Tell God, “How awesome are your deeds! Through the greatness of your power, your enemies submit themselves to you.
Parallel Translations
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Tell God, “How awesome are your deeds! Through the greatness of your power, your enemies submit themselves to you.
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Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works! through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee.
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Say unto God: 'How tremendous is Thy work! Through the greatness of Thy power shall Thine enemies dwindle away before Thee.
Cross-references (15)
Passages linked to Psalms 66:3 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 18:44 As soon as they hear of me they shall obey me. The foreigners shall submit themselves to me.
- Psalms 65:5 By awesome deeds of righteousness, you answer us, God of our salvation. You who are the hope of all the ends of the earth, of those who are far away on the sea.
- Psalms 81:15 The haters of Yahweh would cringe before him, and their punishment would last forever.
- Psalms 47:2 For Yahweh Most High is awesome. He is a great King over all the earth.
- Psalms 22:28-29 For the kingdom is Yahweh’s. He is the ruler over the nations. All the rich ones of the earth shall eat and worship. All those who go down to the dust shall bow before him, even he who can’t keep his soul alive.
- Psalms 78:35-36 They remembered that God was their rock, the Most High God, their redeemer. But they flattered him with their mouth, and lied to him with their tongue.
- Isaiah 2:19 Men shall go into the caves of the rocks, and into the holes of the earth, from before the terror of Yahweh, and from the glory of his majesty, when he arises to shake the earth mightily.
- Jeremiah 10:10 But Yahweh is the true God. He is the living God, and an everlasting King. At his wrath, the earth trembles. The nations aren’t able to withstand his indignation.
- Psalms 68:30 Rebuke the wild animal of the reeds, the multitude of the bulls, with the calves of the peoples. Being humbled, may it bring bars of silver. Scatter the nations that delight in war.
- Psalms 76:12 He will cut off the spirit of princes. He is feared by the kings of the earth.
- Isaiah 64:3 When you did awesome things which we didn’t look for, you came down, and the mountains quaked at your presence.
- Exodus 15:1-16 Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to Yahweh, and said, “I will sing to Yahweh, for he has triumphed gloriously. He has thrown the horse and his rider into the sea. Yah is my strength and song. He has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will praise him; my father’s God, and I will exalt him. Yahweh is a man of war. Yahweh is his name. He has cast Pharaoh’s chariots and his army into the sea. His chosen captains are sunk in the Red Sea. The deeps cover them. They went down into the depths like a stone. Your right hand, Yahweh, is glorious in power. Your right hand, Yahweh, dashes the enemy in pieces. In the greatness of your excellency, you overthrow those who rise up against you. You send out your wrath. It consumes them as stubble. With the blast of your nostrils, the waters were piled up. The floods stood upright as a heap. The deeps were congealed in the heart of the sea. The enemy said, ‘I will pursue. I will overtake. I will divide the plunder. My desire will be satisfied on them. I will draw my sword. My hand will destroy them.’ You blew with your wind. The sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters. Who is like you, Yahweh, among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? You stretched out your right hand. The earth swallowed them. “You, in your loving kindness, have led the people that you have redeemed. You have guided them in your strength to your holy habitation. The peoples have heard. They tremble. Pangs have taken hold of the inhabitants of Philistia. Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed. Trembling takes hold of the mighty men of Moab. All the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away. Terror and dread falls on them. By the greatness of your arm they are as still as a stone, until your people pass over, Yahweh, until the people you have purchased pass over.
- Judges 5:2-4 “Because the leaders took the lead in Israel, because the people offered themselves willingly, be blessed, Yahweh! “Hear, you kings! Give ear, you princes! I, even I, will sing to Yahweh. I will sing praise to Yahweh, the God of Israel. “Yahweh, when you went out of Seir, when you marched out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, the sky also dropped. Yes, the clouds dropped water.
- Judges 5:20-22 From the sky the stars fought. From their courses, they fought against Sisera. The river Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon. My soul, march on with strength. Then the horse hoofs stamped because of the prancing, the prancing of their strong ones.
