerous animal.
den ~ the home of a wild animal.
prey ~ what an animal catches to eat.
prey ~ what an animal catches to eat.
like ~ another word for "as".
poetry ~ using words in a special (often very beautiful) way.
psalmist ~ the person that wrote a psalm (or psalms).