Psalm 75

1We give thanks to you, God. We give thanks, for your Name is near. Men tell about your wondrous works. 2When I choose the appointed time, I will judge blamelessly. 3The earth and all its inhabitants quake. I firmly hold its pillars. Selah. 4I said to the arrogant, “Don’t boast!” I said to the wicked, “Don’t lift up the horn. 5Don’t lift up your horn on high. Don’t speak with a stiff neck.” 6For neither from the east, nor from the west, nor yet from the south, comes exaltation. 7But God is the judge. He puts down one, and lifts up another. 8For in Yahweh’s hand there is a cup, full of foaming wine mixed with spices. He pours it out. Indeed the wicked of the earth drink and drink it to its very dregs. 9But I will declare this forever: I will sing praises to the God of Jacob. 10I will cut off all the horns of the wicked, but the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up.

Though this psalm is attributed to Asaph in the title, yet it does so exactly agree with David's circumstances, at his coming to the crown after the death of Saul, that most interpreters apply it to that juncture, and suppose that either Asaph penned it, in the person of David, as his poet-laureat (probably the substance of the psalm was some speech which David made to a convention of the states, at his accession to the government, and Asaph turned it into verse, and published it in a poem, for the better spreading of it among the people), or that David penned it, and delivered it to Asaph as precentor of the temple. In this psalm, I. David returns God thanks for bringing him to the throne (Psa 75:1, Psa 75:9). II. He promises to lay out himself for the public good, in the use of the power God had given him (Psa 75:2, Psa 75:3, Psa 75:10). III. He checks the insolence of those that opposed his coming to the throne (Psa 75:4, Psa 75:5). IV. He fetches a reason for all this from God's sovereign dominion in the affairs of the children of men (Psa 75:6-8). In singing this psalm we must give to God the glory of all the revolutions of states and kingdoms, believing that they are all according to his counsel and that he will make them all to work for the good of his church.

To the chief musician, Al-taschith. A psalm or song of Asaph.

Cross-references: Ps 75:1 · Ps 75:9 · Ps 75:2 · Ps 75:3 · Ps 75:10 · Ps 75:4 · Ps 75:5 · Ps 75:6

Introduction