- Exodus 15:21 Miriam answered them, “Sing to Yahweh, for he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 3. Say unto God, How terrible art thou in…
3. Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works! Here he proceeds to state the grounds why he would have us to praise God. Many content themselves with coldly descanting to others of his praises, but with the view of awakening and more deeply impressing our hearts, he directs us to address ourselves immediately to God. It is when we hold converse with him apart, and with no human eye to witness us, that we feel the vanity of hypocrisy, and will be likely to utter only what we have well and seriously meditated in our hearts. Nothing tends more to beget a reverential awe of God upon our spirits than sisting ourselves in his presence. What the Psalmist adds is fitted and designed to produce the same feeling, that through the greatness of God’s power, his enemies feign submission to him Are they who would perversely and obstinately revolt from his service, forced to humble themselves before him, whether they will it or not, how much more, then, ought his own children to serve him, who are invited into his presence, by the accents of tenderness, instead of being reduced to subjection by terror? There is an implied contrast drawn between the voluntary homage which they yield, as attracted by the sweet influences of grace, and that slavish obedience which is wrung reluctantly from the unbeliever. The Hebrew word here used for to lie, signifies to yield such a submission as is constrained, and not free or cordial, as Psalm 18:45. Neither the words nor the scope favor the other senses which have been suggested, as, that his enemies would acknowledge themselves to have been deceived in their hopes, or that they would deny having ever intended hostilities against him. There are many ways in which hypocrites may lie, but nothing more is meant by the Psalmist here, than that the power of God is such as to force them into a reluctant subjection.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain As the faithful shall obey God willingly, so the…
As the faithful shall obey God willingly, so the infidels for fear shall dissemble themselves to be subject.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 66:3 Say unto God, How terrible [art thou…
Psa 66:3 Say unto God, How terrible [art thou in] thy works! through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee.
Ver. 3. Say unto God] Hereby it appeareth that this, among other psalms of like nature, was written for the perpetual use of the Church, and to serve for a set form of praising God, as occasion required, either in public or private.
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Shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee] Heb. shall lie unto thee; that is, saith Kimchi, shall deny that they ever did anything against thee, or thy people. Or, rather, they shall perforce acknowledge thy power and prowess; as Julian the apostate did in his last Vicisti Galilaee; they shall also yield obedience to thee, such as it is, because they can neither will nor choose; this Virtus nolentinm nulla est.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain How terrible art thou in thy works! To wit…
How terrible art thou in thy works! To wit to thine enemies, as it follows. Submit themselves unto thee, Heb. lie unto thee, i.e. profess subjection to thee, not sincerely and freely, but by constraint, and out of a servile fear.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Say unto God,.... Or, "concerning God" (t), as some;…
Say unto God,.... Or, "concerning God" (t), as some; or, "before God", as the Targum; say to him as follows, in psalms and hymns of praise:
how terrible art thou in thy works! or "reverend" (u); to be feared and reverenced with a godly fear on account of them; such as the works of nature and providence, which are stupendous and marvellous, fearfully and wonderfully wrought; and especially those of grace and redemption, in which the goodness of Christ is manifest, and for which he is to be feared: unless rather his judgments upon his enemies are here meant; who, though he is a Lamb to his own people, is the Lion of the tribe of Judah to them, whom he will break in pieces as a potter's vessel it may be read, "how terrible", or "tremendous", is everyone of "thy works"; so Aben Ezra, and also Jarchi, who interprets the next clause,
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through the greatness of thy power, thus,
"when thou showest to the world thy power, by the pestilence, or sword, or famine, or lightnings:''
shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee? in a lying, flattering, and deceitful manner, as the word (w) here used signifies; See Gill on Psa 18:44; or, as the above interpreters,
"they shall, through the greatness of fear, confess the lies and transgressions they have committed.''
It will be a forced, and not a free, confession and submission; Christ's enemies, whether they will or not, will be obliged to own that he is Lord, to the glory of God the Father, Phi 2:10.
(t) "dicite de Deo", Campensis apud Gejerum; and some in Michaelis. (u) "reverendus", Junius & Tremellius. (w) "mentientur", V. L. Musculus, Montanus; "mendaciter se dedunt", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Amama.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 3. How terrible art thou ] Consider the…
Verse 3. How terrible art thou ] Consider the plagues with which he afflicted Egypt before he brought your fathers from their captivity, which obliged all his enemies to submit.
Thine enemies submit themselves] Literally, lie unto thee. This was remarkably the case with Pharaoh and the Egyptians. They promised again and again to let the people go, when the hand of the Lord was upon them: and they as frequently falsified their word.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Say unto God - In your songs of praise.…
Say unto God - In your songs of praise. Let your songs be directly addressed to him, setting forth the grounds of that praise, or the reasons why it is due to him.
