Psalms 68:30 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Psalms 68:30
Rebuke the company of spearmen, the multitude of the bulls, with the calves of the people, till every one submit himself with pieces of silver: scatter thou the people that delight in war.
to chide · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
company
חַיַּ֪תchai.Yat
H2416
alive · noun, common feminine singular construct
spearmen
קָנֶ֡הka.Neh
H7070
a reed (as erect) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
multitude
עֲדַ֤ת'a.Dat
H5712
a stated assemblage (specifically · noun, common feminine singular construct
bulls
אַבִּירִ֨ים'a.bi.Rim
H47
mighty (spoken of God) · adjective, masculine plural absolute
calves
בְּעֶגְלֵ֬יbe.'eg.Lei
H5695
a (male) calf (as frisking round) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
people
עַמִּ֗ים'a.Mim
H5971
a people (as a congregated unit) · noun, common masculine plural absolute
submit
מִתְרַפֵּ֥סmit.ra.Pes
H7511
to trample · verb, hithpael active participle, masculine singular absolute
pieces
בְּרַצֵּיbe.ra.tzei-
H7518
a fragment · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
silver
כָ֑סֶףKha.sef
H3701
silver (from its pale color) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
scatter
בִּזַּ֥רbi.Zar
H967
to disperse · verb, piel perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
people
עַ֝מִּ֗ים'a.Mim
H5971
a people (as a congregated unit) · noun, common masculine plural absolute
delight
יֶחְפָּֽצוּyech.Pa.tzu
H2654
properly · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
war
קְרָב֥וֹתke.ra.Vot
H7128
hostile encounter · noun, common feminine plural absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 22:12-13 Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.
Psalms 89:10 Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain; thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm.
Romans 7:22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
2 Samuel 8:1-18 And after this it came to pass, that David smote the Philistines, and subdued them: and David took Metheg-ammah out of the hand of the Phili…
2 Samuel 10:1-19 And it came to pass after this, that the king of the children of Ammon died, and Hanun his son reigned in his stead.
2 Chronicles 14:1-15 So Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David: and Asa his son reigned in his stead. In his days the land was q…
2 Chronicles 20:1-37 It came to pass after this also, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites, came agains…
Job 40:21 He lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed, and fens.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 68:22-31
In these verses we have three things: -
I. The gracious promise which God makes of the redemption of his people, and their victory over his and their enemies (Psa 68:22, Psa 68:23): The Lord said, in his own gracious purpose and promise, "I will do great things for my people, as the God of their salvation," Psa 68:20. God will not fail the expectations of those who by faith take him for their God. It is promised, 1. That he will set them in safety from their danger, as he had done formerly: "I will again bring them from the depths of the sea," as he did Israel when he brought them out of the slavery of Egypt into the ease and liberty of the wilderness; "and I will again bring them from Bash…
The strongest nations are represented by the strongest beasts (compare Margin).
John Gill on Psalms 68:30
Rebuke the company of spearmen,.... Or, "of the reed" (d); that is, men that use and fight with spears, like to reeds, as Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it. Aben Ezra says, that spears are so called in the Kedarene or Arabian language; and the Arabians use a sort of reed for a spear, as Mr. Castel out of Avicenna observes (e), and Pliny (f) says they are used spears: or rather the words should be rendered, "rebuke", restrain, destroy "the wild beast", or "beasts of the reed" (g); as the Syriac, Septuagint, and Vulgate Latin versions, and others, render it: the allusion is to such kind of creatures as lions in the thickets of Jordan; See Gill on Jeremiah 49:19; and the behemoth, that lies un…
Psalm 68:28-30
28. Thy God hath commanded thy strength; strengthen, O God! that which thou hast wrought in us. 29. From thy temple upon Jerusalem kings shall bring presents unto thee. 30. Destroy the company of spearmen, (literally, of the reed,) the multitude of bulls with the calves of the people, treading with their feet upon pieces of silver: scatter thou the people that delight in war.
