Psalms 60King James Version
1[To the chief Musician upon Shushaneduth, Michtam of David, to teach; when he strove with Aramnaharaim and with Aramzobah, when Joab returned, and smote of Edom in the valley of salt twelve thousand.] O God, thou hast cast us off, thou hast scattered us, thou hast been displeased; O turn thyself to us again.
2Thou hast made the earth to tremble; thou hast broken it: heal the breaches thereof; for it shaketh.
3Thou hast shewed thy people hard things: thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment.
4Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah.
5That thy beloved may be delivered; save with thy right hand, and hear me.
6God hath spoken in his holiness; I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth.
7Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine; Ephraim also is the strength of mine head; Judah is my lawgiver;
8Moab is my washpot; over Edom will I cast out my shoe: Philistia, triumph thou because of me.
9Who will bring me into the strong city? who will lead me into Edom?
10Wilt not thou, O God, which hadst cast us off? and thou, O God, which didst not go out with our armies?
11Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man.
12Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it is that shall tread down our enemies.
About Psalms 60
O God, thou hast cast us off, thou hast scattered us. Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man.
What happens here?
A national lament after military defeat. God has cast off, scattered, and made the land tremble; he gave his people the wine of astonishment. But then a divine oracle speaks through the psalm: God claims all the territories of Israel's neighbors. Edom is a washpot, Philistia a subject. The question 'Who will bring me into the strong city?' inverts the defeat: God is the only one who can.
The big idea?
Military defeat does not cancel divine sovereignty; the oracle inserted into the lament reminds the praying nation whose the land is and who holds the ultimate strategy.
A line to remember
verse: "Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it is that shall tread down our enemies." The psalm pivots from defeat and abandonment to this declaration, without denying the defeat.
Set the scene
Superscription: 'To the chief Musician upon Shushaneduth, Michtam of David, to teach; when he strove with Aramnaharaim and with Aramzobah, when Joab returned, and smote of Edom in the valley of salt twelve thousand.' The historical detail is specific to 2 Sam 8:13-14. The psalm may reflect a period of early military reversal before the final Edomite victory.
Who's in it?
David and Israel as the defeated nation; God as the one who scattered and as the one whose oracle claims all territories; Ephraim, Judah, Moab, Edom, Philistia named geographically.
Why it matters
Psalm 60 is unusual in containing an embedded divine speech (vv6-8) listing territorial claims. The superscription connects it to specific military campaigns in 2 Samuel 8. The reuse of vv5-12 in Psalm 108:6-13 shows this as a portable piece of royal military theology. The 'wine of astonishment' became a symbol of disorienting divine judgment.
For when you feel...
For when a collective defeat has shaken faith in God's care for a community. The psalm names the abandonment and then provides the corrective from inside the lament itself.
