▼108:1 In verse 1, David tells God that he will always sing God’s praises. Praises are words to tell someone that they are very great. David will start to sing before the dawn (verse 2). The harp and lyre make music. They are musical instruments. In verse 3, LORD is another name for God. It is a special name that only God’s people use. It means that they will love and obey him. And he will keep them safe. God’s love reaches to the skies, (verse 4). This means that it is very, very big! God’s glory, (verse 5), is something that makes him shine very much. He shines brighter than the sun! We see him shining in the good things that he makes and does. In verse 6, the right hand of God is how the Israelites described God doing something on earth.

▼This verse is empty because in this translation its contents have been moved to form part of verse Psa 108:9.

▼This verse is empty because in this translation its contents have been moved to form part of verse Psa 108:9.

▼108:7-9 In verse 7, the holy place is where God is. ‘Holy’ means ‘very, very good.’ Only God is really holy. The Jews thought that the places God went to were holy also. Here, the holy place meant either the temple in Jerusalem, or God’s home in heaven. The first 6 places in verses 7-8 are all parts of Israel. They all belong to God. He will decide what to do with them. They will have important jobs, like Ephraim and Judah. ‘Cover my head’ probably means ‘be like a soldier’ and ‘judge’ means ‘decide what to do.’ Moab, Edom and Philistia were all enemies of Israel. They also belong to God, but they will have dirty jobs to do. God sees himself as a man. He needs somewhere to wash, and someone to pick his clothes up for him. Israel has the good things to do, but her enemies have bad things to do.

▼108:10 In verse 10, David is speaking again. The strong city was the capital of Edom, Petra. David put Joab as leader of the army that went to fight Edom. David stayed with the other part of the army in Syria. In verse 11, ‘Will you really not go with our armies?’ means ‘I do hope that you WILL go with our armies.’ In verse 12, David learned a lesson that we must all learn. ‘Help from men is of no value.’ It is of value if God sends the men or women to give help. But God must send them. God works through men and women to help his people. In the words of verse 6, he uses his right hand to answer us. His right hand could be anybody! In verse 12, ‘walk all over our enemies’ is ‘trample over our enemies’ in Hebrew. ‘Trample’ means putting our feet down hard when we walk. Hebrew is the language that the Jews spoke.