Psalm 60: Through God We Shall Do Valiantly
A psalm of national defeat answered by God's promise of victory.
Psalm 60 opens by mourning that God has cast off and scattered His people, making the earth 'tremble' and its breaches need healing, a communal distress unlike the personal danger of Psalms 59. God then answers 'in his holiness,' claiming Shechem, Gilead, and Manasseh as His own.
O God, thou hast rejected us—hast scattered us, Thou hast been angry, Wilt thou restore us?
Thou hast shaken the land—hast rent it, Heal thou the fractures thereof—for it hath tottered:
Thou hast suffered thy people to see hardship, Thou hast let them drink the wine of confusion.
Thou hadst given—to them that revere thee—a banner, to float aloft, Because of [thy] faithfulness. [Selah.]
That thy beloved ones may be delivered, Save thou with thine own right hand—and answer us.
God, hath spoken in his holiness—I will exult! I will apportion Shechem, And, the Vale of Succoth, will I measure out;
Mine, is Gilead—and mine, Manasseh, But, Ephraim, is the defence, of my head, Judah, is my commander’s staff;
Moab, is my wash-bowl, Upon Edom, will I throw my shoe, Over Philistia! raise shout of triumph.
Who will conduct me to a fortified city? Who will lead me as far as Edom!
Is it not, thou, O God?—thou hast rejected us! And wilt thou not go forth, O God, with our hosts?
Grant us help out of distress, For, vain, is the deliverance of man:
In God, we shall do valiantly, He himself, therefore, will tread down our adversaries.