Putting the Words Together: Psalm 68:19

I thought this week we’d take a look at one sentence in the Bible where we’ve learned most of the words. 

Psalm 68:19 

“Blessed be the Lord, who carries us day after day, the God of our Salvation. Selah”. 

Many of us carry heavy burdens, but God promises to carry us. He wants to lift us up, carry us, and save us… and He will, if we let Him.

But before we dive into this one small sentence in Psalm 68, it’s important to know the context of the entire poem. This Psalm, attributed to David, highlights God’s power from the heavens over His enemies. It’s starts this way:

Psalm 68:1

May God arise, may His enemies be scattered, and may those who hate Him flee from His presence.

God is in control and our response should be to praise Him:

Psalm 68:4

Sing to God, sing praises to His name; exalt Him who rides through the deserts, whose name is YHWH, and be jubilant before Him.

The poem reminds the reader that God is always there, marching with them, nourishing them, and providing for them:

Psalm 68:7-10

God, when You went forth before Your people, when You marched through the desert, Selah

The earth quaked; the heavens also dropped rain at the presence of God; Sinai itself quaked at the presence of God, the God of Israel.

You made plentiful rain fall, God; You confirmed Your inheritance when it was parched. Your creatures settled in it; in Your kindness You provided for the poor, God.

Psalm 68 also establishes that Zion was the sacred mountain of YHWH. He didn’t choose the largest, tallest, mountain (which was Bashan), He chose the small mountain of Zion to be His dwelling place:

Psalm 68:15-16, 18-19

The mountain of Bashan is a mountain of God; the mountain of Bashan is a mountain of many peaks.

Why do you look with envy, you mountains of many peaks, at the mountain God has desired as His dwelling?

Indeed, YHWH will dwell there forever…

…You have ascended on high, You have led captive Your captives; You have received gifts among people, even among the rebellious as well, that YHWH God may dwell there.

Psalm 68 also outlines God’s plan for saving His people. He will provide an escape route from death:

Psalm 68:19-20

Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden, the God who is our salvation. Selah

God is to us a God of salvation; and to YHWH the Lord belong ways of escape from death.

The Psalm finishes with a call to praise the God who saves:

Psalm 68:32-35

Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth, sing praises to the Lord, Selah

To Him who rides upon the highest heavens, which are from ancient times; behold, He speaks with His voice, a mighty voice.

Ascribe strength to God; His majesty is over Israel, and His strength is in the skies.

God, You are awesome from Your sanctuary. The God of Israel Himself gives strength and power to the people. Blessed be God!

Psalm 68 is a powerful poem and I encourage you to read it in its entirety this week.  But for today’s lesson, we’re going to focus in on verse 19:

Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden, the God who is our salvation. Selah

We’ve looked at most of the key words in this verse:

Blessed (baruk, from verb BARAK meaning “to bless”)

Carry (ya’amass, from the root noun  MASSA meaning “a burden”

Day (YOWM. We’ve not looked at “day” specifically, but we have looked at the phrase “On the Third Day”)

Our Salvation (yeshua’tenu, from verb YASHA meaning “to save”)

Selah (An untranslatable word indicating musical instruction: SELAH)

Knowing these words, means that we can start putting them together.

I find it very rewarding to memorize Scripture in its original language, and Psalm 68:19 is a great one to learn:

Psalm 68:19 

“Blessed be the Lord, who carries us day after day, the God of our Salvation. Selah”.

In a more literal translation it would read:

“Blessed be the Lord who, day after day, carries us, the God of our Salvation. Selah”.

The transliteration sounds like this:

“Baruk Adonai, yowm yowm ya’amass lanu, ha-El yeshua’tenu. Selah”. 

In Hebrew script, it looks like this:

ברוך אדני יום יום יעמס־לנו האל ישועתנו סלה׃

I encourage everyone to memorize some of Scripture in its original language. It’s a wonderful feeling to be able recite or pray in Hebrew. It only takes a few days to learn. I usually start by breaking the phrase down into easily learnable chunks.

Day 1: throughout the day repeat the words Baruk Adonai (Blessed be the Lord)…

Day 2: add the words yowm yowm (day after day). Baruk Adonai yowm yowm…

Day 3: add the words ya’amass lanu (who carries us). Baruk Adonai yowm yowm ya’amass lanu…

Day 4: add the words ha-El yeshua’tenu (the God of our Salvation). Baruk Adonai yowm yowm ya’amass lanu ha-El yeshua’tenu…

Day 5: add the final word, Selah. Baruk Adonai yowm yowm ya’amass lanu ha-El yeshua’tenu. Selah.

Be easy on yourself, take as long as you need. If you need two or three weeks, that’s fine! I think you will find it very rewarding, even if you only get as far as to learn the first two words: Baruk Adonai. You can use this little phrase on it’s own wherever you are, in any time of day:

Baruk Adonai

Blessed be the Lord!

Next week: ANGER

P.S. I did not do a full dive into a new word this week because I was busy preparing for this week’s message at North Tryon Church in Prince Edward Island, Canada (titled, “If it’s Weird, it’s Important”) . If you’re interested in hearing the message I had to share, you can check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lmuq0Hs0CTI