28. Thy God hath commanded thy strength Men are always disposed to arrogate to themselves the glory of what they may have done instead of tracing their success to God, and David reminds the people once more that they had not triumphed by their own strength, but by power communicated from above. If they…
The Church Fathers
Rebuke the wild beasts of the reed, that is, the heretics, who compose and write against you, so as to deceive us. "For there must also be heresies among us." For they are called "wild beasts" from the fact that they seize souls and kill them. But it can be understood also of the devil and his angels. The assembly of bulls among the cows of the peoples. It signifies the heretics themselves, because they can deceive no one, except the simpler ones and the little ones, that is, the lesser cows: for they cannot deceive the bulls, that is, the great ones. That they may shut out those who have been proved with silver. And for this reason they deceive the simpler ones, that is, the multitude, so as to come even to the holy ones, and shut them out from the kingdom of heaven. Scatter the nations that desire wars: that is, scatter the heretics, who attack the church.
Be there done that which followeth, "Rebuke Thou the beasts of the cane" [Psalm 68:30]. For both beasts they are, since by not understanding they do hurt: and beasts of the cane they are, since the sense of the Scriptures they wrest according to their own misapprehension. For in the cane the Scriptures are as reasonably perceived, as language in tongue, according to the mode of expression whereby the Hebrew or the Greek or the Latin tongue is spoken of, or the like; that is to say, by the efficient cause the thing which is being effected is implied. Now it is usual in the Latin language for writing to be called style, because with the stilus it is done: so then cane also, because with a cane it is done. The Apostle Peter saith, that "men unlearned and unstable do wrest the Scriptures to their own proper destruction:" these are the beasts of the cane, whereof here is said, "Rebuke Thou the beasts of the cane."
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Cane — A tall sedgy plant with a hollow stem, growing in moist places. In Isa. 43:24; Jer. 6:20, the Hebrew word kaneh is thus rendered, giving its name to the plant. It is rendered “reed” in 1 Kings 14:15;…
Piece Of Silver — I. In the Old Testament the word “pieces” is used in the Authorized Version for a word understood in the Hebrew (if we except) (Psalms 68:30) The phrase is always “a thousand,” or the like, “of…
Pieces — (1) of silver. In Ps. 68:30 denotes “fragments,” and not properly money. In 1 Sam. 2:36 (Heb. agorah), properly a “small sum” as wages, weighed rather than coined. Josh. 24:32 (Heb. kesitah, q.v.),…
Armies · Were composed of: Spearmen or heavy troops — Were composed of: Spearmen or heavy troops
Ox, The · Bull or bullock illustrative: Of fierce enemies — Bull or bullock illustrative: Of fierce enemies
Spear · Those who used, called spearmen — Those who used, called spearmen
War · Repugnant to God — Repugnant to God
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
The poet now looks forth beyond the domain of Israel, and describes the effects of Jahve's deed of judgment and deliverance in the Gentile world. The language of Psa 68:29 is addressed to Israel, or rather to its king (Psa 86:16; Psa 110:2): God, to whom everything is subject, has given Israel עז, victory and power over the world. Out of the consciousness that He alone can preserve Israel upon this height of power upon which it is placed, who has placed it thereon, grows the prayer: establish (עוּזּה with וּ for ŭ, as is frequently the case, and with the accent on the ultima on account of the following Aleph, vid., on Psa 6:5), Elohim, that which Thou hast wrought for us; עזז, roborare, as…
Hostile and rebellious people delight in warfare and insurrection (see 2:1-3).
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 68:30
Rebuke the company of spearmen, the multitude of the bulls, with the calves of the people, till every one submit himself with pieces of silver: scatter thou the people that delight in war.
Rebuke the company of spearmen; or, the beasts of the reeds, as the margin more correctly renders it. Speak to Egypt, let its growing power and jealousy be kept in order, by a word from thee. Israel remembers her old enemy, already plotting the mischief, which would break out under Jeroboam, and begs for a rebuking word from her Omnipotent Friend. Antichrist also, that great red dragon, needs the effectual word of the Lord to rebuke its insolence. The multitude of the bulls, the stronger foes; the proud,…