How terrible art thou in thy works! - How fearful! how much to be reverenced! The meaning is, that the manifestations of his power and greatness, in the events which occur under his government, are suited to impress the mind with awe and reverence.
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Through the greatness of thy power - By the putting forth of thy power. Or, Thou hast such power over thine enemies as to be able to compel them to submit to thee.
Shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee - Margin, Lie, or yield reigned obedience. The Hebrew word means to lie, to speak lies; then, to feign, to flatter, to play the hypocrite. It is thus applied to the vanquished, who make a hollow profession of submission and love to their victors. See the word explained in the notes at Psa 18:44; compare Psa 81:15; Deu 33:29; Job 31:28. The meaning here is, that he had power to subdue them, and to compel them to acknowledge his right to reign. It is the putting forth of mere power which is here referred to; and all that such power can do, is to secure outward and reigned submission. It cannot of itself secure the submission of the heart, the will, and the affections. That is to be secured by love, not by power; and the difference between the submission of the true people of God and that of all others is that the former are subdued by love, the latter by power; the submission of the former is genuine, that of the latter is forced. The inhabitants of heaven will be submissive to God because they love him; the dwellers in hell will be restrained by power, because they cannot deliver themselves. So now, the submission of a true child of God is that of love, or is a willing submission; the submission of a hypocrite is that of fear, when he feigns obedience because he cannot help it, or because he simply dreads the wrath of God. The object here is to celebrate the power of God, and it was sufficient, in order to set that forth, to say that it awed, and outwardly subdued the enemies of God.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain A specimen of the praise.
A specimen of the praise.
How terrible--(Compare Psa 65:8).
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submit--(Compare Margin), show a forced subjection (Psa 18:44), produced by terror.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 3. Say unto God—The psalmist now directs how to…
3. Say unto God—The psalmist now directs how to fulfil the requirement of Psa_66:2 : namely, by rehearsing and proclaiming the great events which have transpired, and ascribing them to God.
Terrible… thy works—The redemption of Israel from Egypt and Babylon was accomplished by acts of divine power which struck the idolatrous nations with terror. Thus is it in all ages. The triumph of the Church is the downfall of Christ’s enemies. Grace and judgment play their respective parts. See Psalms 2; Revelation 18; Rev_19:1-8.
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Submit themselves—כחשׁ, (kahhash,) rendered “submit,” properly signifies to deceive, to lie, to feign, and must be here understood of that feigned submission, outward and formal but unreal and heartless which captives yield to a conqueror. So in Psa_18:44; Psa_81:15. Thus “the haters of the Lord shall submit themselves” with forced confession, being subdued and terrified at the majesty, power, and glory of God.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 3. How terrible art thou in thy works!] Better…
3. How terrible art thou in thy works!] Better as R.V., How terrible are thy works! Cp. Psa_65:5; Rev_15:3.
through the greatness of thy power] Rather, of thy strength; cp. Psa_46:1; Psa_63:2; Psa_68:33-34.
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submit themselves unto thee] Or, come cringing unto thee. The word, which means literally to lie (hence P.B.V. be found liars unto thee) and so to yield feigned obedience, denotes the unwilling homage paid by the conquered to their conqueror. Cp. Psa_18:44; Psa_81:15; Deu_33:29.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy…
Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works! rather, How terrible are thy works! God"s deliverances, while rejoicing the persecuted, are "terrible" to the persecutors. Through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee. God"s enemies, compelled against their will, have to submit themselves, but it is a feigned submission. (comp. Psa_76:12)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 3. Say unto God. Turn all your praises…
Ver. 3. Say unto God. Turn all your praises to him. Devotion, unless it be resolutely directed to the Lord, is no better than whistling to the wind.
How terrible art thou in thy works. The mind is usually first arrested by those attributes which cause fear and trembling; and, even when the heart has come to love God, and rest in him, there is an increase of worship when the soul is awed by an extraordinary display of the more dreadful of the divine characteristics. Looking upon the convulsions which have shaken continents, the hurricanes which have devastated nations, the plagues which have desolated cities, and other great and amazing displays of divine working, men may well say: How terrible art thou in thy works. Till we see God in Christ, the terrible predominates in all our apprehensions of him.
