Psalms75
New Living Translation
1 We thank you, O God! We give thanks because you are near. People everywhere tell of your wonderful deeds.
2 God says, “At the time I have planned, I will bring justice against the wicked.
3 When the earth quakes and its people live in turmoil, I am the one who keeps its foundations firm. Interlude
4 “I warned the proud, ‘Stop your boasting!’ I told the wicked, ‘Don’t raise your fists!
5 Don’t raise your fists in defiance at the heavens or speak with such arrogance.’”
6 For no one on earth—from east or west, or even from the wilderness— should raise a defiant fist.
7 It is God alone who judges; he decides who will rise and who will fall.
8 For the Lord holds a cup in his hand that is full of foaming wine mixed with spices. He pours out the wine in judgment, and all the wicked must drink it, draining it to the dregs.
9 But as for me, I will always proclaim what God has done; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.
10 For God says, “I will break the strength of the wicked, but I will increase the power of the godly.”
Study
Psalms 75Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Psalms 75. The full AI study guide (summary, themes, context) has its own page.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: The psalmist declares his resolution of executing judgment. (1–5). He rebukes the wicked, and concludes with resolutions to praise God. (6–10).
vv1-5
We often pray for mercy, when in pursuit of it; and shall we only once or twice give thanks, when we obtain it? God shows that he is nigh to us in what we call upon him for. Public trusts are to be managed uprightly. This may well be applied to Christ and his government. Man's sin threatened to destroy the whole creation; but Christ saved the world from utter ruin. He who is made of God to us wisdom, bids us be wise. To the proud, daring sinners he says, Boast not of your power, persist not in contempt. All the present hopes and future happiness of the human race spring from the Son of God.
vv6-10
No second causes will raise men to preferment without the First Cause. It comes neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. He mentions not the north; the same word that signifies the north, signifies the secret place; and from the secret of God's counsel it does come. From God alone all must receive their doom. There are mixtures of mercy and grace in the cup of affliction, when it is put into the hands of God's people; mixtures of the curse, when it is put into the hands of the wicked. God's people have their share in common calamities, but the dregs of the cup are for the wicked. The exaltation of the Son of David will be the subject of the saints' everlasting praises. Then let sinners submit to the King of righteousness, and let believers rejoice in and obey him.
Key Words
נָצַח: properly, to glitter from afar, i.e. to be eminent (as a superintendent, especially of the Temple services and its music); to be permanent
עַל: above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applications
אַל תַּשְׁחֵת: 'Thou must not destroy'; probably the opening words to a popular song
מִזְמוֹר: properly, instrumental music; by implication, a poem set to notes
אָסָף: Asaph, the name of three Israelites, and of the family of the first
שִׁיר: a song; abstractly, singing
יָדָה: physically, to throw (a stone, an arrow) at or away; especially to revere or worship (with extended hands); intensively, to bemoan (by wringing the hands)
אֱלֹהִים: gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative
שֵׁם: an appellation, as amark or memorial of individuality; by implication honor, authority, character
קָרוֹב: near (in place, kindred or time)
Cross References
Psalms 75Hannah's song similarly connects God's sovereign lifting of the poor with 'the pillars of the earth.'
Supported by Matthew Poole, John Calvin, JFB
Hannah declares that the Lord makes poor and makes rich, bringing low and lifting up.
Supported by Matthew Poole, John Calvin
Prophetic imagery of the cup of God's fury and drinking the dregs of trembling.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
The Lord commands taking the wine cup of this fury to make wicked nations drink.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
The Magnificat echoes the theme of God putting down the mighty and exalting the lowly.
Supported by Matthew Henry, John Calvin
Poole links God's 'name is near' with Him being 'near' to the brokenhearted.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The Davidic vow to walk uprightly and rule with justice in the congregation.
Supported by Matthew Poole
David chosen from the sheepfolds to guide God's inheritance with uprightness.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
Reflects the historical context of Israel resisting God's chosen king with a stiff neck.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The wicked drink the wine of God's wrath poured undiluted into the cup of His indignation.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Daniel's praise that God changes times and seasons, removing kings and setting up kings.
Supported by Matthew Henry
The eyes of the wicked shall see destruction, drinking of the wrath of the Almighty.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The horns of the Gentiles that scattered Judah are cast down by God's craftsmen.
Supported by JFB
Christ bears up the pillars of the universe; by Him all things consist.
Supported by Matthew Henry