Back to Psalms 68

Psalms 68:11

The Lord announced the word. The ones who proclaim it are a great company.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Parallel Translations

  • WEB World English Bible

    The Lord announced the word. The ones who proclaim it are a great company.

  • KJV King James Version

    The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it.

  • JPS JPS Tanakh (1917)

    (68-12) The Lord giveth the word; the women that proclaim the tidings are a great host.

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Cross-references (9)

Passages linked to Psalms 68:11 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.

  • Exodus 15:20 Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dances.
  • Psalms 40:3 He has put a new song in my mouth, even praise to our God. Many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in Yahweh.
  • Psalms 68:25 The singers went before, the minstrels followed after, among the ladies playing with tambourines,
  • Exodus 17:9-16 Moses said to Joshua, “Choose men for us, and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with God’s rod in my hand.” So Joshua did as Moses had told him, and fought with Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. When Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed. When he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses’ hands were heavy; so they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side. His hands were steady until sunset. Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. Yahweh said to Moses, “Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under the sky.” Moses built an altar, and called its name “Yahweh our Banner”. He said, “Yah has sworn: ‘Yahweh will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.’ ”
  • Exodus 14:15 Yahweh said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Speak to the children of Israel, that they go forward.
  • Judges 4:6–5:31 She sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh Naphtali, and said to him, “Hasn’t Yahweh, the God of Israel, commanded, ‘Go and lead the way to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun? I will draw to you, to the river Kishon, Sisera, the captain of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into your hand.’ ” Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” She said, “I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, the journey that you take won’t be for your honor; for Yahweh will sell Sisera into a woman’s hand.” Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh. Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh. Ten thousand men followed him; and Deborah went up with him. Now Heber the Kenite had separated himself from the Kenites, even from the children of Hobab, Moses’ brother-in-law, and had pitched his tent as far as the oak in Zaanannim, which is by Kedesh. They told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam was gone up to Mount Tabor. Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles, to the river Kishon. Deborah said to Barak, “Go; for this is the day in which Yahweh has delivered Sisera into your hand. Hasn’t Yahweh gone out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him. Yahweh confused Sisera, all his chariots, and all his army, with the edge of the sword before Barak. Sisera abandoned his chariot and fled away on his feet. But Barak pursued the chariots and the army to Harosheth of the Gentiles; and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword. There was not a man left. However Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; don’t be afraid.” He came in to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. He said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink; for I am thirsty.” She opened a container of milk, and gave him a drink, and covered him. He said to her, “Stand in the door of the tent, and if any man comes and inquires of you, and says, ‘Is there any man here?’ you shall say, ‘No.’ ” Then Jael Heber’s wife took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him, and struck the pin into his temples, and it pierced through into the ground, for he was in a deep sleep; so he fainted and died. Behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you seek.” He came to her; and behold, Sisera lay dead, and the tent peg was in his temples. So God subdued Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel on that day. The hand of the children of Israel prevailed more and more against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan. Then Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying, “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. The mountains quaked Yahweh’s presence, even Sinai at the presence of Yahweh, the God of Israel. “In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied. The travelers walked through byways. The rulers ceased in Israel. They ceased until I, Deborah, arose; Until I arose a mother in Israel. They chose new gods. Then war was in the gates. Was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel? My heart is toward the governors of Israel, who offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless Yahweh! “Speak, you who ride on white donkeys, you who sit on rich carpets, and you who walk by the way. Far from the noise of archers, in the places of drawing water, there they will rehearse Yahweh’s righteous acts, the righteous acts of his rule in Israel. “Then Yahweh’s people went down to the gates. ‘Awake, awake, Deborah! Awake, awake, utter a song! Arise, Barak, and lead away your captives, you son of Abinoam.’ “Then a remnant of the nobles and the people came down. Yahweh came down for me against the mighty. Those whose root is in Amalek came out of Ephraim, after you, Benjamin, among your peoples. Governors come down out of Machir. Those who handle the marshal’s staff came out of Zebulun. The princes of Issachar were with Deborah. As was Issachar, so was Barak. They rushed into the valley at his feet. By the watercourses of Reuben, there were great resolves of heart. Why did you sit among the sheepfolds? To hear the whistling for the flocks? At the watercourses of Reuben, there were great searchings of heart. Gilead lived beyond the Jordan. Why did Dan remain in ships? Asher sat still at the haven of the sea, and lived by his creeks. Zebulun was a people that jeopardized their lives to the death; Naphtali also, on the high places of the field. “The kings came and fought, then the kings of Canaan fought at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo. They took no plunder of silver. 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. ‘Curse Meroz,’ said Yahweh’s angel. ‘Curse bitterly its inhabitants, because they didn’t come to help Yahweh, to help Yahweh against the mighty.’ “Jael shall be blessed above women, the wife of Heber the Kenite; blessed shall she be above women in the tent. He asked for water. She gave him milk. She brought him butter in a lordly dish. She put her hand to the tent peg, and her right hand to the workmen’s hammer. With the hammer she struck Sisera. She struck through his head. Yes, she pierced and struck through his temples. At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay. At her feet he bowed, he fell. Where he bowed, there he fell down dead. “Through the window she looked out, and cried: Sisera’s mother looked through the lattice. ‘Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why do the wheels of his chariots wait?’ Her wise ladies answered her, Yes, she returned answer to herself, ‘Have they not found, have they not divided the plunder? A lady, two ladies to every man; to Sisera a plunder of dyed garments, a plunder of dyed garments embroidered, of dyed garments embroidered on both sides, on the necks of the plunder?’ “So let all your enemies perish, Yahweh, but let those who love him be as the sun when it rises in its strength.” Then the land had rest forty years.
  • Revelation 19:13 He is clothed in a garment sprinkled with blood. His name is called “The Word of God.”
  • Ephesians 4:11 He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, shepherds and teachers;
  • 1 Samuel 18:6 As they came, when David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with tambourines, with joy, and with instruments of music.

Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)

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Explain this verse (18 sources)

Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.

John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 11. The Lord shall give the word, etc. David…

11. The Lord shall give the word, etc. David now adverts to the victories by which God had signally displayed his power in behalf of his people. He had himself been the instrument of restoring peace to the country, by putting down its foes, and he had extended the boundaries of the kingdom; but he ascribes the praise of all that had been done in stratagems and counsels of war to God. In representing God as issuing orders for the song of triumph, he intimates, figuratively, that it is he who determines the successful issue of battles. Notice is taken of the women who announce the army, for it was the custom anciently for women to sing the song of triumph, as Miriam, the sister of Moses, with her companions, sounded the praises of God upon the timbrel, and the women celebrated David’s victory upon the harp, when he slew Goliath, and routed the Philistines, (Exodus 15:20; Judges 11:34; 1 Samuel 18:6.) In making this reference to a song of praise, the Psalmist, as I have already said, intended to impress the truth upon the people, that the victories gained were entirely owing to God; though, at the same time, he tacitly reminds them of its being their duty to proclaim his benefits with due gratitude.

From the verse which succeeds, we are taught that the mightiest preparations which the enemies of the Church may make for its destruction shall be overthrown. We may consider the words as spoken in the person of the Psalmist himself, or as forming the song of the women mentioned above. It was a circumstance illustrative of the Divine favor, that the most formidable kings, before whom the Jews could never have stood in their own strength, had been put to flight. That princes, who could easily have overrun the world with their forces, should have not only departed without obtaining their purpose, but been forced to fly to a distance, could be accounted for on no other supposition than God’s having stood forward signally as their defender. In the Hebrew the verb is repeated, they shall flee, they shall flee, signifying that the attacks of the enemy had been repelled by Divine assistance once and again. The greatness of the spoil taken is intimated by the circumstance stated, that a share of it would come even to the women who remained at home. While the soldiers would return from battle clothed with the spoils, such would be the quantity of booty taken, that the females, who took no part in war, would partake of it.

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 The fashion then was that women sang songs after…
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 68:11 The Lord gave the word: great [was]…
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Gave the word, i.e. the matter of the word…
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain The Lord gave the word,.... The word of the…
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Gave - He put this triumphant song into their…
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 11. Great was the company of those that…
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Psa 68:11. The Lord gave the word — The…
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain The Lord gave the word - The command, or…
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain gave the word--that is, of triumph.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 11. The Lord gave the word—The scene abruptly changes.…
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 11. The Lord giveth the word:
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (11) The Lord gave . . .—Literally, The Lord…
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 11-23. From God"s mercies to his people at…
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 11. In the next verse we do not…
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain The Lord gave the Word: great was the company…
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 68:11 a great army (or a host of women)…

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