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Through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee; but, as the Hebrew clearly intimates, it will be a forced and false submission. Power brings a man to his knee, but love alone wins his heart. Pharaoh said he would let Israel go, but he lied unto God; he submitted in word but not in deed. Tens of thousands, both in earth and hell, are rendering this constrained homage to the Almighty; they only submit because they cannot do otherwise; it is not their loyalty, but his power, which keeps them subjects of his boundless dominion.
Ver. 3. Say. Dicite, say, says David, delight to speak of God; Dicite, say something. There was more required than to think of God. Consideration, meditation, contemplation upon God and divine objects, have their place and their season; but this is more than that, and more than admiration too; for all these may come to an end in ecstasies, and in stupidities, and in useless and frivolous imaginations. John Donne.
Ver. 3. Unto God. To God, not concerning God, as some interpret, but to God himself; to his praises, and with minds raised to God, as it is in Ps 66:4, sing to himself; Gejerus also correctly remarks, that the following discourse is addressed to God. Besides, it is to our God, as in Ps 66:8, O bless our God, ye people: he is called God absolutely, because he alone is the true God. Hermann Venema.
Ver. 3. How terrible. Take from the Bible its awful doctrines, and from providence its terrible acts, and the whole system, under which God has placed us, would be emasculated. William S. Plumer.
Ver. 3. Thine enemies shall submit themselves unto thee. In this, our first consideration is, that God himself hath enemies; and then, how should we hope to be, nay, why should we wish to be, without them. God had good, that is, glory from his enemies; and we may have good, that is, advantage in the way to glory, by the exercise of our patience, from enemies too. Those for whom God had done most, the angels, turned enemies first; vex not thou thyself, if those whom thou hast loved best hate thee deadliest... God himself hath enemies. Thine enemies shall submit, says the text, to God; there thou hast one comfort, though thou have enemies too; but the greater comfort is, that God calls thine enemies his. Nolite tangere Christus meos (Ps 105:15), says God of all holy people; you were as good touch me, as touch any of them, for, "they are the apple of mine eye" (Ps 17:8). Our Saviour Christ never expostulated for himself; never said, Why scourge you me? why spit you upon me? why crucify you me? As long as their rage determined in his person, he opened not his mouth; when Saul extended the violence to the church, to his servants, then Christ came to that, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" ...Here is a holy league, defensive and offensive; God shall not only protect us from others, but he shall fight for us against them; our enemies are his enemies. Condensed from John Donne.
Ver. 3. Thine enemies submit themselves. Literally, lie unto thee. This was remarkably the case with Pharaoh and the Egyptians. They promised again and again to let the people go, when the hand of the Lord was upon them; and they as frequently falsified their word. Adam Clarke.
Ver. 3. (second clause). In times of affliction every hypocrite--all tag and rag--will be ready to come in to God in an outward profession; but usually this submission to God at this time is not out of truth. Hence it is said, Through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee: in the original it is, they shall lie unto thee, and so it is translated by Arias Montanus, and some others, noting hereby that a forced submission to God is seldom in truth. Jeremiah Burroughs.
Ver. 3. The earthquakes in New England occasioned a kind of religious panic. A writer, who was then one of the ministers of Boston, informs us, that immediately after the great earthquake, as it was called, a great number of his flock came and expressed a wish to unite themselves with the church. But, on conversing with them, he could find no evidence of improvement in their religious views or feelings, no convictions of their own sinfulness; nothing, in short, but a kind of superstitious fear, occasioned by a belief that the end of the world was at hand. All their replies proved that they had not found God, though they had seen the greatness of his power in the earthquake. Edward Payson, D.D.
Ver. 3. The terrible in God's works of nature and providence.
Psalms 66:4*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 How terrifying are your deeds
How terrifying are your deeds
The works of God cause us to be in awe and terrified because we know he is powerful and holy.
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By the greatness of your power
"Because you have great power"
All the earth will worship you
This refers to all of the people who live on the earth. AT: "All the people on earth will worship you" (See: Metonymy)
they will sing to your name
Here "your name" refers to God himself. AT: "they will praise and honor you" (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
terror
works
power
submit
earth
worship
name
selah
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 66:3 God conquers his enemies (see 18:44; 59:11; 81:15).
66:3 God conquers his enemies (see 18:44; 59:11; 81:15).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.