Psalm 60
The full text of Psalm 60 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Hebrew. Free to read.
For the choirmaster. According to Shushan Eduth. A Miktam of David; for instruction; when he strove with Aram-naharaim and with Aram-zobah, and when Joab on his return struck down twelve thousand of Edom in the Valley of Salt.
1 O God, you have rejected us, broken our defenses;
you have been angry; oh, restore us.
2 You have made the land to quake; you have torn it open;
repair its breaches, for it totters.
3 You have made your people see hard things;
you have given us wine to drink that made us stagger.
4 You have set up a banner for those who fear you,
that they may flee to it from the bow. Selah
5 That your beloved ones may be delivered,
give salvation by your right hand and answer us!
6 God has spoken in his holiness:
"I will exult; I will divide up Shechem
and portion out the Valley of Succoth.
7 Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine;
Ephraim is my helmet;
Judah is my scepter.
8 Moab is my washbasin;
upon Edom I cast my sandal;
over Philistia I shout in triumph."
9 Who will bring me to the fortified city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
10 Have you not rejected us, O God?
You do not go forth, O God, with our armies.
11 Oh, grant us help against the foe,
for vain is the salvation of man!
12 With God we shall do valiantly;
it is he who will tread down our foes.
Translation notes (3)
- Psalm 60:4a This can also be translated as "a banner for rallying," which is a signal for regrouping after defeat.
- Psalm 60:8a Casting a sandal upon land was an ancient gesture of taking possession, comparable to the sandal exchange that sealed property transfers in Ruth 4:7. Moab as a washbasin, a vessel for rinsing dirty feet, reduces the nation to menial service. Together the images declare God's dominion over Israel's neighboring rivals. The same oracle appears in Psalm 108:9.
- Psalm 60:9a Hebrew ʿir matsor, 'city of fortification', paired with Edom in the parallel line, is often identified with Sela, the rock stronghold captured by Amaziah according to 2 Kings 14:7 and later known as Petra. The question anticipates a campaign against Edom's nearly inaccessible capital, which only God could make possible.
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