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Selected Verse: Psalms 75:1 - King James

Verse	Translation	Text
Ps 75:1	King James	To the chief Musician, Altaschith, A Psalm or Song of Asaph. Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks, unto thee do we give thanks: for that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare.

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
Al-taschith--(See on Psa 57:1, title). In impending danger, the Psalmist, anticipating relief in view of God's righteous government, takes courage and renders praise. (Psa 75:1-10) God's name or perfections are set forth by His wondrous works.

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

Al-taschith--(See on Psa 57:1, title). In impending danger, the Psalmist, anticipating relief in view of God's righteous government, takes courage and renders praise. (Psa 75:1-10)

God's name or perfections are set forth by His wondrous works.

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks - We, the people; language which would be appropriate to public thanksgiving - showing that the psalm was designed for public use. The reasons for this public thanksgiving are stated in the subsequent part of the psalm. Do we give thanks - The repetition is emphatic. The idea is, that the occasion was one for special thanksgiving. For that thy name is near - literally, "and near is thy name." The word name is often used to designate the person himself; and the idea here is, that God was near; that he had manifested himself to them in some special manner, and that for this there was occasion of praise. Compare Jer 23:23. Thy wondrous works declare - Or, "They declare thy wondrous works." The Septuagint renders it, "I will declare all thy wondrous works." The Latin Vulgate, "We will declare thy wonders." Luther, "We will declare thy wonders, that thy name is so near." Prof. Alexander, "They recount thy wonders." The meaning seems to be, "They," that is, the people, "declare thy wondrous works." Thy marvelous doings constitute the foundation for praise - for the praise now offered.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]
The church in anticipation gives thanks for the judicial revelation of its God, the near approach of which He Himself asserts to it. The connection with ו in וקרוב שׁמך presents a difficulty. Neither here nor anywhere else is it to be supposed that ו is synonymous with כּי; but at any rate even כי might stand instead of it. For Hupfeld's attempt to explain it: and "near is Thy name" Thy wonders have declared; and Hitzig's: and Thou whose Name is near, they declare Thy wondrous works - are past remedy. Such a personification of wonders does not belong to the spirit of Hebrew poetry, and such a relative clause lies altogether beyond the bounds of syntax. If we would, however, take וקרוב שׁמך, after Psa 50:23, as a result of the thanksgiving (Campensis), then that for which thanks are rendered would remain undefined; neither will it do to take קרוב as referring to the being inwardly present (Hengstenberg), since this, according to Jer 12:2 (cf. Deu 30:14), would require some addition, which should give to the nearness this reference to the mouth or to the heart. Thus, therefore, nothing remains for us but to connect the nearness of the Name of God as an outward fact with the earnest giving of thanks. The church has received the promise of an approaching judicial, redemptive revelation of God, and now says, "We give Thee thanks, we give thanks and near is Thy Name;" it welcomes the future act of God with heartfelt thanksgiving, all those who belong to it declare beforehand the wonders of God. Such was really the position of matters when in Hezekiah's time the oppression of the Assyrians had reached its highest point - Isaiah's promises of a miraculous divine deliverance were at that time before them, and the believing ones saluted beforehand, with thanksgiving, the "coming Name of Jahve" (Isa 30:27). The כּי which was to be expected after הודינו (cf. e.g., Psa 100:4.) does not follow until Psa 75:3. God Himself undertakes the confirmation of the forthcoming thanksgiving and praise by a direct announcement of the help that is hailed and near at hand (Psa 85:10). It is not to be rendered, "when I shall seize," etc., for Psa 75:3 has not the structure of an apodosis. כּי is confirmatory, and whatever interpretation we may give to it, the words of the church suddenly change into the words of God. מועד in the language of prophecy, more especially of the apocalyptic character, is a standing expression fore the appointed time of the final judgment (vid., on Hab 2:3). When this moment or juncture in the lapse of time shall have arrived, then God will seize or take possession of it (לקח in the unweakened original sense of taking hold of with energy, cf. Psa 18:17; Gen 2:15): He Himself will then interpose and hold judgment according to the strictly observed rule of right (מישׁרים, adverbial accusative, cf. במישׁרים, Psa 9:9, and frequently). If it even should come to pass that the earth and all its inhabitants are melting away (cf. Isa 14:31; Exo 15:15; Jos 2:9), i.e., under the pressure of injustice (as is to be inferred from Psa 75:3), are disheartened, scattered asunder, and are as it were in the act of dissolution, then He (the absolute I, אנכי) will restrain this melting away: He setteth in their places the pillars, i.e., the internal shafts (Job 9:6), of the earth, or without any figure: He again asserts the laws which lie at the foundation of its stability. תכּנתּי is a mood of certainty, and Psa 75:4 is a circumstantial clause placed first, after the manner of the Latin ablative absolute. Hitzig appropriately compares Pro 29:9; Isa 23:15 may also be understood according to this bearing of the case. The utterance of God is also continued after the Sela. It is not the people of God who turn to the enemies with the language of warning on the ground of the divine promise (Hengstenberg); the poet would then have said אמרנוּ, or must at least have said על־כּן אמרתּי. God Himself speaks, and His words are not yet peremptorily condemning, as in Psa 50:16., cf. Psa 46:11, but admonitory and threatening, because it is not He who has already appeared for the final judgment who speaks, but He who announces His appearing. With אמרתּי He tells the braggarts who are captivated with the madness of supposed greatness, and the evil-doers who lift up the horn or the head, (Note: The head is called in Sanscrit iras, in Zend aranh, = κάρα; the horn in Sanscrit, ringa, i.e., (according to Burnlouf, Etudes, p. 19) that which proceeds from and projects out of the head (iras), Zend rva = κέρας, קרן (ḳarn).) hat He will have once for all said to them, and what they are to suffer to be said to them for the short space of time till the judgment. The poet, if we have assigned the right date to the Psalm, has Rabshakeh and his colleagues before his mind, cf. Isa 37:23. The ל, as in that passage, and like אל in Zac 2:4 (vid., Khler), has the idea of a hostile tendency. אל rules also over Psa 75:6: "speak not insolence with a raised neck." It is not to be construed עתק בצוּאר, with a stiff neck. Parallel passages like Psa 31:19; Psa 94:4, and more especially the primary passage Sa1 5:3, show that עתק is an object-notion, and that בצוּאר by itself (with which, too, the accentuation harmonizes, since Munach here is the vicarius of a distinctive), according to Job 15:26, has the sense of τραχηλιῶτες or ὑπεραυχοῦντες.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]

