Psa 60 | EE | STEP | This is for the music leader. He must use ‘A Lily of the Covenant.’ Psalm 60 is a miktam of David. It was to teach how: · he fought armies in Mesopotamia · he fought armies in Syria · he sent Joab to Edom, where he killed 12000 people in the Valley of Salt. You have said that you will not be our God any more and you have broken down our walls. Though you are angry, come back to us!

Psalms 60

God, Give Us Help!

This is for the music leader.

He must use ‘A Lily of the Covenant.’

Psalm 60 is a miktam of David.

It was to teach how:

· he fought armies in Mesopotamia

· he fought armies in Syria

· he sent Joab to Edom, where he killed 12000 people in the Valley of Salt. ^{▼▼60:0 The psalm is in three parts. Verses 1-5 are the words of David. He asks God for an answer. Verses 6-8 are God’s answer. Verses 9-12 are again the words of David. Remember that the words before verse 1 are also part of the psalm. When the Jews say Psalm 60 in their synagogues they always say the words at the top also. A synagogue is where Jews meet, like a Christian church. Above explains some of the verses. Here we try to explain some of the other difficult parts.}

1 You have said that you will not be our God any more

and you have broken down our walls.

Though you are angry, come back to us! ^{▼▼60:1 Verse 1: Though the Edomites broke the walls, the Jews decided that God had sent them to do it. Edom was a country south-east of Jerusalem.}

2 You made the earth move and you tore it open.

Mend its broken parts because it is falling to pieces.

3 You showed hard things to your people.

You made us drink wine that caused us to fall over. ^{▼▼60:3 Verse 3: It was hard because they did not know why they were in trouble. When this happens to us, we must still ask God for help, as David did in verses 5 and 11.}

4 You lifted up a banner for the people that fear you.

They will fight for what is true.

SELAH ^{▼▼60:4 Verse 4: A banner is a large piece of material with words or pictures on it. Soldiers would gather under their banner so that they would all be together. This verse is difficult for Bible students to understand. We are not sure what it means.}

5 Give us help so that the friends that you love will be safe.

Use your right hand to answer us! ^{▼▼60:5 Verse 5: The right hand of God is how the Israelites described God doing something on earth.}

6 ^{▼▼This verse is empty because in this translation its contents have been moved to form part of verse Psa 60:8.} ^{▼▼In this translation, this verse contains text which in some other translations appears in verses Psa 60:6-Psa 60:8.}7 ^{▼▼This verse is empty because in this translation its contents have been moved to form part of verse Psa 60:8.} ^{▼▼In this translation, this verse contains text which in some other translations appears in verses Psa 60:6-Psa 60:8.}8 God did answer us from his holy place! He said:

· I will be the master

· I will make a parcel of Shechem

· I will measure the Valley of Succoth

· Gilead is mine

· Manasseh is mine

· Ephraim will cover my head

· Judah will judge for me

· Moab is my bathroom

· Edom is where I will throw my shoes

· Philistia will be something for me to laugh at. ^{▼▼60:6-8 Verses 6-8: The holy place is where God is. Perhaps it meant the temple in Jerusalem, or God’s home in heaven. The first 6 places 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.}

9 Who will lead me into the strong city?

Who will take me in to Edom? ^{▼▼60:9 Verse 9: David is the speaker 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.}

10 You have said that you would not be our God any more.

But God, will you really not go with our armies? ^{▼▼60:10 Verse 10: ‘Will you really not go with our armies?’ means ‘I do hope that you WILL go with our armies.’}

11 Give to us help against the enemy,

because help from men is of no value! ^{▼▼60:11 Verse 11: 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 5, he uses his right hand to answer us. His right hand could be anybody!}

12 With God we will beat everybody

and walk all over our enemies. ^{▼▼60:12 Verse 12: ‘Walk all over our enemies’ is ‘trample over our enemies’ in Hebrew. ‘Trample’ means putting our feet down hard when we walk.}