Every verse here opens — tap a number for what that one means.
1O 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.
Commentary
Psalm 60, explained
What Psalm 60 is saying
A communal lament arising from military defeat, Psalm 60 opens with striking earthquake imagery—God has broken and shaken the land, making His people drink the wine of staggering. The central oracle (vv. 6–8) records a divine speech claiming sovereignty over all territories, Israelite and foreign alike, using domestic imagery (Moab as washbasin, Edom receiving the thrown sandal). The psalm concludes with a pragmatic acknowledgment that human military strength is vain without God.
The background behind it
The superscription references David's campaigns in Aram-Naharaim and Aram-Zobah and Joab's defeat of Edom in the Valley of Salt (2 Samuel 8; 1 Chronicles 18). The psalm likely reflects a moment when initial defeat preceded ultimate victory, perhaps a setback during these northern campaigns.
Themes running underneath
The psalm's theology of national suffering interprets military defeat as divine discipline rather than divine absence. The oracle's claim over both Israelite and foreign territories asserts God's universal sovereignty. The closing declaration that 'vain is the help of man' forms the psalm's theological center.
Why it still matters
Psalm 60 challenges nationalistic triumphalism by insisting that military victory is God's prerogative, not human achievement. It models communal lament that holds together honest grief over defeat and persistent faith in divine purpose.
Scripture text: King James Version — public domain.