The church in anticipation gives thanks for the judicial revelation of its God, the near approach of which He Himself asserts to it. The connection with ו in וקרוב שׁמך presents a difficulty. Neither here nor anywhere else is it to be supposed that ו is synonymous with כּי; but at any rate even כי might stand instead of it. For Hupfeld's attempt to explain it: and "near is Thy name" Thy wonders have declared; and Hitzig's: and Thou whose Name is near, they declare Thy wondrous works - are past remedy. Such a personification of wonders does not belong to the spirit of Hebrew poetry, and such a relative clause lies altogether beyond the bounds of syntax. If we would, however, take וקרוב שׁמך, after Psa 50:23, as a result of the thanksgiving (Campensis), then that for which thanks are rendered would remain undefined; neither will it do to take קרוב as referring to the being inwardly present (Hengstenberg), since this, according to Jer 12:2 (cf. Deu 30:14), would require some addition, which should give to the nearness this reference to the mouth or to the heart. Thus, therefore, nothing remains for us but to connect the nearness of the Name of God as an outward fact with the earnest giving of thanks. The church has received the promise of an approaching judicial, redemptive revelation of God, and now says, "We give Thee thanks, we give thanks and near is Thy Name;" it welcomes the future act of God with heartfelt thanksgiving, all those who belong to it declare beforehand the wonders of God. Such was really the position of matters when in Hezekiah's time the oppression of the Assyrians had reached its highest point - Isaiah's promises of a miraculous divine deliverance were at that time before them, and the believing ones saluted beforehand, with thanksgiving, the "coming Name of Jahve" (Isa 30:27). The כּי which was to be expected after הודינו (cf. e.g., Psa 100:4.) does not follow until Psa 75:3. God Himself undertakes the confirmation of the forthcoming thanksgiving and praise by a direct announcement of the help that is hailed and near at hand (Psa 85:10). It is not to be rendered, "when I shall seize," etc., for Psa 75:3 has not the structure of an apodosis. כּי is confirmatory, and whatever interpretation we may give to it, the words of the church suddenly change into the words of God. מועד in the language of prophecy, more especially of the apocalyptic character, is a standing expression fore the appointed time of the final judgment (vid., on Hab 2:3). When this moment or juncture in the lapse of time shall have arrived, then God will seize or take possession of it (לקח in the unweakened original sense of taking hold of with energy, cf. Psa 18:17; Gen 2:15): He Himself will then interpose and hold judgment according to the strictly observed rule of right (מישׁרים, adverbial accusative, cf. במישׁרים, Psa 9:9, and frequently). If it even should come to pass that the earth and all its inhabitants are melting away (cf. Isa 14:31; Exo 15:15; Jos 2:9), i.e., under the pressure of injustice (as is to be inferred from Psa 75:3), are disheartened, scattered asunder, and are as it were in the act of dissolution, then He (the absolute I, אנכי) will restrain this melting away: He setteth in their places the pillars, i.e., the internal shafts (Job 9:6), of the earth, or without any figure: He again asserts the laws which lie at the foundation of its stability. תכּנתּי is a mood of certainty, and Psa 75:4 is a circumstantial clause placed first, after the manner of the Latin ablative absolute. Hitzig appropriately compares Pro 29:9; Isa 23:15 may also be understood according to this bearing of the case.

The utterance of God is also continued after the Sela. It is not the people of God who turn to the enemies with the language of warning on the ground of the divine promise (Hengstenberg); the poet would then have said אמרנוּ, or must at least have said על־כּן אמרתּי. God Himself speaks, and His words are not yet peremptorily condemning, as in Psa 50:16., cf. Psa 46:11, but admonitory and threatening, because it is not He who has already appeared for the final judgment who speaks, but He who announces His appearing. With אמרתּי He tells the braggarts who are captivated with the madness of supposed greatness, and the evil-doers who lift up the horn or the head,

(Note: The head is called in Sanscrit iras, in Zend aranh, = κάρα; the horn in Sanscrit, ringa, i.e., (according to Burnlouf, Etudes, p. 19) that which proceeds from and projects out of the head (iras), Zend rva = κέρας, קרן (ḳarn).)

hat He will have once for all said to them, and what they are to suffer to be said to them for the short space of time till the judgment. The poet, if we have assigned the right date to the Psalm, has Rabshakeh and his colleagues before his mind, cf. Isa 37:23. The ל, as in that passage, and like אל in Zac 2:4 (vid., Khler), has the idea of a hostile tendency. אל rules also over Psa 75:6: "speak not insolence with a raised neck." It is not to be construed עתק בצוּאר, with a stiff neck. Parallel passages like Psa 31:19; Psa 94:4, and more especially the primary passage Sa1 5:3, show that עתק is an object-notion, and that בצוּאר by itself (with which, too, the accentuation harmonizes, since Munach here is the vicarius of a distinctive), according to Job 15:26, has the sense of τραχηλιῶτες or ὑπεραυχοῦντες.

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]
Thy name - Thy self; art present with us, and ready to help.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks - Thou canst not forget thy people. The numerous manifestations of thy providence and mercy show that thou art not far off, but near: this Thy wondrous works declare - These words would make a proper conclusion to the preceding Psalm, which seems to end very abruptly. The second verse is the commencement of the Divine answer to the prayer of Asaph.

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¹ To the chief Musician, Altaschith, A Psalm or Song of Asaph. Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks, unto thee do we give thanks: for that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare.
² When I shall receive the congregation I will judge uprightly.
³ The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved: I bear up the pillars of it. Selah.
⁴ I said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly: and to the wicked, Lift not up the horn:
⁵ Lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck.
⁶ For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south.
⁷ But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.
⁸ For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture; and he poureth out of the same: but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them.
⁹ But I will declare for ever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.
¹⁰ All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off; but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.

¹ To the chief Musician, Altaschith, Michtam of David, when he fled from Saul in the cave. Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.

²³ Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off?

²⁶ He runneth upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers:

³ And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the LORD. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again.

⁴ How long shall they utter and speak hard things? and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves?

¹⁹ Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!

⁶ For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south.

⁴ And said unto him, Run, speak to this young man, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein:

²³ Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel.

¹¹ The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

¹⁶ But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?

¹⁵ And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king: after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as an harlot.

⁹ If a wise man contendeth with a foolish man, whether he rage or laugh, there is no rest.

⁴ I said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly: and to the wicked, Lift not up the horn:

⁶ Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble.

³ The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved: I bear up the pillars of it. Selah.

⁹ And she said unto the men, I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you.

¹⁵ Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them; all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away.

³¹ Howl, O gate; cry, O city; thou, whole Palestina, art dissolved: for there shall come from the north a smoke, and none shall be alone in his appointed times.

⁹ The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.

¹⁵ And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

¹⁷ He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me.

³ For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

³ The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved: I bear up the pillars of it. Selah.

¹⁰ Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

³ The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved: I bear up the pillars of it. Selah.

⁴ Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

²⁷ Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:

¹⁴ But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.

² Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root: they grow, yea, they bring forth fruit: thou art near in their mouth, and far from their reins.

²³ Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.